My blog focuses on General Education and Entertainment/New Talent. Music is potentially the most rewarding artform there is, and a very powerful one. At some point you have to specialize with one area, but which one should it be? The following contributed post is entitled, How Do You Determine What Musician You Should Be.
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It’s fair to say there are multiple musical genres out there, all of them with something wonderful to offer. They also move in cycles. It’s arguable that for a time, hip-hop was as culturally significant than the chokehold rock had during the 90s and early 2000s.
Moreover, with the advent of AI tools and the ability to self-release music online (no matter what you think about both), experimenting and learning the basics of how to produce music is more possible than ever.
But how do you determine what kind of music you should make, and what musician you should be? Well, in some respects, these decisions are made naturally for you. It’s not as if artist pick from a completely blank canvas, their interests, tastes and background will absolutely play a part. But that doesn’t mean you have to make dancehall music simply because you were born in Jamaica. There is a wide valley of options out there and you can experiment with multiple art forms if you home to.
But how do you determine where to begin in the interim? Let’s discuss that, below:
Consider The Genres & Artists You Most Love
You’d be surprised how many people skip right past the music that actually moves them and try to chase what they think will be popular or profitable instead. It’s fine if the artists you find yourself coming back to over and over again, whose songs you know every word to without even trying are probably giving you some pretty clear signals about what resonates with you musically.
So if you’ve been obsessed with Radiohead for years and always wondered how they create such layered, atmospheric soundscapes, or perhaps you can’t get enough of how certain jazz pianists make even the most complex progressions work, that’s a sign.
Pay attention to what you listen to when you’re driving alone, what you put on when you’re cleaning the house, or what you reach for when you need comfort after a rough day. These choices are often telling you something about the kind of musical energy you connect with. You might discover you’re drawn to the storytelling aspect of folk music, for example, and want to express yourself that way.
What Music News Do You Gravitate To?
The music blogs and publications you find yourself reading without being prompted to can reveal a lot about where your interests really lie, even if you haven’t been thinking about it consciously. If you’re always checking sites like DLK Longue for the latest in low fi and jazz news, you’re probably someone who values discovering new sounds. If you like reading Resident Advisor, which is to do with techo, house and electronic music, that might be an indication of your preference.
Of course it’s not just about vibe either, because some people are fascinated by the business side of music and find themselves reading about label deals and industry trends. That might still surround a certain industry. You could also be more interested in the cultural impact of certain movements or how specific scenes developed in different cities, how like Northern Soul came to be.Again, this can direct you.
Which Instruments & Sounds Are You Drawn To?
You might find that you’re drawn to instruments you’ve never even played but always found lovely to listen to, such as being inspired by how saxophone can sound both smooth and gritty depending on how it’s played, or how certain piano voicings can make chord progressions feel sophisticated and complex.
You don’t have to limit yourself to instruments you already know how to play either, because part of finding your musical identity involves being willing to explore new sounds and techniques that intrigue you. You might have been playing guitar for five years but take to violin like nothing else, for instance. So don’t limit yourself.
How Do You Like To Perform?
Some musicians find themselves loving their presence in front of crowds and feed off that energy, but it’s fine if you just prefer the more limited setting of a small room, or even to have a “persona” like MF Doom or Slipknot or Sleep Token or many other bands that have specific uniforms of outfits for their art.
As you can see, sometimes the theatrical aspects of performance with visual elements and storytelling can make you larger than life. There’s a reason Elton John wore such huge and loud outfits, because that’s how he felt his music should be connected with. If you like to perform in a certain way or have been thinking about it, that could be a possible nudge in the right direction!
What Do You Have To Say?
Music doesn’t always have to carry a deep message, but most interesting music comes from artists who have some kind of perspective or experience they want to share, even if it’s just about creating a certain feeling or atmosphere. Lyricicism is poetry for the most part, and can be very personal to you even if no one is going to understand it.
You can also have emotions you want to explore through your art, or observations about the world that feel important to you. You don’t have to monologue like Bob Dylan does of course, that’s the great thing about your music, you can express yourself in more than just sentences or words. But saying something is appropriate, again, even if it’s just an emotion through instrumental. But it is important to consider what you have to present no matter the project, unless you’re putting together an album about vapid, vague statements completely, which could be its own form of art, too.
What Are Your Strengths?
Being honest about what you’re naturally skilled with can help you find musical directions that play to those strengths while still challenging you to grow. Now, that doesn’t mean you are required to be a maestro at the bass guitar, but having a great ear for melody, a natural sense of rhythm, or a voice that can flutter in the right places could be a good sign. You just might be someone who’s really good at hearing how different instruments can work together in a mix, or perhaps you just you have strong instincts about song structure and pacing. It all counts, and you should lean on that.
Which Gigs Have You Most Enjoyed?
If you’ve had opportunities to play music in different settings, it’s healthy to think about which experiences left you feeling energized and excited, and of course, which ones felt like work or made you uncomfortable. Perhaps you loved playing background music at a coffee shop because it gave you space to experiment and try new things without pressure, or perhaps you discovered you love screaming into a mic while it rains, shirtless, with a guitar on a strap and your backup band going hard with you.
Many artist will find that certain types of venues or audiences bring out different aspects of your musical personality. Think about how Kurt Cobain often was on stage and also how he came across during his iconic MTV Unplugged performance, where he showed a whole different side to him and his art. But to explore these parts of yourself you really do have to be open to explore them, and to get out there with confidence to explore the best outcome.
What Tools Do You Have Access To?
Now and again the practical considerations, and better yet limitations, can help you challenge yourself. The truth is that if you have access to a full recording studio with vintage analog equipment, something might be lost than when you were recording tracks into your downloaded audio software through a simple mic. Work with what you have, even if you get the free license of production software for Christmas and that’s it.
Believe it or not, sometimes having fewer options actually leads to more interesting results because you’re forced to be creative within those constraints, which can help artists in any industry, like when an author has their work edited down to improve the pacing of the plot and the narrative.
What Theory Do You Know?
Your level of formal musical training will definitely influence how you approach creating music, but it doesn’t have to determine what kind of music you make. If you have a strong background in classical theory, you you may want to showcase more complex harmonic progressions and arrangements, but you could just as easily use that knowledge to create surprisingly simple music that gets maximum impact too.
It’s fine if you don’t know music theory of course, because if you’re mostly self-taught and work more intuitively, you could find you already have a natural feel for certain patterns or musical shapes that trained musicians sometimes ignore or just think too much about to overdo it. In general, we’d say that to break the rules well it’s always good to know what they are, and there’s no harm that comes from learning music theory (it can frame what you’re trying to do for the better), but it could hamper you not to learn. Moreover, learning it can also inspire you in certain directions you’re more keen on.
With this advice, we hope you can more easily determine what musician you should be, or rather, what you hope to be.
