When it comes to material and musical construct, do not concern yourself with perspectives outside of your own. You are already made up of every variation of every state of being that you can possibly be in. Likewise, you are also made up of all possible continuums of your self that you might perceive as "alternate lives". At each and every moment, your continuum is changing. Infinite alternate realities split off of each moment of the continuum that you call life. As you choose a single reality for each moment in this continuum, all others are left as alternate realities. What this means is that there are many other continuums that are very close to this one. Continuums just as likely as the one that you find yourself in. And each of these shares the same history as your current continuum up to that moment. In the alternate continuums, you did not choose the reality that defines the continuum that you find yourself in here and now. These alternate continuums ARE YOU just as much as this one. The fact is that in reality, all choices are made and all eventualities exist. So, you can actually sense being in more than one dimension simultaneously. You can see the history continuing for your current continuum, and additional histories for one or more others, at the same time. This can provide you with an unlimited source for unique material. Of course, the material should always be derived from moments and states of being within this continuum. However, you can follow the split to an alternate continuum whose emotional flow is connected to the originating flow in your current continuum.
You can see examples of this in some of my music. For example, The song, The Dark Star, which is a simile of a man crushed by a relationship and how it is similar a star collapsing into a black hole. The events that describe the man's emotional collapse, and the resulting self, all of this is real in another continuum where I did in fact take that path rather than the one that I took to this continuum. That self is very much a part of me, yet it lies in another continuum close to me. Because I am in both continuums at once, both are part of me. That is to say, both ARE me. I live that reality side-by-side with this one (and others). IT IS of my personal experience, because I am that self just as I am the self that you see in this continuum. These are the kinds of alternate realities that you can include among your "direct experiences", because you ARE living those alternate continuums side-by-side with this continuum. You have so much uncharted territory of reality to express with your music, and it is all YOU!
There are no secret patterns to play to get a great sound. The great sound comes from inside of you and makes any pattern great. Personally, I prefer to use rather simple melodic constructs. I suppose this derived from my attempts to play rhythm, lead and bass all at the same time. As I mentioned earlier, I initially recorded three parts, rhythm, lead and bass in addition to vocals when I was first composing. I was still applying the traditional approach when recording, but found that I had to summarize these three parts greatly if I were going to be able to play them all simultaneously on stage. So, with the entire sound in my head, I began to play summarizations of the three parts as a single part. Of course, the end product did not sound at all like the original multi-tracking that I did, and most often, broke way into a new way of expressing myself that continues to expand. Some parts required a little thought given to construct to make sure that it fits right, but overall, it figures itself out. This process of summarization is a merging of continuums that will define new ways of playing for you. You will "feel" a sound that reflects the emotional intensity as you create it on the guitar. You push out sincere and genuine sound with your Self at this very moment, and your relationship to the moments that make up the emotional flow of the song. It may waver in the beginning. Do NOT be deterred. A fledgling start is an honest and sincere start. I went through it myself. Just relax, and feel the flow of the emotional energy as it flows through you and through your guitar.
It is important to understand that neither during composition, nor a performance, are you to think that you have to construct your music piece by piece, with the details of this material. That kind of thinking is just a variation of notes, keys, scales and such. It is not about building a work of art. It is about a living experience. It is life in motion. You are that living art. It is motion that you are expressing as you flow the energy through your guitar. Motion that flows with the states of BEing of specific selves of yours that follow a specific continuum. A flow that expresses an emotional state of BEing, or several, as you wake into your music and live the states of BEing again, that form the living art of your music. So, again, just relax, and feel the flow of the emotional energy as it flows through you and through your guitar. But do not follow IT. Flow with it, but maintain control of it as you expand the flow. In the ways that you do this, you will develop your own sounds and style.
I would like to point out a distinction here, that you should not make a sound and then determine what you think that it reflects from an emotional, experiential standpoint. That is not self-expression. That is searching for a subject to write about. When you play a sound on your guitar, it should be for the purpose of expressing your actual emotional state from a certain moment or a specific set of moments that are part of your continuum of self.
Express the emotions with your voice in concert with the sounds that you are making on your guitar. They will flow together, as the are naturally meant to do, with each following the same melody in their in their own way. When you are not reaching that state of being, then you are not pulling in enough energy to channel into your guitar and vocals. You must draw enough energy to sustain both guitar and vocals in clear form. And you must always be honest with yourself to truly be your self. You know what sounds good and what does not. Be your own judge. But be sincere above all. That is where real cool comes in. Do not indulge in sounds for the sake of sounds, whether you think it sounds cool or not. It is not sincere and you will come across sounding like a copycat wannabe, even if the sound is your expression. Yes, there will be times that you dive deep into a sound, a sound that is yours, and yours alone. But self-gratification is not just wasting your energy, it is also removing you from the self-expression classification and putting you in the "showing off skills of dexterity" classification. You will likely have to struggle with this for a while, until you understand. Personally, I noticed that every time that I tried to re-create something that sounded cool when I originally played it as a natural expression of self, it just didn't sound the same. It sounded somehow "artificial" and contrived. It also distracted me and dropped me out of the flow at times. But when I relax, and just stayed true to expressing myself, it always sounds cool and new each time that I play. Every expression from your guitar should be a sincere one and a direct expression of you. So if you want to sound cool, BE cool. The real definition of, and source of cool, is unfettered, sincere expression of self. Unwilling to be party to anyone's manipulations. Defiant, but composed. Be your natural self. Unapologetic, unruffled by others, nothing can sway you from your course, from what you are. You radiate your confident and sincere sense of self across the moments with an intensity that brings the energy of all of those moments into each and every individual component moment. And a continuum of moments define a dimension of self. You actively create it just by being. And the intensity with which you are "being" unifies these moments, making them part of the continuum, and that is the bridge of the extra-dimensional energy conversion into physical form here and now as sound.
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