Why You Should Explore Different Musical Genres

Do you have a favourite artist you listen to all the time? Or maybe a playlist you have on repeat? Maybe your friends suggest other artists to you and you say naaah, not my cup of tea. I was definitely guilty of this in my first few years of learning guitar. During the first 2 years of learning guitar, I would ONLY listen to blues, alternative and classic rock (such a guitarist thing to do). I absolutely refused to listen to other genres of music such as pop, RnB, jazz, metal, country, etc. Around my 4th year of playing guitar, I started to branch out and explore different genres.

Here is why you should explore different musical genres:

Expanding Your Palate

Listening to different kinds of music introduces you to new concepts, techniques, tones, rhythmic patterns, melodies, playing styles, the list goes on and on. Being exposed to all of those things listed previously allows you to diversify your playing and often enhances your preferred style. There are so many new techniques I subconsciously use in my playing just by learning music that I don’t usually listen to. It allows you to become more creative in your preferred style.

Think of it like your actual palate. If you taste the same flavours all the time, it would get boring and bland. You’d get so sick of the same flavour right? I would…

Your musical journey is like an empty pan. If you only add butter to the pan, sure you’ll have more butter, but all you’re going to taste is butter. Add eggs and wow already a new flavour. Add bacon and you got yourself a meal. 

What I love about working at Eliette’s Music Academy is that all the tutors have their own genres/style that they play. So when we have an impromptu jam, I hear and learn new melodies, rhythms, or tones. We often share songs we love to jam and everyone learns something by the end of the jam session (make sure you ask your tutor what kind of music they like to play and maybe they’ll play something for you!)

Versatility in Your Playing

When listening and learning different genres, you equip yourself with a larger vocabulary. Your instrument isn’t made for one type of music. It can do so many things and that all depends on you. Embracing techniques from different genres allows your creativity to grow and adapt to different musical contexts. 

You may have noticed that your tutor encourages you to increase your repertoire as you progress in lessons. The point of this is to diversify what you can play and often makes other songs easier to learn. 

Here’s another analogy for you. When you are learning how to speak and write, we start with basic words. As you grow older, you learn more words and you’re able to express yourself through your expanded vocabulary. Without learning more words, we would speak like cavemen. “Me like guitar, play fun, I strum”. That was me trying to convey speaking like a caveman through text. Versatility in your playing not only increases your knowledge and skill on your instrument, it also allows you to be more creative, which brings me to my next point

Enhancing Creativity

Integrating techniques from a multitude of genres breaks creative boundaries. A lot of recent songs are pushing boundaries from the “norms'' of what their genre is.The blending of different genres has been present for a very long time. Old RnB music from the early 2000s or even the 90s use elements of jazz, hip-hop, and funk. While modern RnB still uses those elements, they have integrated elements of EDM, latin, trap, indie, soul, disco, I could go on and on.

Musicians, songwriters, and producers are constantly finding new ways to be creative and they cannot do that without exploring different genres and taking ideas from them. Breaking creative boundaries doesn’t mean you’re abandoning the type of music you like, you’re enhancing it. I encourage you to approach your musical journey with a fresh perspective and experiment with different genres. You might even find different ways to play the same song.

Every week I am introduced to so many songs and I really appreciate that students are comfortable enough to share their music. It’s great listening to so many genres and I always hear something cool in every song.

I don’t have an analogy for the third point but I hope this has inspired you to be open to all genres of music.

Good luck, have fun, and play your instruments!

Written By - Marcella Adisurya (HOD Guitar)