Exploring new styles.

Exploring new styles of playing will make you a better musician. They best way to do this is to play with people who have different styles than yourself. As I have told you before, in my first band, I played with a guitarist who played exactly like the Goo Goo Dolls with little variation from that style. I learned how to play lead guitar over anything he wrote. This helped reinforce my skills as a lead guitarist. My next band was formed around my cousin who raps. Wildly different style than before. Now I was the only guitarist, so I had to arrange and play the rhythm tracks in addition to playing any solos. This was a big step in developing because I wrote the songs except for the lyrics. Technically, that's being an arranger, but I was still a huge part of me growing as a musician. Now, that band is on a hiatus because nobody seems to have time for it. So, I've come to that point where I've started writing my own songs and singing my own words. It has been a long time coming and the different bands along the way have gotten me to this point. While I am writing my own material, I am also still playing with my cousin who raps, a friend from high school who plays folk rock and a friend from college who plays pop-like blues. Doing all these at the same time keeps my energy and music ideas flowing. This forces me to think differently about playing constantly and thus making me learn more along the way.

What I suggest is to keep exploring new musicians to play with, even if you just jam for fun every once in a while. It will help you develop as it did me.