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Bluesman Robert Cray says it’s important to listen deeply, if you mean to be a great player yourself. “I think you have to listen to a record and grab hold of that spirit and then that takes you to how, why and what made them play the notes that they do – whether it’s a flurry or whether it’s one pretty, singing note just to put a dab of colour on a piece of paper. If you listen to a song that way, and try to play it that way, it’s magical. That’s where you get the spirit from.”