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John McLaughlin's musical style could be viewed from the three most prominent aspects of his output:

• guitaristic style
• compositional style
• improvisational style

Let us now pay closer attention to the three prominent aspects of his musical style:
 

Guitaristic Style

McLaughlin is the forefather of the so-called "guitar athlete" school of guitar playing (this categorization was originally proposed by Pat Metheny, in one of his early Down Beat interviews). This approach has its origin in several areas of ethnic  music: the indigenous flamenco playing, the Middle-Eastern ud playing, the Indian vina playing, etc. Also, it has a direct connection to the Django Reinhardt's style, whose mastery was one of the first things to enrapture McLaughlin during his formative years.

The "guitar athlete" approach is characterized by a forceful handling of the instrument. Strong staccato picking at a break-neck tempos is what summarily characterizes both flamenco and Reinhardt's guitaristic style. On top of that, angular approach to building melodic lines, with unexpected intervals that can be dizzyingly wide (inherited from the Middle-Eastern traditions), plus the wild and almost out of control string bending (inherited from the Indian vina and sitar styles), contribute to the "over the top" impression that the proponents of this school project.

But, the athletic style is not exhausted by this display of sheer strength and stamina. It also involves the extraordinary harmonic sophistication (inherited from the early twentieth century composers, like Debussy, Ravel, Stravinsky et al.) Not only is the harmonic climate refined, the actual explorations of the limits of the guitar are incessantly breaking some new grounds. New voicings are constantly being added to the already bewildering vocabulary of the modern guitar by our fellow "athlete guitarists". Some amazing finger stretching that such harmonic sophistication requires is certainly beyond the reach of other, "regular" guitarists.

Finally, rhythmic sophistication and forcefulness is what characterizes guitar athletes. In McLaughlin, this sophistication has reached the unprecedented heights.

Although the application of the technology is not a direct display of the physical athleticism, it is nevertheless a brand of "mental athleticism" which McLaughlin has always exercised to the fullest. He has always been a pioneer in applying the most advanced electronic achievements to the guitar vocabulary. In the mid seventies, he was spearheading the guitar synthesizers into the largely uncharted territories (c.f. his albums Visions Of The Emerald Beyond and  Inner Worlds) Then, less than ten years later, he was blazing the trail with a much more mobile guitar synthesizer technology (the Synclavier which he inaugurated in 1984 with his Mahavishnu). Always at the forefront of the digital technology (McLaughlin is also engaged in programming his own sounds and patterns), he was also one of the first to incorporate the digital processing into his acoustic playing (c.f. the Photon synthesizer which he unveiled on his Live At The Royal Festival Hall, in 1989).
 

Compositional Style

Almost entire musical opus produced by John McLaughlin consists of outstandingly complex compositions. This fact may be one of the reasons why he is rarely covered by other musicians. Many of his compositions are simply too challenging for lots of performers.

What is it that makes his creations so difficult to handle? There are many factors contributing to the complexity of his works, some of which we have already mentioned in the discussion on his guitaristic style. To begin with, his typical harmonic schemes are bewilderingly elusive. He usually takes some conventional cliché and distorts it almost beyond recognition, thus producing something with a unique McLaughlinesque voice.

It's been usually said that Simplicity reveals the Master. In McLaughlin's case, we could make an exception and say that Complexity reveals the Master. It is rarely that one comes across a piece of art that is so complex (as some of McLaughlin's pieces are), and yet at the same time so accessible to our feelings. Given the elaborate complexity of the harmonic climate of many of his compositions, with the added complications of metric and rhythmical complexities on top of it, it really is surprising that we are able to follow his ideas with such an ease. He manages to pull it off strictly by the sheer power of his convictions. It's the conviction of the execution of the musical ideas that makes everything hang together. That, to me, truly is masterful! And that is why his compositions have not been covered by other musicians -- almost nobody so far felt that they could have this passionate conviction to produce such a powerful musical statement.
 

