i find it fascinating how you find inspiration in the most random places and ways. over the past several years i did almost all of my musical learning by myself. i consumed anything i could watch, listen to, or read always looking for that next piece of information to help unlock this puzzle. i feel like i got pretty skilled at identifying when something seemed like it was important or could apply to my situation, and i was usually right. i'd start researching that concept and get it under my fingers as best as i could. if something sounded too advanced or didn't appear to be something that i was interested in, i'd pass on it for something that was more reasonable.

though, sometimes things just slip through the cracks. i'm a rock guy, through and through. although i do like some stuff in other genres, it's rock that gets me going. so, needless to say that's where my musical focus has been since... well, the beginning. so when sifting through the endless amount of information on the internet about music theory, lessons, practices, exercises, and tasty licks, if something is about funk, or the blues, or jazz... or country, it gets a real brief scan and then a pass. there's no point in working on those b-bender licks for some chickin' pickin' country if i'm never, and i mean ever, going to play it. that's not saying it's bad and i don't like it, it's just being realistic and efficient with my time. 

a few weeks ago i was looking for some new songs to learn on bass and decided i was going to learn something by the police. i started listening to some of their old stuff and before you know it i had started researching reggae drum patterns then onto jazz. to be 100% transparent, i have zero interest in playing reggae or jazz but i can appreciate them for what they are and take from them what i feel is important. i'm certainly not going to be playing at the newport rastafest this year.

from reggae i learned that i had been feeling the rhythm all wrong... well, as wrong as anyone can tell you your feelings are. having minimal ear time on reggae i had always heard it through the rock lens as a fairly down-tempo genre with the snare on the 2 and 4 backbeat. i mean, that's completely reasonable given that we are programmed to hear the backbeat that way. only by researching the drum patterns did i learn that the one is dropped and snare and kick are on the 3... i mean... what? i. have. been. so. wrong.

listening to reggae and the police now has a completely different feel. counting and feeling the rhythm as the musicians felt when they wrote it has given it entirely new and fresh context. it has also shown me that i cannot swing to save my life.

the take away here is that sometimes researching genres that you're not into may open your eyes to a variety of new ideas.