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FamiTracker
After being hear for awhile and seeing the many great songs that people put up, for me it can get discouraging and normally I feel like my songs aren't even close to par with most people. Since I don't know where else to ask I figured I'd ask here.
So my major questions are:
1. Does it normally take years to become a good composer especially when you start out with almost no musical experiance?
2. Does knowing music theory help any?
3. Is it normal to feel discouraged by other peoples songs?
4. Have you ever made a song that other people enjoy that you feel is not one of your good songs?
1. Yes, it's a lifetime-long pursuit. If you start with no musical experience, had no musical parents or background and no previous musical training, yes you're going to have to work 10x harder than those who did.
2. I'd say it helps you understand music but doesn't necessarily make you a better composer.
3. Yes, of course it's normal if you want to improve.
[quote=Roykeru]1. Does it normally take years to become a good composer especially when you start out with almost no musical experiance?
2. Does knowing music theory help any?
3. Is it normal to feel discouraged by other peoples songs?
4. Have you ever made a song that other people enjoy that you feel is not one of your good songs?[/quote]
1 = As much as "good" is subjective, yes; it does take practice and research to get to a comfortable level of composition.
2 = A lot, but I don't think it's crucial. If you listen to a lot of music and try to understand how it's done and why it's done the way it is, then chances are you'll find yourself applying all the theory without knowing the terms or their origins.
1. Some people learn quickly, some people take a long time. I don't think you'll ever "stop" learning though.
2. Probably but it's nowhere near as important as your intuition and musical sense.
3. Yup. Even the people at the top of their game feel like this.
4. Yes (all of them lol)
I think the most difficult thing is that, while you're always improving your craft and growing as a musician, your taste is also always becoming more and more refined. The imbalance between the two can be a source of motivation ("wow this is awesome, I have to improve" ) or it can be souldestroying sometimes too, knowing that your craft is just so far away from where you want it to be, even if you've already worked and achieved so much and not really considered it. I fear I've let my taste get out of control by spending enormous amounts of my time listening to just so much fucking new music all the time over the years and not really keeping up with it by forcing myself to work on music enough myself. Though it's a good thing in a way. I know I'll never be short of things to learn and explore - if I can get over the analysis paralysis and get better at making decisions.
tldr being discouraged is normal and happens to everyone from time to time. take a break, baby steps, and be kind to and patient with yourself.
Hi Roykeru, let me have a go at answering these questions:
1) There is no "normal", some people can take to things instantly, and others have to work hard for years - everyone's unique.
2) Of course music theory can help, but most of the great musicians I know have no official music background. In fact, I know quite a few musicians who are impeded by their musical background - learning to a rigid system has meant that they can't improvise or create, only follow others' notes.
3) This depends on your outlook - there will always be people out there blowing your mind, but for me, when I hear a tune that is awesome that just inspires me to be better, it doesn't discourage me. Sometimes I find that the people who I think create awesome tunes also think that I create awesome tunes - our creation styles are different, so we can both do things the other can't. My advice is this: stay humble. There's a reason we call it "playing" music, it's a game. Make a tune the same way a 5 year old draws a picture, not to gain the esteem that Rembrandt commands, but for the joy of the thing. That way you won't have any problems with others' work.
4) For me, always. I always find my genius works (in my own mind) are over-looked and misunderstood. Contrariwise my cheaper and more gimmicky tunes are well received. That's the nature of human society. Plus, everyone's tastes are different!
Just keep aspiring and working, but most of all - don't forget to enjoy making the music!! xxx
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[quote=Naff_Natty]I always find my genius works (in my own mind) are over-looked and misunderstood. Contrariwise my cheaper and more gimmicky tunes are well received. That's the nature of human society. Plus, everyone's tastes are different![/quote]
At a certain level, anything you make and are proud of will most likely only be appreciated by other musicians. Sadly, it does take a certain level of either intellect or musical sensitivity and understanding to fully appreciate music with melody, harmony and rhythms that aren't so immediately accessible.
There's an appreciation for craftsmanship and cleverness in one hand and a need to hear something that's easy to understand and is more concise on the other. Everyone I know that does composition professionally, as a career, say that you have to come to a point where you separate personal music from the music you make money with(the music most people are going to enjoy).
1) I've only been writing music for only a couple of years and I feel very confident with what I make today. I can easily remember when I started off I wasn't confident at all, but I persevered and made stuff anyway, even if it was [i]terrible[/i].
2) This depends! Though it definitely has helped me, there are plenty of things I've been doing before I even learned what it was, like inverted chords, time signatures, etc. There are plenty of people who make great stuff without music theory knowledge, [color=black]but there's some who aren't so gifted and thus work with a very shitty genre known as dubstep which requires no effort at all to make HAHA.
3) When I hear a song I like, I'll try to cover it and see if there's any new techniques to learn from it. There's plenty of songs with production techniques that intimidate me and I want to learn how they're done. One I think we can all attribute here is Tim Follin's style - I'm pretty sure that's what a lot of people here aimed to imitate one day.
4) All the time. We all improve over time and see our older works as inferior and bad, but some people won't take notice to that and say they love it.
Perhaps my best example of that is my cover of MM9's Wily Stage 1 for the Mega Drive... it's actually a bit terrible, bad volume control, bad instrument selection, but people love it anyway. Yet my newer things, which are a lot better are overlooked. It's a shame, really.
Just keep going and don't feel discouraged. You only improve if you want to improve. I had to learn this all the way at the beginning.
