Maybe you’re in a practice rut and you wonder if trying something new would free everything up. Maybe you realized that the Kreutzer you play at your lessons does not remotely resemble the crunk in your iPod. Or maybe there was this cello riff on the radio that sounded so cool, and you’re just asking yourself, “How hard can it be?”

Back in the days when blues violinist Lionel Young was a classical violin student at Carnegie Mellon in Pittsburgh, he felt the same way. “Whenever I would hear anything on the radio, I would usually try to pick it out on whatever I was holding.”

For most players, that’s as far as it ever goes. After all, playing the music they’ve always played is easier, and most started lessons when they were so little they can’t even remember choosing a style.

But for others, once they’ve plucked up the courage to try new things, there’s no stopping them.

Do Your Homework
You know what you like when you hear it, even if you don’t know what it’s called. It’s not too hard to tell the difference between rock and Celtic and East Indian music. But was that band you heard playing bluegrass, old-time, or western swing? And what’s the difference between Gypsy and klezmer, anyhow? It makes a big difference if that intense screeching you were getting into was notated experimental classical or improvised free jazz, particularly when it comes time to try to find more of it.

At a live show there are always people to ask, though someone in the actual band might have more answers than, say, that guy dancing with his tie around his head. As usual, there’s always something on the Internet. If your best friend’s MP3 player says the violin player you liked was, say, Lili Haydn, you can Google her and find out not only what other albums she has out, but that some sites describe her style as “pop electronica.” Then you search “violinist popelectronica,” and discover other artists you’ll probably like, like Vanessa Mae and Bond.

You may never hear from that bass player again, but do an Amazon.com search for “jazz violin” and you’ll have jazz violin albums and audio samples coming out of your ears!

But why would you want to actually try to play that stuff yourself?

Some people feel the need to be part of the music they’ve discovered and squeeze it out of their own strings. Others just like challenges—not just the ones you can’t escape, like realizing you’ll never be able to put vibrato on those double-stops, but those special challenges we choose for ourselves.

“I started sitting in with bands when I was playing with the National Repertory Orchestra,” Young remembers. “With the first band that I sat in with, I didn’t know where I was going and I didn’t know when to lay out.”

But the brave few who stick with it eventually start to imagine taking the skills they already have and doing something new with them. If you can play to begin with, this isn’t a fantasy—you really do have a lot to bring to a new style.

For instance, classical players tend to read music better and have flying finger facility that will pay off if they can hang in there past the first band they sit in with. Country fiddlers have rhythmic sense and relaxed stage presence that classical players envy. Without exception, every musical background offers something the other styles value.