Having a broad knowledge is incredibly important when learning any instrument. One way of gaining this is through keeping an open mind, and listening to many different genres of music. For example, crazy as it may seem at first, classical music will help the way you play jazz (and the other way around) as much as Indian music will help you play pop!
Having knowledge of many genres will increase your undertanding for music as a whole, giving you the mindset to go forward and do anything you want to. I always tell my pupils to bear this in mind whenever they are playing, practising or contemplating music. In my opinion it is the key to any great player.
