Are You A REAL MUSICIAN If You Write Music Like THIS?
What’s the best way to become a ‘real musician’?
Most people look at their favourite musicians and think that they simply wait for inspiration to fly into their head... and then they magically write a song and proceed to make millions of dollars.
Movies do not help. In fact you may notice that every genius in a movie is portrayed in the same way (musicians, mathematicians, artists, scientists... oh, yes they struggle but then they are hit by a sudden stroke of inspiration... )
Nobody pictures their favourite musicians considering the relationships between chords, choosing the right scale to play over a certain progression, or, for lack of a better term, "thinking" their way into writing a hit song.
I mean, if you were to imagine the writing process for a hit song like "Smells Like Teen Spirit".... which of the two options above sounds more like the way it came about?
(Notice for a moment how hard - even ridiculous - it is to picture Kurt Cobain sitting down and thinking "mmmh, do I play the root or the third of the chord here?")
The fact is, people picture songs like this being written with the former method, not the latter. That's the myth you've been sold.
People also want to be like their favourite artists.
And so they try to replicate the way they believe those artists worked: waiting for inspiration.
(well, don't hold your breath, buddy...)
But here’s the thing: every successful artist (yes, even Kurt), starts by developing enough of an understanding of music and music theory that they can naturally call upon that knowledge without thinking about it.
So while a song may be written without "thinking about theory", it doesn’t mean that knowledge wasn’t used.
(You can definitely drive a car without "thinking about the road code", but I bet today you didn't drive on the sidewalk and then run a red light before entering the highway in the wrong direction.)
The knowledge is just so set in that the artist doesn’t need to think about it: it's transparent.
So how do we install that knowledge in ourselves, in a way that that knowledge is transparent and we can write or play music freely?
In the video below, I’ll explain much more about what truly makes someone a ‘real musician’, and why it may not be what you think!
To really be a great musician, one thing you absolutely need to understand as good as you possibly can is chords and harmony. This can (and will!) make or break the music you write so if you want to be a master of chords and harmony on the guitar, check out my Complete Chord Mastery guitar course.
Video Transription
Hello, Internet! So nice to see you. I've got an interesting comment on learning scales. Real musician has a song in the head and try play that the don't care what scale or mode it is. Scholar of music theory is stuck in the scale swamp.
First of all, real musicians do whatever they need to do to get the job done. Real musicians don't limit themselves to just their ears. Real musicians use every tool they can. Second, just because you learn a few scales doesn't mean you're stuck in that.
If I learn what the major scale is, I can totally later, even if I know only the major scale, I can totally ignore what I just learned and play in a different way if I have a different idea. It's not that since I learned the major scale, now I'm stuck and everything I play must be in the major scale.
The major scale is a tool. Just because I own a hammer doesn't mean I have to use it, okay? Maybe I can recognize the major scale somewhere and maybe I can be a bit biased until I learn another scale but it doesn't mean I cannot play anything else.
Everything I could play before learning the major scale, I can still play it after learning the major scale. And, I mean, I could just go on and on saying all these and you guys can pull politely nod at me, but the reality is this, the reality is that who are you going to listen to?
To the person who does not know any scale and they just tell you I am better off or the person who actually went through, learned the scale, found themselves being able to write better music because they learned the scale, okay?
Who told you that people who know more scales get stuck? Because definitely anybody who learned scale never told you that because the reality is that when we learn new scales, we are better off. When we learn more theory, we are better off.
Everything we learn in theory, it's a new idea. All those people who don't learn notice that, notice that, because it's important and once you notice you can't unsee it and it's important. Have you noticed how many people who do not know music theory go on and on and on endlessly about musical inspiration?
You need to be inspired, you need to find your inspiration, you need this, you need that. A real musician does not need inspiration. A real musician wakes up and writes music or plays music. Inspiration, it's nice to have, but it's not necessary.
Inspiration makes things easier and makes things more fun and pleasant, but it's not necessary. We don't forget how to play our instruments if we don't have an inspiration. When you learn your scales and modes and chords and all the music theory, Those are all ideas, those are all tools, and they work as well as inspiration.
And so, when inspiration actually strikes, because inspiration will strike, if you keep feeding your mind with new ideas, which is studying music theory, and if you keep feeding new ideas to your mind, inspiration will strike and will strike more often, and you will be more prepared to take that inspiration and to write music.
These commenters said that real musicians have a song in their head and they write a song. And how would you do it if you don't know any scale, any chord, anything? You will just transcribe everything completely by ear?
This means that you need to have some actual musicians in the room with you to do all the work for you, and if you can afford that, good for you, not say no. But wouldn't you rather be able to do this stuff yourself?
That's why I got that hammer, see? Just hear what you have in your head and just play it. This happens when you study music theory. It starts to be a bit tiresome in the last few years. It starts to be a bit tiresome of all those people who honestly don't know any better, telling us who know any better that we are wrong and they are right, okay?
Especially when it turns out that either they're not playing that greatly or they knew theory all along when they were just pretending, okay? But my advice is learn music theory. You think I am interested because I'm teaching music theory?
It's true, I am teaching music theory and you can buy my courses. But if you think that I have any interest in telling you this to learn music theory just because I want you to buy my courses, that's the thing.
Don't buy my courses. Go and study music theory somewhere else. But please do study music theory. Do learn more scales, do learn more chords. Of all the things you learn, you're not going to use everything but when you hit the scale that you like or the chord that you like or the chord progression that you like, when you hit the ideas that you like, that's the gold and that's what you want to remember.
You're going to learn the tricks, the ideas that work for you. Study music theory. Do not listen to people like these who never studied and they're just telling you to follow them in their frankly ignorance.
This is Tommaso Zillio for musictheoryforguitar.com and until next time, enjoy!