heres a chill thing thats pretty trash if you ask me, couldve been alot better but i honestly feel like i need to at least publish something. I mean, i go so long without pubbing that i feel like i just die altogether, i cant make any full songs for months on end and whatever i publish inbetween is pretty bad, i dont want to constantly pub stuff like this either, i want to be able to make something that i am proud of but i always feel like i never can, when developing a track i can never find enough inspiration in what im creating to continue it, im not inspired by my own music...to make more music, and im a little scared because i dont know if that means i may not cut out for music or what, i dont know what the future holds for me. And i get that every artist goes through block, but i dont think i've ever seen someone go through such long periods of block as me, so i guess if i could get some tips that would be great. thank you all for your time, sorry for making you read a novel haha <3
fuck me dude, i wish i could make melodies like this haha and it's no where near trash
ty bro i'll have to check it some time :p
btw if you have trouble with chords or melodies, i strongly suggest you try using hookpad, you can write chords very easily with it, can change tempo, key, chord modes, create sus2,4,and add9 chords, all sorts of stuff, its usually much easier to write melodies when its so easy to create the chords as well https://www.hooktheory.com/hookpad/new
well thank you I appreciate it haha :) not sure if you saw the description, and if you read some of the comments you'll see what i was talking about when i said ive been doing better than i was doing haha
i think this is a good piece of music in its own right, you got something good going on and it's not clearly fair on yourself to say you're not 'cut out for music' because this shows your potential. everyone goes through highs and lows. the hardest part about making music, or any kind of art, is that you must produce something from nothing; it just seems so mysteriously hard to do, and even if you make the first steps (like this piece), all you can perceive is that emptiness you started with.
i dont think you were struggling to give advice coherently at all, i dont think i could have said it better myself, thank you for the advice ill definitely give this process a try :)
i'm at exactly the same stage of life as you, about to turn 17 and confused and scared with this sudden pressure all around me to scurry to snatch a career and find something 'acceptable' to make a living. so many people just 'settle' with wherever they happen to end up in life, but i'm not doing that; i'm desperate to turn my passion for music and arts into a career, and i hope you are too. because i feel like if you can get past these stupid blocks and achieve success, it'll be so worth it.
anyway this could all be useless information but at least try it. if "music is your greatest passion" as you said then take that opportunity because you only get one shot at it.
anyway all I ask is that you consider this different, more flexible creative process because it's helped me overcome blocks like yours. it's like painting - you might choose your palette as step 1, but it's how you arrange and structure those colors in step 2 that makes the piece of art what it is, you know?
just to represent this idea: my track apogee starts with an atmospheric intro with piano, chords, ambient perc etc. I totally ran out of ideas for that part, and decided to make a completely separate set of synths and percussion and just give myself more stuff to work with. if you open it, you'll notice that in part A and the start of part B, not so much as a single synth or machiniste is shared between the 2 sections. this gave me so many creative ideas to experiment with and structure fully.
don't deliberate over structure, or transitions, or any of that nonsense while you're in the creative process. give yourself as MUCH MATERIAL as possible to work with from the very start. synths, melodies, rhythms, themes - arranging, organising and refining these ideas is still a lot of fun to do later. experiment with this workflow and make it your own.
I'm running out of characters here so it's hard to form coherent advice, but trust me this can work. you might notice that a lot my music has 2 or 3 contrasting sections (dusk two, intralude, specific ocean, list goes on). this is because when I run out of ideas for one thing, i just make a new thing instead of frustrating myself. I can connect the two things later with returning themes or whatnot, but the most important aspect is creating a constant stream of new ideas when you make music
all I can suggest - and this helps me a lot so listen up lol - is, when you're making a draft, and you create an idea like this which you can't finish in your head, to NOT loop it again like you did here (same thing twice). keep your idea but don't keep listening to it, trying to hear where it goes next. instead, create a handful of new instruments; new synths, percs, whatever, and add a different idea. you can worry about structure later. but now you have twice as much material to work with.
I can almost feel your frustration in being unable to develop this piece, it feels like it could go somewhere but it's hard to think of where.
in response to that desc, i had an artists block for about 2 years, didnt produce anything good during that time and it fuckin sucked (my account died right down and i had to start all over again when i came back about a year ago), i felt the same way you described, maybe im not cut out for production, it seems like too much to realize your own ideas while youre producing and whenever you do get those ideas down they seem terrifically underwhelming, not how you had it in your mind kinda thing
Good Luck! Im certain you could use it. Remember to come back, that is what makes it a "hiatus".
(description P.S. i guess?) I'm about to turn 17 and i realize that just within a year a shitton is going to change, and i feel like im at some turning point in my young adult life where i need to choose what im going to do for the rest of my life, now i love making music don't get me wrong, but i just... i dont know if i see it going anywhere, and as music is my greatest passion, it really crushes me not to know if im really...again, cut out for it, for lack of better words.
@ollie sorry to make you keep reading, just not sure if you saw this ^^ i had continued the description in comments yesterday
thank you for trying to help though :)
well i dont really know whats stopping me, like i said i guess im just scared of whats to come of my life, and that fear makes me fear even more. Maybe im just overthinking all of this shit idk man