What Style of Music Comes Easiest to You?

[Hink]

Been thinking about this, I agree with WR to start off but as usual I have my own take on it. I started playing guitar long before home recording was a real option (maybe a reel option ) and well if I didn't play music that challenged me I would have given up a long time ago. Of course there was quite a period of time where the music I liked to listen to and the music I liked to play were the same thing, I didn't listen to too many bands that didn't suit the direction I was going in or wanted to go in. It wasn't about "easy" but it was about what I understood or wanted to understand, often it as anything but easy...in fact often it was quite wrong but that didn't matter because it was about how I grew.

I have to say the style(s) that comes easiest is my past

[JJBiener]

Easiest for me would have to be Jazz. I can improve entire pieces pretty much anytime.

Hardest for me would be EDM. It just doesn't click with me.

[feralsystems]

the style that comes easiest to me is also the one that is often hardest to come to grips with, experimental electronic.

by its nature, there are no rules so coming up with an idea and putting into practice in a modular environment is very easy. unfortunately, also by its nature it does not always have the aesthetic effect that i hoped for/envisioned. experiments often "fail" in that aesthetic sense, but the upside is that i almost always walk away feeling like i have learned something.

I'd concur with that in many ways. I'm predominantly inclined towards material that's actually relatively easy for me to produce (darker, dronier experimental stuff) thus making it hardest for me to justify to myself without it feeling glib. I feel that I have to have a very concrete process and rationale, otherwise it's just taking the easy way out. I have no problem at all spending time playing around in that vein for the enjoyment of but not recording it, but these days if I decide Im actually going to finish a piece of work that I dont see as being lightweight and trivial, then it has to be 'effort'. Its one reason I mostly go through a process of rehearsing out a set of ideas, creating some sort of score based around that, then deliberately upending the setting of the original preparation (eg changing or altering instruments, or processing) so that I have to take the lead from the score, not what Ive 'practiced'. Im not any kind of instrumentalist, so I also deliberately work from source material that's recorded live, as audio, that's post-processed; Im not really doing any kind of sequencing...

i'm in the same boat - i rely on a lot of processing of material that i have previously recorded. but here's a question: regardless of whatever you use to create your post-processing algorithms, doesn't the fact that you have made a concious effort to choose those processes make it more than just trivial? just curious what your take on it is.

[The_Hidden_Goose]

I find drones and ambient the easiest to actually get going to a place where I'll make a finished track out of it. A little harder to make something new and unique out of it, but then new and unique isn't alway the primary goal there. I don't feel at all guilty if it isn't cutting edge sound design that's never been heard before, although it's nice when you feel that it is.

However, what I find the most fun is kosmische or psychedelic music ("krautrock" if you're not averse to the term, I know some are, as it can be felt as a slurr on our German cousins). In particular the "Berlin school". The hardest part of that used to be making it NOT sound too new-agey for me, although that seems to be getting easier - perhaps the tools I'm using these days just have a bit more bite, or my processes have changed enough. It's certainly a lot of fun tweaking those filters and arps - although I don't finish so many tracks as I get too into the *now* of doing it sometimes!

Hardest thing for me is doing stuff with beats, and I do like beats. Drum programming (and to be honest, drum selection) isn't my strong suit by a country mile! Perhaps I should spend more time working at that, but I do get so easily distracted by synths. Just bought ACE so there's even more chance of that happening now!

Would love to be able to play guitar but my fingers just aren't built for doing such dextrous things! I've not come across a sample library or virtual instrument that really does the guitar justice yet (although they seem to begetting better), and so I jhave to rely on others playing if I want that in my tunes.

I'd like to say I'd give my right arm to be able to play a cello, too, but that would be kinda self-defeating!

[Vintage73]

I've said it before, but I'd give my left arm to be able to play drums.

[Hink]

I mean absolutely no offense by this, it's somewhat remarkable to read though when it comes to writing music

Hardest thing for me is doing stuff with beats, and I do like beats.

it reminds me of a Steve Martin comedy album, in his act he talks about writing another book (this was late 70s early 80s) and he says something like "I'm really excited about this new book because I started using verbs in this book"..."I'm really excited about this new song because I started using beats in this song"

Again I mean no offense, it's a sign of the times and not a negative thing...but it had to be said

[robogone]

I mean absolutely no offense by this, it's somewhat remarkable to read though when it comes to writing music

Hardest thing for me is doing stuff with beats, and I do like beats.

it reminds me of a Steve Martin comedy album, in his act he talks about writing another book (this was late 70s early 80s) and he says something like "I'm really excited about this new book because I started using verbs in this book"..."I'm really excited about this new song because I started using beats in this song"

Again I mean no offense, it's a sign of the times and not a negative thing...but it had to be said

I know what you mean though - to me, writing a piece is something you do on a guitar or piano, then you worry about drums later. Usually much later.

[The_Hidden_Goose]

None taken. I don't understand why it is myself, exactly. I find it hard to get them sounding right, or how I want them. It's not even like I haven't been programming drums for a long enough time to be proficient. I'm not a drummer, so I have to program them all - perhaps that's part of the problem.

It's not failure every time, of course, but since we're talking about what we find easy and what we find hard, I thought I'd mention it.

[trimph1]

mmmmm...now that I think of it, it could be done but in a different manner...I'm thinking NEU! or Guru Guru here...I imagine that some of their works were done off drumming first...

[pc999]

To me is bad music, it is really easy to do, I think I am a natural at that and can do it by long hours without stop !

[Tricky-Loops]

The easiest thing for me to do would be techno or trance tracks - and I have no problems making beats at all!

But I always wanted to create something special, something funny, something crazy. I always wanted to make people laugh, maybe that's why my songs are too crazy, I don't know.

Anyway, the most difficult thing for me would be to write some kind of SERIOUS classical music as I have no experience in it. I think I couldn't resist to put some funny samples in it...

[whyterabbyt]

i'm in the same boat - i rely on a lot of processing of material that i have previously recorded. but here's a question: regardless of whatever you use to create your post-processing algorithms, doesn't the fact that you have made a concious effort to choose those processes make it more than just trivial? just curious what your take on it is.

I think there's a level of 'habitual' one can get to that renders it trivial, in that it becomes one's own private cliche. Its the level of conscious thought, or perhaps the conscious preparation that takes it from being a 'habit' to something that's specific to the work, and the rationale behind it, and makes it less 'trivial'.

Not to say, I dont enjoy doing working more instinctively for its own sake, in fact I spend much more time on it, really. I just dont record it, its purely for my own entertainment/self-indulgence/practice/whatever.