Feeling disgusted with myself musically

[Tricky-Loops]

If you want to learn playing guitar, why don't you do it?

Then you could pick up your guitar, try some melodies, jam with some people (or alone), sing along and get new ideas.

If you sit behind the desk in your home studio, staring at your DAW and desperately trying to make EDM tracks even if you don't like it because you'd rather play guitar, that doesn't make sense.

If you really want to make mainstream EDM tracks, then you could analyze other EDM tracks, "chicken-scratching", and build your own tracks with similar ingredients - that's what many young people are doing, and in the end they'll all sound like Avicii...

But if that copycat-approach doesn't satisfy you (it wouldn't satisfy me, either), and jamming along makes you more fun, then better grab your guitar and learn to play it and have some fun instead of desperately trying to do something which you don't like to do.

[debra1rlo]

Sorry, if playing music isn't enough for you to "get it up", if the desire in you isn't burning to where you CAN'T stop playing, then you should quit. There are far too many people making music as a means to an end (fame, riches, etc) and it's about time for some folks who are just taking up space to go sit in the audience. There's never enough audience and not everyone can be up on stage.

Seriously, trying to get strangers from the internet to figure out the problem? That should be a big clue.

[ghettosynth]

PS: Maybe you need to join a band. Making music all alone is more difficult as there is no input, it has to come all from you, which might simply not happen.

Think about this carefully before you jump in.

[Sendy]

I was in a goth rock band for a few years. Was never big on goth or rock, but I've always liked some stuff like The Cure and some prog rock. I think it really taught me how to be more open-minded about music in general, how to take a step back from my little niche of "omg amens and breakbeats and synth edits oh my!" and helped me with that blue sky thinking.

My enduring memory is the snobbishness and petty one-upmanship and general downright nastiness of small bands on the local circuit. It just... yeuch. Also, you WILL get better at participating in arguments, because chances are they will happen

[robogone]

I doubt that the number of instruments you have is the problem. Once you can play a few notes on something then you're ready to jam, compose, screw around, whatever you want to do. The more you play the better you get and the more musical knowledge you get. No one needs to become a technically proficient player to enjoy music.

Maybe you're trying to focus too narrow on what you want to do. Why do you want to create trance music? Why not just produce whatever you feel like and not narrow your focus so tight? The moment you decide you only want to use a certain instrument for a certain scope of notes and rhythms, you're closing out a huge part of the music universe.

[Jace-BeOS]

Sendy's advise was excellent. Here's my two bits worth:

i've been there, in my own way. i can't learn notation and every instrument teacher wants students to learn via knowing notation. With me, it's not going to happen. It's neurological. Hell, i'm not even sure i want to turn my soft sensitive fingertips into hard calloused caps by becoming an acoustic guitar/mandolin player in the first place (i like my fingers fine as they are, as do the ladies).

So i keep doing what i've been doing: playing with whatever i can get my hands on, and trying to make the stuff i like to LISTEN to. Learning how it's done, learning how to do what i CAN do, instead of regretting my lack of musical training and incomplete theory knowledge. i can FEEL music, so i'm in an okay place for making it without that traditional training anyway.

As for the gear... i have a lot of gear i don't make nearly enough use of and i feel guilty about it. i don't even know HOW to use some of this stuff, really. It's due to some spending i shouldn't have done, but i'm keeping the gear, rather than selling it off... because i want to LEARN to use it. So i try to aline my attitude with where i WANT it to be: i have stuff that gives me opportunities, even if i'm not taking advantage of the full potential right now.

It's hard to find what my process is, and i DO like the ability to reach out and touch things, rather than poke at them from a mile away on a screen with a mouse, but i haven't yet found how to best integrate the hardware with the software (i've done way more in the box than from outside it, but have also created fun sonic textures with outboard stuff inserted later into in-the-box productions). The box matters, itself: i was spending so much of my stress and BS tolerances on Windows and Sonar. Since moving to Mac/Logic, i have actually been WAY more productive (because i'm WAY LESS PISSED OFF). i'm not saying that's your solution; i'm saying that the TOOLS DO MATTER. People on KVR like to say that it's the user, not the tool. While there's merit to that, it's not an absolute. Use the things you feel most comfortable with. Comfort leads to flow. Embrace what gear you have that doesn't feel outright bad to you.

Don't pound on yourself for not being superman/a rockstar/a techno DJ celebrity. Just play with the tools you enjoy working with. Don't worry about style or genre. Make what you make, now. Call it whatever you want to call it later on down the line AFTER you've made it and moved on to other tracks. You don't even need to make them all sound like they're the same genre. Don't intentionally box yourself into a genre. Genres aren't there to give the musician guidance. Genres are for the convenience of listeners and companies selling product who like to categorize things. Let someone else categorize you after the fact, if need be.

Sometimes we have to push ourselves into productivity (i often feel too depressed to create new music, or hate my house/studio setup, so i force myself to at least sit with the synths and audition presets... which often leads me to recording bits for later, or even writing whole songs). That's discipline. But the stress we put on ourselves to be anything other than "a person enjoying what i do" can kill creativity and interest. You're finding your way. There will be missteps and ineffective attempts, but that's mostly only ever going to be in hind sight, and that's all very human. Don't hate on yourself for it. Self-hate will just pile on in a feedback loop. Just encourage yourself to PLAY and have fun.

If you need band mates, try to find some. i would like to have some myself, but it's not practical for me (and i'm very particular about what i like). But there are other options: i just had a super fun time exchanging GarageBand project files with a female friend across country who bought a budget vocal mic and cheap interface just to experiment with putting female vocals on my songs (apparently i inspired her with my songs, which inspires me to make more! positive feedback loop!). The initial idea didn't work, but there were "magical" bits that DID, and they added so much. Moral of the story is that experimentation is super important.

