Guitarists limit themselves if they think that all of their musical inspiration (both technical and creative) can come only from other guitarists. In clinics I stress the importance of listening to singers and a wide variety of instrumentalists to expand our abilities creatively.
With repeated exposure to a particular musician, a guitarist will find subtle elements of his or her approach changing and growing. This somewhat mysterious process of assimilating someone else's ideas and gradually transforming them into a personal vocabulary happens with repetition of listening and through osmosis. For example, a critical element for me in improvisation is the use of space, and a very deliberate sense of where one's phrases begin and end. By listening to musicians who must breathe physically, namely horn players and vocalists, I've derived a sense of how to shape my own phrases and use silence creatively. Jazz guitar master Jim Hall has said this also by indicating that he was influenced early in his career by saxophonists Ben Webster and Lester Young.
Horn players and singers can offer us more to apply as guitarists, namely the use of various expressive vibratos and an awareness of the importance of tone. In the case of the latter, we may be concerned with amps, pickups and strings, but the necessity of a good sound is still something we should be dealing with, however we produce it and whatever our concept of that sound is.
Pianists can also inspire us in several ways. It's difficult to appropriate the wonderful close intervals of Bill Evans, one of the most sensitive pianists of his generation, but we can develop the ability to stretch our hands to accommodate some of his inversions, and open strings combined with fretted notes in a chord can also create a pianistic effect. Lenny Breau, Ted Greene and Allan Holdsworth are all guitarists who have been influenced by piano voicings. The way that keyboard players employ rhythm in their accompaniment is also useful to us. The use of ostinatos (repeated rhythmic figures), pedal points and particular syncopations are used by any competent pianist, and we as guitarists could generally use all of the above more effectively. These devices set up a dialogue in the rhythm section, and give the soloists more to react to as they improvise. The process of osmosis has worked here for me; I've never studied a written piano accompaniment on the page, but as a result of years of listening to people like Herbie Hancock and Bill Evans, I have a general feel for the way that they played behind and inspired soloists. I haven't consciously copied their voicings or rhythmic concepts, but I know that their broad concepts inform my own accompaniment.
Drummers can provide us with important information in a number of areas. Listening to percussionists like Jack DeJohnette, Tony Williams and Elvin Jones has taught me volumes about phrasing over the bar line, playing odd groupings of notes, and becoming comfortable with a variety of syncopations that I can use in my improvised lines. Good drummers are also always using dynamics and a variety of textures as they play, and we should be aware of both of those elements in our playing as guitarists as well.
Bassists have been useful for me to study their general time feel and their use of various rhythmic devices like triplets. I frequently use the lower register of my own instrument when I solo, and that may be because I've listened to enough bass lines and solos that I'm comfortable hearing in that range. I also will incorporate a bass part in a chord melody or during my improvisations if I'm playing solo.
I should stress again that most of the inspiration and information that I've gotten from musicians on other instruments has come from extensive and repeated listening to these great players. You'll incorporate various stylistic elements into your own playing from other sources and gradually make them more personal in hands-on situations using them night after night. The process of feeling your own musical personality emerging is a gradual but very satisfying one. We're all works in progress, and on a musical journey together.
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