More Advice Needed. Trying To Be A Jack Of All Trades.

[Jak Angelescu]

I’m a Kansas City girl who grew up on the blues. As I got older and fell in love with players like Joe Perry, Slash, Jimmy Page and Angus Young and I found myself wanting to learn the actual blues. I grew up in a musical family and was always around classical music because my grandmother was a pianist for a church and my brother played piano too. So when I went out to Los Angeles I enrolled in college for classical guitar because I fell in love with it. THEN freaking Synyster Gates has to come along with his damn dad and be all ‘laddie-daddie-dah check out my snazzy ass gypsy jazz” and I fell IN LOVE with jazz. But living in the midwest naturally I grew up around the love of country because of my singer. And I went mad over the fast fingerpicking style from Dolly Parton. I want to learn it all. I also dream of playing the banjo one day.
Last night I found my old college schoolbooks from classical guitar. And I missed it so badly. But there are so many styles I want to learn and be good at.
Do you think this is a possibility or am I bound to be a “jack of all trades, master of none” kind of person?

 

[Sayonil Mitra]

Definitely you can. Depends on how much time you can give on each one. This is something I always wanted to do. But little differently. I wanted to learn guitar, drums, piano and dancing (Angel Vivaldi anyone?) at the same time. But guitar took hell lots of time. If you can manage time and be equally interested in all of them, JAK of all trades…sure.

 

[Filip Tomiša]

It’s definitely a possibility. If you limit yourself in your head you’ll never be able to learn other styles but if you tell yourself that you can do it and that you won’t limit yourself then you are gonna learn them. The thing is that the learning process is sooooooo slow that it always seems like it’s impossible but in the long run you are eventually gonna learn them cause you progress each day but you don’t really notice.

 

[idssdi]

I definetely think it should be possible. Personally I play a bunch of different styles but there are definetely 1 (or 2 depending how good you think I’m at playing gypsy jazz) which I feel the most comfortable with and that is kinda bound to happen. I’don’t love to be great at playin metal, classical, country and a that stuff but the truth is my classical is very limited and my country as well and for metal I think the only songs I can actually play are A7x songs and not being that interested in metal at the same time(I love A7x btw just in case there’s a misunderstanding there). I’ll probably end up being really good at Blues and gypsy jazz type stuff in the end and use all the other stuff I like as influence and add it in the stuff I do really like. I’m rambling a little bit but I think in the end there’s always going to be 1 or 2 styles that have your preference so you will practice those more so not sure it is possible to master all of them actually.

 

[Noah Berends]

The full saying is “Jack of all trades, master of none, but better than a master of one”. I say go for it, they will all have their own influence on your personal style. I like to learn multiple styles but I prioritize based on which I simply like the best.

 

[Brian Haner Sr.]

YES! YES! YES! I started out by ear when I was a kid playing classic rock stuff; blues, etc. Then I discovered jazz when I was about 14. I still played rock while I was studying jazz with Ted Greene & Joe Pass. But those jazz licks started to make my rock playing stand out from other players. Joe was all about finger style jazz (though he also used a pick), so I stated working on finger style – which led to a few classical lessons with a local teacher. I would never call myself a classical player, but I use those basic techniques all the time with blues/jazz/country stuff. Along the way I also became a fairly proficient piano player – which was the BEST thing ever in regards to understanding theory. In the early 2000’s – I started getting calls for country sessions, so I studied up on country. In addition to country guitar, I learned to play mandolin, banjo & steel guitar. NOT GREAT, but enough to get by. If I don’t have to “blaze” a solo, I can add basic tracks to any songs using those instruments. Brian Jr. has had a huge influence on me regarding economy picking & sweeping – so I have that in my tool box as well. A7X asked me to play sitar for their Grammy show. So I bought one and spent a week on it until I was comfortable playing melodies. Am I a crazy good sitar player? Hell no. But I can play basic melodies and solo a bit. That led to a sitar session a couple of weeks ago with The Ventures – who wanted a sitar to follow the basic melody of the song.
Long story longer. Everything you learn informs your playing. I can play piano voicings on a guitar because I understand piano. I can play banjo licks on a guitar because I understand banjo. I can play Gypsy licks during a rock solo because I understand Gypsy. I don’t look at as “OK, Now I’m going to play Gypsy jazz and nothing else.” I look at it as another tool in my tool box that will make me a better overall musician.
It seems like there simply isn’t enough time to do al the things you want to. But consider that when you start playing Gypsy, you are still playing guitar. It’s not like you’re taking up volleyball. You will still be practicing right & left hand technique AND you will be studying something that is completely different harmonically than you are used to – which can only make you better. Trust me. Your overall guitar playing and musicianship will benefit from it.
My schedule this past week:
Sunday: Acoustic duo with my daughter – singing light classic stuff. Steel string acoustic
Tuesday: Outside patio bar in Palm Springs playing nylon string Bossa Nova.
Wednesday: Session – arranging & recording orchestral strings for a track.
Thursday: Bar gig as a single – Playing & singing classic rock & fusion (to tracks I recorded). Everything from Beatles to Queen to Return to Forever to Steely Dan. Les Paul & Strat.
Friday: Patio bar in Palm Desert – straight jazz guitar, no tracks.
Saturday: Same as Tuesday.
Point being – I’m using all I have learned over the years. It’s all still music and it’s all still me.
Now go soak up some new music and be the most multifaceted you that you can be.
If I didn’t believe in you, I wouldn’t care so much.
Rant over.

 

[Jak Angelescu]

Just to let you all know, there are times where I get so many heartwarming responses on here, I print them off and keep them up in my practice area. Just in case I ever feel discouraged, confused, whatever. You all have seriously helped me in ways I can’t even describe. I really mean it. I feel the biggest skip in my step now. I literally read all of these and said “I’m doing it. I’m DOING it.”
Much MUCH MUCH love.
I wish you all lived in Kansas City so I could exploit my singer into giving you all free massages