One Guitar, Many Paths, Miles.

Miles was a boy who lived music in a simple way, without pretensions or great complications. You know, he only lived off it, but without it being what ruled his life. But over time, the guitar became his best friend. And it went from being an instrument to earn a living to being a passion that revolved around everything he did. He walks around with his guitar on his shoulder. He plays in private concerts, in neighborhood bars and on the corners of the city. Of course, you couldn't say that he was a prodigy or anything like that, but the way he tried to find something different every time he played spoke of a desire to break away from the usual. In other words, he always tries to make each concert different from the previous one or that each song has something that makes it more special than the last one he sang.

His style consists of that, always trying to improve a little more even if it costs him energy and time. For some time now he has been realizing that the songs he made with his guitar felt more and more forced. It was as if he were imitating others instead of playing something of his own. That feeling distressed him quite a bit because what he likes is to be original in everything he does and this feeling of seeming like a copy of what others did could not continue. For example, he wanted that when someone heard his music they would say, “Look, there’s Miles playing,” because it was different. So this feeling opened his eyes to the fact that the time had come to go out and look for something that would make him different, something that would give his music a personal touch.

That is why he set out to travel around the city to look for new influences and experiences for his life. For example, sometimes he would go to squares where street artists improvised with instruments he had never seen before. This way he could see what they did to stay original and in this way he knew how to improve his music without seeming like a copy of others or of themselves, of those he was watching how they did it. The truth is that in every corner of the city people offered him something, the culture is very rich and with almost anything you can design the lyrics of a song as well as the rhythm. What you have to have is a good ear and start looking carefully.

In a meeting with an older musician at a train station, for example, he was told stories of long nights, of mistakes and successes that made him see that the search for a sound was not something that was achieved in one go, but that it was built with each experience, however small it was. That is the beauty of being a musician, and that was what he wanted to find. That older man told him that if he wanted to be more original he should think more about himself than looking for the example of others, because otherwise he would end up copying. It is better to express what one wants. That taught him a lot and as he learned it was a mistake. So little by little, those experiences began to change him for something more positive.

That older man had a great impact because he had not thought that originality is within oneself, not in others. So he could have looked for inspiration in other musicians forever but he never knew if he took it he would only end up copying and copying. Of course it is not bad to learn from others but we should not rule our way of doing things by how others do it.

The result of all this was that after several months of rest at home, which he took advantage of to study his style and music, he came back with a renewed mind. The music he started to make now was more his own, and less from others in the sense that he didn't take references from other songs to design his own. Now people have started to recognize him as Miles the guitar man who is different, because his songs are very good but the best thing is that they are original. And all thanks to the advice of an old man. Miles tried to find him again to thank him but he never saw him again. He didn't even know his name, but well at least he had his advice. Nobody knows if one day he will see him again. Miles now had his guitar on his shoulder again and many paths to choose from, that's the beauty of music.

Credits: The images used are free to use and royalty free. They were taken from pixabay.