Copying versus Inventing

[croloff]

First off, I don't think there is anything negative about emulating your favorite guitar player or trying get one of his licks down "exactly" how he does it. But I always am a little amiss when I read that someone on here has been trying "for years" to get Stream down by Tim Reynolds or to be able to play and sing The Stone by Dave.

Here are my thoughts: you will NEVER get it down how Dave does it, you will never sing and sound like Dave does. That is why Dave is Dave, John Mayer is John Mayer, and so on. When I hear a band cover a song and try to sound JUST LIKE the original it is a joke. They may sound similar but who cares! it is not their creation!

Yes, learn from their styles, emulate their muting, their percussive sound but try to create your own sound. Just think if you spent years or months inventing your own sound rather than copying someone else's!! NO ONE WILL BE ABLE TO PLAY YOUR SONGS OR LICKS BETTER THAN YOU! Be creative, be inventive.

Just my thoughts...now I have to go try to get that Neon song down by John Mayer, I'm going to spend months trying to get it.