Having a feeling of "needing to make music" and "having things to say" is what makes a musician, not the gear, the education, or the technique. Encourage whatever encourages those positive feelings in you!

[ghettosynth]

When I sell, I do my best to get rid of things that I can replace easily for lower cost later.

[fluffy_little_something]

PS: Maybe you need to join a band. Making music all alone is more difficult as there is no input, it has to come all from you, which might simply not happen.

Think about this carefully before you jump in. There was a time when I did this instead of focusing on just working on music myself and even though our band experienced some local (very small) success, I feel that the net bad outweighed the good.

Bands are a time sink. If you've never been in one, and you play at least one instrument passably well, it could be very valuable for you. On the other hand, depending on what you're interested in it could also be a distraction. A great compromise is to just find some people to jam with instead of committing to a band. There are a lot of meetups that organize local jam sessions.

Probably the best performance memory of my life was as a result of the last band that I was in, but, it's also my biggest musical regret. It stole my focus at a time when I was making great progress. To be clear, this was not my first band and I learned a LOT from the other bands.

I would like to have at least one person to work with, someone to give honest feedback, to write lyrics, to be tell me when notes are too wrong to be blue

I think an entire band would be way too much for me, the dynamics is quite different compared to a duo.

Either way, I guess the most difficult part is to find someone who has similar taste of music and also similar goals in terms of music.

[Jerry Bears]

Y'all rock. Thanks for the thoughts everyone. Helped a lot.

[jancivil]

stop thinking "I have all this gear, what can I do with it?" and to think more like "I have this idea, how can I use my gear to realize it?".

THIS.

Too many people have acquired all of this stuff which turns out to be a cart that, frustratingly, fails to pull that horse. I have done.

As far as 'no inspiration', I would like to echo Nasenmann, one of my absolute 'best' things was out of weeks feeling like, 'this is good sound design, but nothing much happens'. I kept working it and one day several shocking things came to mind. And it was the consistent, stubborn work those weeks prior to that fed these things. The map, the world I had provided for this population and the attention to detail choosing those 'people' was crucial. It was kind of depressing, 'have I lost something', that whole time (more typically I go to the machine because there is an idea that has to be manifested). But I suspected, and have some faith in myself, it was something to do.

And Debra's post may seem harsh but I think the OP needs to see exactly that as well. The whole thing reads as someone with a very privileged problem, we're so fortunate to have these issues.
And Sendy, 'just you and the sound, what will you do'. Absolutely, design an identity and flesh it out. You are distracted by a surfeit of stuffs, they are your servants, not the other way round.

[rtkeeling]

You could try making some cover/remixes of songs you like. That'd take the creative pressure off and allow you to focus on learning how to use your tools.

Also, you could try recording everything you do when you're just messing around. A happy accident can be the basis for a full song.

A technique I've also used is to come up with some lyric piece (just one line is fine) and then sing it different ways until I reach a melody I like. Then work that out on the instrument of your choice--in my case guitar. From there, transcribe it into something like PowerTab or Guitar Pro. These let you export MIDI. Do that and then import into your DAW and start messing with it from there.

I also bought a You Rock Guitar which isn't half bad. You can work up guitar ideas and then play them on it and record straight to MIDI in your DAW.

Something I've noticed on songs I've done (which is tiny compared to most folks on KVR) is that they never end up the way I think they will. They kind of take on lives of their own as they're being created. I feel like I'm in the early stages of song writing/music making, so maybe that's why. Anyways, if you're targeting Trance, I think it might be harder to achieve when you're just starting out. Maybe try one little short piece to get a complete song under your belt and build from there.

Oh, my interest in making music (or whatever it is I do) comes and goes. I'm in a lull right now. I've got some ideas brewing though and will get back into it in a little bit. Probably when summer kicks in and makes it feel suffocating outside ;^)

Roy

[nasenmann]

Nice pool of thoughts developing here.

I'll second the remix/cover idea, it's something i'll probly revisit soon.
I used to make a lot of trashy video game remixes on the side, was good for quick fun and exercise, using familiar melodies that have nostalgic value for me.
When covering something, you can start without any creative expectations, but there are good chances you'll get a little bored in the process, or fail to recreate some part exactly, and that's where originality can creep in without any intent.
In short, do anything to keep you from thinking "i'll make this grand piece of art now".
The muse is gonna have a laugh and give you anything but that

[DSmolken]

I'd try to join a band, or find a singer/songwriter who wants to record a few songs that you could produce. Doing stuff other people want you to do is a great way to get out of your own routines, force yourself to try something different, learn new things, and get new perspectives. While not a lot of them need guitarists, somebody who understands synths and DAWs and can play even rudimentary keyboards is always going to be in demand.

Sometimes the less deeply you identify with some music, the more you can relax and have fun. I spent a few years playing bass for a children's choir. Just show up, get the songs, go through them once or twice, play.

So, maybe if making music you want to make is frustrating, try making music some college girls want to you to help them make.

[robogone]

I'd try to join a band, or find a singer/songwriter who wants to record a few songs that you could produce.

Or sometimes even more simply, just set up a regular jam session with a buddy or two. No pressure to form a band - just throw ideas at each other and see how they develop.

[rtkeeling]

try making music some college girls want to you to help them make.

This is probably the best advice yet! I just need to frame this up properly so I can run it by my wife ( ). I'll let you know how it goes...

Roy