The Imitation Trap

Can you figure out how to play your game by playing someone else's?

When I first started to learn to play jazz guitar, several teachers told me that to become a better improviser, I had to transpose and learn solos from other great guitarists.

It was bullsh*t advice.

Sure, they could play an endless array of imitation riffs originally created by my heroes like Charlie Christian and Django Reinhardt.

But while I would cut out and donate my own kidney to watch these originators perform live, I wouldn't cross the street to listen to one of these copycats.

Every one of those teachers had a degree from some fancy school with a jazz program.

Further evidence that the academy is where art goes to die.

You can't get where you want or what you want by following a road map and directions everyone else uses.

You must learn to use a compass and navigate your own path.

To find my voice and play my game as a jazz guitarist, I still listened to my hero's recordings, but instead of transposing and playing their solos note for note, I listened for and employed themes I heard across performances.

Charlie Christian's repetitive, bluesy phrasing and Django's playful trills and flourishes informed my solos but weren't carbon copies.

Instead of being a copycat, I became a conceptualist.

I listened to horn players and vocalists for inspiration.

Miles Davis taught me that intimacy and space could be powerful. Billie Holiday's limited vocal range revealed that pacing and articulation made for more evocative (and provocative) performance.

You can play the imitation game but can't win it because you're always following someone else's lead.

Sure, listen for good ideas and novel approaches. But if you're to have any chance of playing and winning your game, you will have to make them your own.

Where have you fallen into or settled for the imitation trap?

Isn't it time you decided to figure out your way forward in the game of life? 

Scott Perry, Encore Life Coach at Creative on Purpose

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