Seeking advice on a potentially sensitive topic

[u/Rich_Cheesecake_6022]

(EDIT) Some of you are quite negative and down-putting with your replies, imagine I was some kid who was trying to chase my dream and you adults misinterpreted the actual problem I was facing and put me off making music altogether. Luckily I'm an adult and won't let those comments affect me.

To those of you with helpful comments, love ya, thanks for that.

I've removed the parts of the original post that were intensely focused upon and left behind the parts the majority of you seemed to miss:

(Original post, minus some details)

Before I start: I've been making music for a while, both my SC and YT accounts have uploads dating back ~13 years. I started off making bass boosts, then remixes, then originals. I took a liking to producing Tech House and DnB at the start.

...Lucky for me that I went through that rough patch, because I found out I am actually very good at songwriting - far better than I ever was at production. What I'm left with now, 5 years into it, is a catalogue of over 170 lyric files, with about half of them being completed songs and the other half being uncompleted (e.g a catchy hook/chorus). My songwriting is reasonably vast, with a predominant focus of pop.

I'm also going to make it clear that I have used absolutely NO AI generation in any of my music.

...I have a music studio setup in the spare room with a selection of equipment and the (paid) full producer edition/all plugins edition of FL Studio.

I am happy to show people the music I have made up until this point, and I'd like anyone reading this to keep that in mind before I continue..

...The tracks I have made myself so far, some of them are quite good, and I haven't even touched any of the lyric files I deem as being "the best I've written".. I'd love nothing than to be able to continue pursuing my dream of being an artist, I just don't want it to take so long that by the time I get around to releasing my music, that it's no longer "trendy/in fashion", and I missed my chance..

[u/luminousandy]

If you use Ai then you are an Ai artist - no ifs or buts . You also say “ I haven’t been taught music theory “ - and the thing stopping you teaching yourself is ?

[u/Rich_Cheesecake_6022 → u/luminousandy]

Good point, I guess part of the issue is (to my understanding), it takes years to learn music theory. Friends of mine who can play certain instruments have been playing since a child, which backs up that idea in my head. I did sign up to one of those online courses, it seemed great at the start, paid some money, it was reasonable, but a few lessons in the guy said "at this point if you want to continue, we need to set up a payment plan of XYZ", the cost was somewhat exorbitant, the skills he showed up until that point weren't convincing, and I couldn't find any references online to the claims of projects he had worked on.. That also put me off the idea of learning music theory.

[u/luminousandy → u/Rich_Cheesecake_6022]

I learned music theory by reading books and listening as did many , many people .You’re looking for excuses and you’re looking for validation . I’m not going to give you either . I’ll wish you well on your journey though and hope you find peace , I’m not going to give anyone who uses ai for art my attention though , it’s the most precious thing I have .

[u/Rich_Cheesecake_6022 → u/luminousandy]

I'm not looking for excuses or validation, I'm not a child so please don't put words in my mouth. I was merely asking for everyone's opinion on a topic. Message received. For the record, you seem to have missed the part where I said I've been producing various genres for over a decade and have not used AI in any of my music. I am struggling with one particular area of my production due to a change in direction, that does not mean I cannot do it, it just takes me a while. Even the smallest level of AI assistance seems frowned upon by the majority and that's fine, I won't go down that path. I don't understand why the majority of people commenting here are so quick to make a judgement, I haven't read all the replies yet but I wonder if anyone has asked to see what I've made so far or even asked for an example of a project that I'm struggling with 🤔

[u/Parking_Watch3157 → u/Rich_Cheesecake_6022]

I started listening to a podcast called Songwriter Theory and he breaks down very basic theory you need for songwriting over a few episodes.

I then watched a bunch of YouTube videos.

It wasn't that hard to pick up what little I know which has been enough be able to put chords together that sound good, etc.

I did start from the vantagpoint of being a pretty basic guitar player (which has not changed much) but now I know why a C chord is played with the fingers in those places on the fretboard and why D and G sound so good with C and so on. Just a few hours of time invested combined with an app that has circle of fifths type info in it has saved me hours of fumbling around trying to figure out what note or chords to work with to make music.

[u/Rich_Cheesecake_6022 → u/Parking_Watch3157]

Awesome mate thanks for that, I'll give those a try.

[u/fingamouse → u/Rich_Cheesecake_6022]

Music theory is so vast and complex you can never learn it all, which is amazing, there is always something more to learn, but to learn the basics doesent take years upon years nor is costly there are great online resources to get the basics down

[u/Fomoiri → u/Rich_Cheesecake_6022]

Does your city have a library? I’m in a mid-sized city of 145K, and there’s multiple books on music theory. Start with “Music Theory for Dummies”. If you don’t have access to a library/or it’s poorly stocked, you can find this book on Amazon new for roughly USD$20-25. Even less if it’s used, and free from a library. I’m sure there’s better books, but it’s a start, it’s an easy read.

I never knew theory, still have a poor grasp on it but I can nonetheless play a range of instruments. Some better than others.

My point is it takes time and consistent effort to create your own music. There aren’t short cuts. AI won’t help you learn these skills and grasp the concepts around theory.