Copying your favorite artists

[JPBass]

With so much available on youtube and in book form, also add streaming audio sites to the mix, there is an endless plethora of information out there to use for the betterment of musicianship skill. Does anyone care to chime in on how this effects the honing of your own individual voice on your instrument? We don't exclusively have to talk about bass necessarily. I'll start. For years I learned bass parts, exploring the great R&B players, Jamerson, Rainey, Jemmott, Dunn, Kay, Weeks, Pino, Blackstone, Jaco etc. After a while you catch yourself saying what would so and so do here. Sadly this misses the point of "being, or playing in the moment". While you are wondering what so and so would do, you've missed the train, because music moves in forward motion. So at a certain point in my musical development I had a teacher who encouraged me to improvise, to make stuff up on the fly. This led to discovery, which is in fact the most significant educational tool. Hope to hear some stories on how you've developed your own voice on your instrument. Thanks, and keep the groove strong!