The Ethical Way To STEAL Guitar Licks From Your Guitar Heroes
Who is the most original guitar player ever existed?
We can fight hours and hours on the answer - and I don’t think that there is ONE right answer.
Buuut… what if we ask this question to a random person in the street, what would they answer?
Most likely, their answer will be “Jimi Hendrix”
(Just like “the greatest scientist” is Albert Einstein)
It is would be a shock to these people to realize that Jimi actually stole a good part of his style from other guitarists.
And the thing is… that is all good. It does not diminish Jimi’s greatness.
Of course if you ask anybody on the internet they’ll tell you: copying other musicians is bad. (Incidentally, these are the same people that will happily sell you a book of licks. “Don’t copy your guitar hero licks: buy mine!” )
But take another super-talented musician, the child prodigy par excellence: W.A. Mozart
The first 4 or so Mozart concertos are clearly inspired by Haydn concertos. And when I say “inspired” I mean “practically copied”.
So… is stealing ideas good or bad for us musicians? When should we do it and when should we not do it?
I’m answering all this here… and I’m already expecting some fireworks in the comments.
(Come for the original video, stay for the entertaining trolls in the comments)
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