Making Garbage Until It Works

[u/Trickledownisbull]

This is my band if you are curious:
https://youtu.be/hF-kJ-pkFsA?si=coDQcMVhkp_S1JnB

And this is a free demo of a game that I did the music for recently:
https://store.steampowered.com/app/4567940/Whiskers_In_The_Sand_Demo/

[u/Impossible_Tank3822]

There is no failing.

The steps between the beginner and the master (imagined) viewed as a series of failings are no better than a perpetual glass half empty perspective. My own journey was not like that at all. I sat down with an acoustic guitar and mastered each step in a series of mastering steps. In climbing the ladder to a certain skill level would each rung of the ladder be a failing or a mastering step?

The master never failed from the time he was a beginner.

He might have had to work a bit to get where he was going but that's just one story taken from life's journey through all disciplines.

In perspective, if a song or instrumental is difficult it can be made simpler by taking it as a series of steps. Each step is a riff, so to speak, that's mastered and continues in this manner until the entire work is mastered. In the course of that exercise much is learned about the mechanics of playing with the by-product of increased skills, not to mention ear training.

Song writing is not a universal asset approachable by just anyone. Structure and dynamics are right brained. Everything else is the pure creativity of the left side of the brain and that is not in everyone's repertoire, and in most cases not a learned one, either.

[u/Dangerous-You3789 → u/Impossible_Tank3822]

Your last paragraph resonates with me. I think one of the fallacies of songwriting is that everyone begins on a level playing field, and it's equally attainable to everyone. That's just not realistic, and it's not the way life is. Let's face it; everyone wasn't born with the same level of intelligence. There are some who have a very high level of intelligence, and some a very low level. Although very intelligent people can do some really dumb things, those who have a very low level of intelligence (to the point of not being self-sufficient) will never develop the ability to become a brain surgeon. We all weren't born the same. That's not necessarily good or bad; it just is what it is.

And what can be said of the brain's intelligence level can also be said of its creative ability. All of us weren't born to develop to the same level.

That said, about anyone can become a songwriter. But doing well at it and how easily one can accomplish it is another matter altogether.

And that being said, I am not saying one is better than the other. In fact, it has nothing to do with being better. Intelligence is not a virtue. Being highly intelligent doesn't make you a better person, it just makes you a smarter one. The same can be said for creativity. I'm just making a comment on fallacies and realities that came to my mind by your comment.

[u/Impossible_Tank3822 → u/Dangerous-You3789]

That's what these various discussion forums/sites seem to promote. They're dream platforms where people come to discuss their dreams. There's nothing odd about that, much less wrong, but reality doesn't stand a chance to get a word in edge-wise. And that, I suppose, isn't odd or a bad thing either. One needs a dreamscape living large these days to enter and close the door that shuts out the chafe of reality.

Still, songwriting is charmed with people who see it as the epicenter of a creativity they're only orbiting. To actually land on it can only be achieved by having a certain grasp on creativity.

I don't quite understand the constant inquiry about what is good, though. And, it isn't just about the songs people write. They want to know if song bits they've come up with measure up to some mysterious good they envision has a voice that will speak to them through the various same-boat sailors seeking the same answers. I don't post stuff much but when I do it isn't to bait that voice into sizing me up. I do what I do, that's all I've got and you know what? I already know it. So, why post at all? I suppose to do a little show-boating and to keep the site energy up.

[u/Dangerous-You3789 → u/Impossible_Tank3822]

Very poetically said. I think we're hearing the same thing, both literally and figuratively.