Improvisational Style

Mind-boggling versatility is what characterized McLaughlin's approach to music. This is especially true with regards to the many facets of his improvisational genius. Not every musician can make an important improvisational statement on the spot, and among those who can conjure up interesting ideas out of thin air, only a select few can approach McLaughlin's intensity and the clarity of his vision.

McLaughlin's improvisational style is not something we could easily pinpoint as containing certain easily recognizable elements. During his long career McLaughlin has displayed a bewildering array of different musical personalities. We'll try and list some of these:
 

• the progressive/free jazz persona (as embodied in his early works -- Extrapolation, Where Fortune Smiles, Mountain In The Clouds, etc.)
 
• the raunchy free rocker persona (mostly exploited by Miles Davis; also, preserved for posterity on the Lifetime records and on his early solo album Devotion)
 
• the devotional, high-octane persona (typified by his classic contributions to the Mahavishnu Orchestra opus -- The Inner Mounting Flame, Birds Of Fire, Between Nothingness And Eternity, and also displayed on his collaborations with a fellow guitarist Carlos Santana Love Devotion Surrender)
 
• the magnanimous visionary composer, blending the architectural complexities of the classical symphony orchestra with the freedom and agility of the jazz fusion combo (Apocalypse, also Visions Of The Emerald Beyond)
 
• the subdued, meditative persona (most perfectly exemplified by his magical contribution to the world music -- My Goal's Beyond, as well as by his additional acoustic guitar work throughout the seventies)
 
• the brave new world of East-meets-West persona (of course, represented by his trail blazing work with Shakti)
 
• the explorative jazz guitarist persona (exposed on the Johnny McLaughlin -- Electric Guitarist and Electric Dreams albums from the late seventies)
 
• the buoyant flamenco jazz guitarist (masterfully captured during his several years of touring and recording with Paco De Lucia, Larry Corryell and Al Di Meola in the late seventies/early eighties -- Friday Night In San Francisco and Passion, Grace And Fire)
 
• the sophisticated world music/progressive multi-culti guitarist (perfectly showcased with his Belo Horizonte and Music Spoken Here projects)
 
• the leading-edge digital avatar, wielding the latest in modern technology's contribution (i.e. the Synclavier guitar synthesizer). His groundbreaking work on the Mahavishnu album (1984) was so surprising, that many listeners couldn't determine which lines are played by guitar and which are played by the keyboards. Also, Adventures From The Radioland (1986) is the album that further refined the digital guitar capabilities.
 
• the subtle world music, low volume acoustic guitarist, as presented on the Making Music album (by Zakir Hussein, ECM, 1987).
 
• the grandiose classical-meets-flamenco jazz composer and performer (his Mediterranean Concerto is a colossal testimony to McLaughlin's tremendous talents)
 
• the sensitive world music guitarist, blending jazz, latin, indian, tibetan and other influences into an organic whole (his Trio with Trilok Gurtu and Kai Eckhart); the albums that illustrate this side are Live At The Royal Festival Hall and Que Alegria
 
• the solemn, subdued classical-meets-jazz guitarist, as illustrated on his Time Remembered -- A Tribute To Bill Evans
 
• the fiery post-bop guitarist, forging complex, serpentine melodies and weaving convoluted straight-ahead and hard-bop lines (as embodied in his Free Spirits phase; the albums are Tokyo Live and After The Rain)
 
• the jack-of-all-trades persona, as can be heard on his album The Promise -- in there he plays blues, straight-ahead changes, hip-hop street jazz, flamenco, Indian ragas, near chaotic fusion and fission, raunchy rock, sophisticated late night jazz, subtle lyrical guitar duo, etc.
 
• the jazz combo leader who builds elaborate compositions and then participates by interjecting his trademark fast improvisational lines (The Heart Of Things)
 
• finally, the complete blending of East and West using an electric guitar to play raga-like improvisations surrounded by his fellow classical Indian musicians (Remember Shakti)