Some helpful lessons that I have learned over the years of creating music.
While I'm no platinum artist, these are some helpful tips that I have learned throughout my years as a musician (solo and with a band) that have helped me stay on course to developing music that accentuates my personality!
Do not emulate other artists, absorb them
Certainly, this does not mean that you should not learn any covers. On the contrary, artists should always be learning other artists' songs so that inspiration can be drawn from them. Too often however, musicians fall into the common trap of being too similar to another artist. Now you might be pretty good at sounding like that artist, hell, you may even be better at singing or playing the instrument than them, but people will have heard it before and that puts you at an incredibly large disadvantage. What I like to do is designate one cover at the start of every week from a genre that I usually do not listen to. You may not even be able to remember it after the next week starts but what's important is that you have played a different style with different rhythms, notes, beats and etc. Your brain is an amazing tool and playing these songs alone is enough to help contribute to your unique musical style in the long term.
Stay true to yourself
Ever since I started playing the guitar and singing, my style had always gravitated towards slower acoustic songs. However, like most kids my age, I was listening to headbanging bands such as The Mars Volta, Rage Against The Machine, or System of a Down and was basically in denial that I could not do what they did. As a musician, the hardest thing to grasp is acknowledging what you are best at. We must understand that just because we love a certain style of music does not mean that we should try to play it. People always responded positively when I played the songs I had written that were slower and more fitting for my voice, but when I tried to sing faster and harder with my band, the results were never as good. Since my realization, I have began to strongly develop my personal musical style at a much faster pace than ever before.
Be tasteful
Do not complicate your music with unnecessary notes and layers unless it fits into the grand scheme of the music. The last thing you want as an artist is music that sounds convoluted and schizophrenic. For many artists, the most difficult part of the songwriting process is determining when a song is finished. It is usually during this phase that people tend to add unnecessary layers for fear that parts of the song may sound too bare. Of course, knowing when this is or isn't true all comes with experience. My main advice is to follow your instinct. Listen to the song all the way through from the perspective of a casual listener. Convince yourself that you did not write this music. That way, you can be detached from your own material and if something sounds slightly out of place, you'll be able to critique it objectively.
Experiment and focus on your strengths
When I was a part of a band, all of our members had become so enamored with our self-designated roles and identities that we never experimented. I was firmly cemented as rhythm guitar/vocalist, with our bass player, lead guitar, and drummer. For the first couple of months, we wrote some good music. What we found however, was that eventually, we became firmly planted within our roles/identities and this reflected strongly in our music. Our new stuff became stale and seemingly recycled. We decided to abandon our roles for the band and focus on the music. What this entailed was that each member would contribute their largest strength in the context of the song. Our bass player started playing keys while our guitarist played bass. I stopped playing rhythm and focused on singing more unique vocal melodies. Or sometimes, I would play lead and sing while my lead played rhythm. Experiment folks! It will add a level of creativity and personality to your music that is difficult to do in confined roles.
Connect with your music
Finally, my last tip is to connect with your music. It sounds easier said than done but I have found that if you keep in mind the tips above, this one will come naturally. This is also the most important one because if you believe strongly in your music, it will show when you perform it. Just like getting someone to love you requires that you first love yourself, getting an audience to love your music requires just as much self-confidence and love in your work. And remember, if you write a song that you absolutely love, odds are in your favor that there is also someone else out there in the world who loves it! So be confident, express yourself, have fun, and I promise that connecting with your music will be a foregone conclusion.
