One size does not fit all

Today with the Internet there are so many sources and resources for musicians to learn from that there is not possibly enough time to go through it all. Every author, or website thinks that they can provide the best information for you to learn better, faster, while you sleep!! Marketing has a powerful way of appealing to those that are seduced by the distinction of being a musician yet dont want to make the effort necessary to become one. Therefore we tend to see marketing copy such as learn guitar in 6 easy lessons or the like.

The truth is that there is no one size fits all method to learning an instrument. Musicians become musicians because they are inspired by what they have heard. They are motivated to want to replicate or produce a sound that has personally affected them and will tend to veer towards that sound. So they begin the journey - the journey of learning the foundation of music, discovering, deciphering, learning, practicing and striving to get closer and closer to understanding the origins of that initial influence that sent them on the journey. But the beauty of music is that it is a road with no destination. Each musician is constantly searching for new ways to play things and forever discovering new directions. This involves trying different methods, various philosophies, and studying different players until we come across something that makes sense to us. This is how each player comes to develop ones own character.

If you look at the jazz world and all its musicians you will find stark differences in how they view a set of chord changes or approach a tune. The great guitarist Joe Pass would reduce things down to their simplest form. He insisted on removing the complexities of say a G7b5#9 chord. Instead he would view a chord as being either a major, minor or dominant. He explained that this would free up his ability to improvise. As another example, Wes Montgomery would see a dominant chord and view it as the relative minor seventh of that dominant. This approached helped him to develop his beautiful distinct sound. Many Sax players have an approach built around arpeggios etc.

There is a foundation of musical theory that exists. The key of C has no flats or no sharps. That is a fact and nothing will change it. This is a purely analytical side. There are more than enough books on the market or websites on the Internet that explain the basics of music.

However, when you start to understand all the possibilities and options at your disposal and you search to find ways of modifying sounds or making them more interesting, that is when music becomes an art. That is when musicians begin to interpret things in original ways and see things in a way that makes sense to them. This is the point where each musician really begins his learning journey and never stops. You begin to study and copy others, maybe copy their approach or create one of your own. There is no one size that fits all at this point. Besides, if there were one way to learn, play and interpret music the world would probably be a very boring place.