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  #16  
Old 06-15-2019, 12:17 PM
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Originally Posted by Bax Burgess View Post
Since early on, pre-study, have you possessed an innate sense for music composition, hearing passages in the air before playing the first note?
Sort of. It's hard to explain.
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  #17  
Old 06-15-2019, 01:35 PM
Bax Burgess Bax Burgess is offline
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Satisfying, reading these responses. I'm less anxious after having read this thread than I was before, feeling mentally better prepared to try my hand at writing.
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  #18  
Old 06-15-2019, 01:57 PM
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In my mind, musical skill is actually a variety of skills. I suspect there's a genetic/in-born component to most or all of them, and also that practice and work is large component in how developed those skills become.

So in one's practice, some things will come easier and others harder. Given practicalities of time and focus this will lead to inequalities and decisions on how much to work to further develop those things that are your strengths or to remedy some of what are your weaknesses.

My self-observation is that I seem to have a facility in creating patterns or responding to patterns quickly. Improvisation at whatever mechanical-function level I'm at benefits from this, and composition is just frozen non-real-time improvisation. The same trait makes it hard for me to play simple and repeated parts (often the most effective kind!) so I have to work allow them to be come more automatic for me to play or to turn off the tendency to change and morph them randomly.
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Old 06-15-2019, 04:41 PM
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Satisfying, reading these responses. I'm less anxious after having read this thread than I was before, feeling mentally better prepared to try my hand at writing.
Hey, go for it. The first week I started playing guitar I wrote four tunes. Why wouldn't you?
Obviously they were garbage! But I got better. Like you do when you practice...
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Old 06-15-2019, 06:26 PM
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Perhaps innate is a claim I wouldn't make, being influenced as I am over a period of aural (musical) conditioning to sense scale in a piece that results in a certain knowledge of its (heretofore unheard) progression. I will extend that to people who've been active listeners of music. We develop an ear for familiarity in the realm of scales. I think jazz attempts to depart from that (hence the name) by searching for listenable through-compositions that break the rules.

But, the inborn ability (aka naturally gifted or prodigy) is probably a rarity if true at all. I think influence is the catalyst and people absorb it as they do.
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Old 06-15-2019, 08:05 PM
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One more comment, writing is like selling insurance. Volume is the way to go imo. Sometimes you'll fall on your face, other times you'll have something good.

From my point of view, I'd rather write 50 tunes and have a few people like 3 of them, than to write 2 tunes and have no one like them.

Rejection is something we all have to deal with as composers and musicians, whether professional or amateur (like me) and getting ideas down and "out the door" is a process that has to be practiced.

I think it's better not to "fall in love" with your own compositions. By that I mean not to over work them and worry about every little thing. Being a perfectionist has its place, and there are some things that should prevent a tune to be put up for public consumption until it is tweaked, but that has more to do with recording quality than the actual composition.

As an amatuer, I'm not looking to put perfection out there every time, what I compose I do for my own entertainment and it sort of haunts me if I don't get something out of my system. Composing, recording, editing is all part of the fun of playing guitar for me and I'm not looking to make any $ from this so consider all of my comments with that knowledge. (Plus I write instrumentals which 99% of the general public don't care for anyway )
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  #22  
Old 06-16-2019, 05:26 AM
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One more comment, writing is like selling insurance. Volume is the way to go imo.
At first I thought you meant "play loud"!
Yeah man, songs always sound better with THE VOLUME TURNED UP!!

But yes, I agree, quantity is the way to go. We aim for quality, of course, but it's more likely to emerge from a great quantity. You have to keep spewing the stuff out, not taking it too seriously or getting too precious about it.
It's about maintaining the flow. That helps the whole process feel more natural, and allows the good stuff to come out.
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Old 06-16-2019, 08:45 AM
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Originally Posted by TBman View Post
One more comment, writing is like selling insurance. Volume is the way to go imo. Sometimes you'll fall on your face, other times you'll have something good.
From my point of view, I'd rather write 50 tunes and have a few people like 3 of them, than to write 2 tunes and have no one like them.
As far as quantity I save that for the noodling around and idea development that I do at home rather than posting numerous half
baked and repetitive things. Of course with something that I think has been thought out and interesting someone else may disagree.
Nevertheless IMO in the long run putting in effort on each and every thing is the way to go.
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Last edited by rick-slo; 06-16-2019 at 08:50 AM.
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  #24  
Old 06-16-2019, 09:36 AM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by rick-slo View Post
As far as quantity I save that for the noodling around and idea development that I do at home rather than posting numerous half
baked and repetitive things. Of course with something that I think has been thought out and interesting someone else may disagree.
Nevertheless IMO in the long run putting in effort on each and every thing is the way to go.
I think you have to flush the ideas out of your head to stay fresh.

Develop ideas to a decent closure and see how it goes.

I think quality control works good with cars and other consumer goods, but with art you have to go with what you feel.

I think if you bury stuff on your hard drive and call it half baked and not go with it is wasting a lot of talent.

A famous athlete once said "You miss 100% of the shots you don't take."

I think that can be applied to a lot of things.
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Last edited by TBman; 06-16-2019 at 09:44 AM.
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  #25  
Old 06-16-2019, 10:02 AM
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Originally Posted by TBman View Post
I think you have to flush the ideas out of your head to stay fresh.

Develop ideas to a decent closure and see how it goes.

I think quality control works good with cars and other consumer goods, but with art you have to go with what you feel.

I think if you bury stuff on your hard drive and call it half baked and not go with it is wasting a lot of talent.

A famous athlete once said "You miss 100% of the shots you don't take."

I think that can be applied to a lot of things.
I would avoid quickly pushing stuff out the door, considering it done, and moving on to the next thing. Stretch.
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Made to one with pride and love
To be that we hold so dear
A voice from heavens above
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  #26  
Old 06-16-2019, 11:29 AM
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Originally Posted by rick-slo View Post
......Stretch.
??

Something is getting lost in translation there....
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