GUITAR
FINDING YOUR VOICE | James Duke
One of the most common conversations I
have with other aspiring guitar players is about
how I approach my lead guitar playing and
part writing. I always begin by telling them
that it starts with developing the melodic and
improvisational side of your playing. You have
to practice that area of your playing just as
much as you do your technique, theory, scales,
etc. I would argue that those other areas can’t
be utilized to their potential without a developed
mentors in my life that believed in me and gave
Allow yourself
time to explore
me the opportunity to develop as a player.
So, how do you start developing your own
melodic, improvisational playing? Maybe you
don’t have an outlet where you are allowed to
and mess up
play and stretch out musically. Maybe you don’t
and learn how
find yourself in band situations where you have
the freedom to improvise and make mistakes
and meander until you find just the right part for
melodic sensibility. notes feel that particular song.
I started playing guitar when I was 13 years over specific You don’t have a place where you can jam?
old. I had no guitar playing aspirations prior to
that, but at some point, my two best friends
decided they were guitar players and I was not
going to be left out of that club. We took guitar
lessons together. Three of us in a room with our
guitar teacher. Bless his heart. During our first
Well, you are going to have to create one
for yourself. Crank that stereo (or Bluetooth
chords and
speaker or whatever people are using these
progressions.
lesson, he taught us a blues progression and
days), put on your favorite album, and play
along. Be their lead guitar player. Do you have
a looper? Make up progressions and play
over them. Allow yourself time to explore and
we all played the blues together. Our teacher all their guitar parts, made up some of my mess up and learn how notes feel over specific
would show us a place on the neck where own, doubled the vocal melodies… I dove in. chords and progressions. That’s how you start
we could play a solo, and we were off to the There were plenty of times where I’d be playing developing your own language and sound.
races. As you guitar players know, when we well into the night and my older brother would play our very first blues solo, we immediately come in and threaten to throw my amp out of Do you have enough musician friends to make
become the best guitar player alive. We feel the window if I didn’t stop. I don’t totally blame a band? Put a band together and jam! Create a
invincible and like Eric Clapton. We are ready him. I wasn’t very good and I only had about 3 space where you can stretch out musically and
to step on stage and blow people’s minds. We (fine… 2) guitar licks to my name that I played get those melodic wheels turning in your brain.
are hooked. Obviously, I had plenty of room for over and over… and over. I was learning, The more opportunities you create for yourself,
improvement, so I kept going to my lessons though, and I kept doing it. You can’t really the more you will find yourself hearing parts and
every week. We would do the same thing again hurt a solid-state amp by throwing it out of the melodies in your head. The more you stretch
and again. I look back on those lessons now window, anyway. The better I got, the more out and develop your improvisational side, the
and realize what an impact they had on my bands I played in. I was lucky to find myself in less intimidated you will be when someone
lead guitar playing. He was teaching me how a lot of musical situations where I was allowed points at you on stage and says, “Take a solo!”
to improvise, how to think melodically, and how to be creative, make up my own parts and, (The most dreaded 3 words a lot of musicians
to develop my musical language. Those were frankly, make mistakes. I had some incredible can hear.) The more you work, the more you
important lessons.
find your voice. It’s one of the best things you
can do as a musician. Now go jam.
That lead me to the typical 10 hour practice/
jam times in my room, amp cranked, stereo
blaring U2, Aerosmith, Led Zeppelin, Guns ‘N
Roses, Ron Kenoly (Ancient of Days, y’all.), The
Cure, Pixies, The Cranberries… I jammed with
them all. I was their lead guitar player. I learned
96
Ron Kenoly // Ancient of Days
February 2019
James Duke
James is a musician, songwriter, and producer from
Jacksonville Beach, Florida. Most known for playing
guitar alongside artists like John Mark McMillan, Matt
Redman, Johnnyswim, and Steven Curtis Chapman,
James also records his own music under the name
All The Bright Lights. He currently lives in Nashville,
Tennessee with his wife and 3 kids..
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