Creative inspiration can come from an infinite number of sources. Seeing a certain movie, reading a certain book or just watching the leaves blow in the wind can motivate someone to pour their heart and soul into a creative outlet.

Wichita State jazz guitar instructor William Flynn’s was inspired to become a musician while taking trumpet lessons in second grade. The band program was his only musical outlet at the time, and he stuck with it through middle school.

Around the same time, he became more serious about playing the guitar, specifically in the context of jazz music. It was the freedom of the genre that drew him to it the most.

“What specifically drove me to jazz was the improvisation element,” Flynn said. “It’s definitely kind of the heart and soul of the music, and it’s an endless rabbit hole to investigate.”

When Flynn isn’t teaching jazz guitar at WSU, he performs at a variety of different venues. Sometimes he performs in what he calls more traditional jazz settings, where the music comes from the 1950’s and 60’s. Other times, he performs his own original music in venues where it is appropriate.

“I find both situations to be equally fulfilling and gratifying,” Flynn said. “It just kind of depends on what I’m trying to do.”

In his own words, Flynn’s original music tries to put a new spin on jazz by mixing it with elements of other genres, such as rock.

“It doesn’t sound like what you would imagine traditional jazz music to sound like,” Flynn said. “There is a lot of jazz influence in it, but it has a lot of other influences in it.”

As someone who has spent his life learning and loving music, Flynn’s music teacher career path was a no-brainer. He started giving private guitar lessons in high school, but he has been teaching collegiately for a few years now.

“I love learning, and I think learning something new is one of the most enjoyable experiences to me as a human being,” Flynn said. “Guiding other students down that path is enjoyable.”

Another reason Flynn loves teaching is, in his own words, somewhat selfish.

He said it helps him gain a greater understanding of the material when he has to teach it to someone else.

“When you are faced with the task of teaching somebody about something, you really have to learn about that thing in a way that is completely different from anything else,” Flynn said. “Learning about things in order to explain them to other people helps you understand them in a much different way.”

One of the first gigs Flynn got when he came to Wichita was at Mead’s Corner, and he continues to play there on Thursday evenings.

“It’s really nice, as a creative musician, when you can find a gig in a public venue where the owner doesn’t care what you play,” Flynn said. “I can go in there and feel like I have the freedom to musically do what I want.”

Between his teaching at WSU and his performing around Wichita, Flynn says he spends a lot of time around the city’s younger crowd. His advice to any aspiring young musicians is to just play as much as they can.

“Find some friends who want to play, and find some places to play,” Flynn said. “It’s important to not only experience music in an academic environment.”

For anyone who is interested in learning how to play an instrument, Flynn said they should identify what they like, listen to someone play it and try to learn from it.

“Do you want to play like Eddie Van Halen, or do you want to sit in the corner at a frat party and play Jack Johnson?” Flynn said. “Figure out what you want to do musically and then try to emulate those things.”

Flynn will perform at Mead’s Corner Back room tonight at 7 p.m.Mead’s Corner is located on 430 E.Douglas.