ToneGym Hero: Ra Wilson

A genre-blending artist and creative drifter, turns emotion into melody, motion into music, and cocktails into harmony, bringing soulful depth, playful spirit, and sharp intuition to everything he creates. Ra Wilson is this month's ToneGym Hero.
 

How did you first find your way into making music?

I was maybe ten when I figured out that a few chords on my mum’s nylon-string guitar could make people feel something. My parents saw my interest and got me into classical guitar lessons. Classical music wasn’t that engaging to me but I found a way to make it my own. I started writing my own classical pieces. And then nudged them into songs with vocal melodies.

Aside from music, what hobbies or activities do you enjoy?

I’m a big fan of wandering. Drifting. Cities, coastlines, underwater with scuba. I’m allergic to feeling like a tourist. I like seeing how places breathe. Lately, I’ve been experimenting with cocktails. There’s something beautiful about liquid harmony.

What’s something you’re surprisingly good at that has nothing to do with music?

I’m actually pretty solid at table tennis. I used to play it a lot as a kid. There’s rhythm in it too. The timing, the spin, the way you read someone’s energy through how they hit—it feels like improvising with movement instead of notes.

If you could play or create with any artist, who would it be and why?

Janelle Monáe. She’s on another plane, sonically, visually, spiritually. There’s a freedom in how she creates, like she’s not just making music but building entire worlds. I feel like collaborating with her would be part funk séance, part sci-fi opera, and part radical joy experiment.

What musical instrument do you love the most, and what makes it irreplaceable for you?

Ufff, difficult. Even though guitar is my main instrument, I think it has to be bass. It’s the instrument I can get the most movement out of. My main drive to create music is to get people out of the head and into their bodies. And nothing does that more than bass, it can move the room.

What daily or weekly habits do you have in place to keep you creating?

I schedule “creative drift” time. No goals, no productivity pressure, just exploration.  I limit myself to creating or doing nothing e.g. looking out the window is fine, scrolling social feeds is not. Sometimes I loop a chord progression and jam over it for an hour, sometimes I’ll write songs. Also, I do free association scene writing in the mornings. Not just for lyrics, but also to clear any static in my head. I’m a believer in “words beget words”. The more I create, the more I can create. If I stop to intellectualise something, I just gently nudge that nonsense off to the side and keep on creating.

What keeps you motivated to continue making music?

I want to be useful in society. I like helping people. Making them feel more alive. The idea that someone, somewhere, might need a song I haven’t written yet, keeps me motivated to keep creating and keep getting better as a musician and an artist. I read something the other day about dancing outperforming antidepressant drugs for depression. How amazing is that. The possibility that music can serve, that gives me hits of dopamine. Also, music is a language I’ve never gotten tired of learning.

What song would you choose as the soundtrack of your life?

That track feels like floating through uncertainty with a grin on your face. The piercing synth string feels like the craziness of life trying to get into me. And I think; if Roy can continue with that level of chill, singing about bees and flowers, then why not me. It reminds me not to take life too seriously.

What’s your favorite feature on ToneGym, and how has it helped you in your musical journey?

I love the interval and chord progression games. That chord progression game hurt my ego at first. The inversions were messing with my mind. But I’ve learnt to feel the function instead of relying on root notes.  And now when I’m producing or arranging, I catch myself hearing shapes and tensions I might’ve missed before. My intuition is sharper and I feel like I have more creative tools.

What’s something exciting you’re working on or looking forward to?

Probably too many things really… Right now, I’m finishing up my second Jet Vesper album “Casual viewing experience”. I’m building a live video series called Grooves and Cocktails, an improvised soul, funk, jam with other musicians that live in the Jet Vesper universe. I’m also teaching at a new online University called Artist Springboard, which is a 1-year artist development program for passionate singer-songwriters.

You can follow Ra on his Spotify, Instagram, Youtube, or website.

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