My Music Sucks

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Hope this is the right forum to post this. I admit it, my music sucks. I want to be a good musician, but I couldn't write a song to save my life. Don't get me wrong, I have a great time banging on the keyboards, recording short loops of something I think sounds good. But I can never put it all together.

Sometimes, I start with drums. I find it challenging to get a good drum part going. But, when I do, I find it difficult putting anything on top of it. Its like I spent so much time on the drums that it just overpowers everything I'm trying to do.

Sometimes, I start with sounds. I can get lost playing with sounds. Experimenting, tweaking, etc. But I can never stop myself and try to put a melody down.

Sometimes, I just start with a melody in my head. I get something down, then I obsess about what sound to use, or can't figure out how to fit drums in there.

But I have a good time doing it. I'll never be a pro at this, but it is a fun hobby. Just sometimes, I wish I could have something that I'd feel comfortable showing other people.

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There are a lot of musicians who hate their stuff. If you didn't hate it, then perhaps you would be seduced by the first thing you come up with (the seeds of mediocrity).

Keep experimenting with ways of combining sounds that results in COMPLETED PRODUCTS whether you hate them or not. Over time you will have a body of work that you will like more and more (hate less and less).

Embrace hate.

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I'm not satisfied with nearly 99% of my stuff.



dw

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The most important for me is enjoying what you do. In my case I started doing it for fun and I hope I will always do. My big frustration was I had to quit Classical Guitar after getting married (But that's life). The Pro thing never bothers me. But if your words also mean success, I think it's something that may come in your destiny when you least expect if you try to do in what do you believe is right.

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I quoted this in another thread a while back, but I think it's relevant:

"...all of us who do creative work... we get into it because we have good taste... you want to make TV because you love TV... because there's stuff that you just, like, love... so you've got really good taste and you get into this thing... it's like there's a gap... that for the first couple of years that you're making stuff, what you're making isn't so good... it's not that great. It's really not that great. It's trying to be good. It has ambition to be good, but it's not quite that good.

But your taste, the thing that got you into the game, your taste is still killer and your taste is good enough that you can tell that what you're making is kind of a disappointment to you... you can tell that it's still sort of crappy. A lot of people never get past that phase. A lot of people at that point, they quit. And the thing I would just, like, say to you, with all my heart, is that most everybody I know who does interesting creative work, they went through a phase of years where they had really good taste, they could tell what they were making wasn't as good as they wanted it to be. They knew it felt short... some of us can admit that to ourselves and some of us are a little less able to admit that to ourselves. But we knew, like, it didn't have this special thing that we wanted it to have.

And the thing I would say to you is everybody goes through that. And for you to go through it, if you're going through it right now, or if you're just getting out of that phase, or if you're just starting off and you're entering into that phase, you got to know it's totally normal and the most important possible thing you could do is do a lot of work. Do a huge volume of work... because it's only by actually going through a volume of work that you're actually going to catch up and close that gap... and the work you're making will be as good as your ambitions."

Source:

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Brilliant post mgpqa1 !

dw

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I'll second that... one of the best (if not the best) replies I have read here on KVR. :tu:

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I will third that, really good info.

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I'll 4th that.

Thanks for the encouragement. Honestly hadn't written it to fish for comments, just needed to write it down and tell someone.

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alexfalcao wrote:The most important for me is enjoying what you do. In my case I started doing it for fun and I hope I will always do. My big frustration was I had to quit Classical Guitar after getting married (But that's life). The Pro thing never bothers me. But if your words also mean success, I think it's something that may come in your destiny when you least expect if you try to do in what do you believe is right.
Thanks. Success for me in this case is making something that I can listen to, that I can play for other people and say "I made that".

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mgpqa1 wrote:I quoted this in another thread a while back, but I think it's relevant:
Very relevant. Thank you so much for posting that.

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Nice, Ira! Great thread. Aswell.

Many on kvr know the feeling? "I love this and want to do it, I know the software and how to use it, but my stuff still, sucks, I believe" my self included. One of mine is Drum N Bass, I LOVE a great deal of it but when I try to make it, Yuk! It sounds flat or I get frustrated trying to nail down the parts! But I believe giving up would be a very bad idea, so I'll try until I die.

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abstractcats wrote:But I believe giving up would be a very bad idea, so I'll try until I die.
This is a good quote. It's like there isn't anything else to do. It's not like I'm naturally talented at accounting or knitting shawls.

The other thing is that my disappointment of my own music keeps me on the path of learning and growing. It's a worthy path because it's so damned hard sometimes. If I were naturally good at it and I loved anything that flew out of my computer then it wouldn't be so meaningful to me.

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the people that get to be so good they're confident about it probably spent a hell of a long time obtaining skill sets. Relax and enjoy the journey rather than worrying about the destination.

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jancivil wrote:the people that get to be so good they're confident about it probably spent a hell of a long time obtaining skill sets. Relax and enjoy the journey rather than worrying about the destination.
Great advice! Thanks.

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