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Why I don’t Learn Music Theory
Why I don’t Learn Music Theory
Music to me is mysterious & magical. Without restriction, I can explore music through trial & error & come to my own conclusions, as well as make my own discoveries. I enjoy playing guitar or my keyboard & fingering out variations of simple chords until I hear something that excites me. It gives me this wonderful boost of energy. It’s that “wow cool, I just discovered something new!” feeling. I still get that to this day.
I can still recall regularly walking over a mile to the music store as a kid just to play the sounds on the amazing Roland Juno 60 synth. I had no idea how this instrument was creating such wonderful sounds. All I knew is that when a played a couple keys, it sounded fantastic. As the years went by I eventually bought the Roland Juno 106 which was largely the same sound engine. Little by little I discovered what certain knobs did to the sound. I certainly didn’t know what all of the knobs did. I just knew that when I pushed up that fader, it sounded even better.
As time went on, by default, I gained a bit more musical experience & started understanding what was previously behind the curtain. Soon enough I started to lose a bit of the magic because I knew the tricks. When you know the magician’s (or musician’s) tricks, they no longer drive the imagination the same way.
I had to set the synth down for a while & rediscover the magic in the guitar. While working with the synth, I was able to forget & unlearn some of what I know about the guitar. I felt like a beginner again. It felt new again. Like I was starting over for the first time. That was extremely exciting for me. I’ve always liked the “give me 4 chords & an imagination” approach. I like to drop an instrument when I feel too comfortable on it for a while & explore something new.
When I was first given one of my dad’s guitars, he also gave me a chord book. I tried, honestly I did. All I got was bored… and sore fingers. None of the music I was listening to were using these chords anyway. I then thought of all the guitar players at my school who played much better than me & realized that although I was impressed by their playing, I wasn’t impressed with what sounded to me like a cookie cutter approach to writing songs. I imagined them arguing “No, it’s gotta be this chord, anyone who knows music knows that!”. Sometimes getting it all wrong can have pleasant results.
Listening to Bauhaus, The Cure & New Order were much more exciting to me even though there were no elaborate guitar solos. I knew these bands didn’t play their instruments as well, but there was something else they did have that sparked my imagination much more.
My argument is not that one style of music is better than another. It’s that sometimes when you create your own path, it may take longer, but it’s more likely that you’ll find your own sound, and in doing so, a much deeper satisfaction.
Would you prefer to know all the chords in existence & lose that feeling of discovering them on your own? Would you prefer to play that 1 chord because your education has taught you that it’s appropriate or because it feels good to you? Education can be pretty important to understand some of the rules before you break them, but letting go & using “the force” might help you express things that simply can’t be taught.
For me, every time I sit down to make music, I still get to feel like a beginner in this magical & mysterious world. Of course I get better instincts which help me solve problems faster, but it’s very satisfying to know that I made these discoveries on my own or through conversations with others of similar tastes. There is still a bit of fear that I might suck or that I might not know how something I want to accomplish is done, but the problem solving involved in making music is one of the things that drives me creatively. After all these years, I wouldn’t trade what I don’t know about music for anything. My ignorance has been bliss. Bring on the magicians!
* Here’s a few musicians who never learned music theory:
(Feel free to add to this list in the comments)
David Bowie (except for sax lessons)
The Beatles
Eric Clapton (he started learning in the last decade or so)
Brian Eno
Thelonious Monk
William Orbit
David Byrne
Aphex Twin
Danny Elfman
Happy Music Making,
Jason
P.S. – Don’t forget to comment & tweet (down below) & “like” (up above). All your feedback & support is appreciated.
Interested in Learning Logic or Reason?
I recommend the sites below:
Logic Courses
Reason Courses
What do you like Musically?
What do you like Musically?
I decided that although I have plenty more to share with you about myself, that it was about time I learned a bit more about you, my readers. I want to know about some of the music you like & why you like it. I don’t care whether it’s drum & bass or bluegrass.
My goal is to expand my appreciation for music by listening to the music with your ears instead of mine. I want to know what about a song affects you on a deep level & what kind of music makes you want to go clubbing.
Although we make music for ourselves, once it is shared, there is communication happening. I’d like to be able to better predict how that conversation is going to go. I can’t say whether this experience will change my approach to songwriting but I’m open to finding out. If you would be so kind, drop me a YouTube or Soundcloud link to 1 new song that you’re really vibing to as well as an older song that you’ve always loved. The more detail you can give about why you like it the better.
I’m very interested & excited about being introduced to some new music or finding some common likes. I’ll start with the songs I like below:
Night Plane – Parallel lines
Here is a new-ish track that runs through my head over & over since I first heard it. I absolutely love the way the layered vocals hypnotise you & the overall production makes listening with headphones a wonderful experience. The parts have a slight offness that confuses the brain in a pleasant way. The song doesn’t try too hard by injecting a bunch of changes but instead goes for subtlety. This song is great for both home listening and for clubs.
target=”_blank”>Charlie May – Not My Cat
You really can’t go wrong with Charlie if you want to listen to a song that takes you on a journey. He takes his time with confidence & only rewards the patient. His productions always twist my head around. This is probably why he’s Sasha’s right hand man in the studio. His production is top notch and his ideas are always outside the box. For house music, I’d like this guy on my team.
target=”_blank”>The Horrors – Still Life
This is everything I like about a modern rock band. Moody & unique vocals, great melody & a powerful sound with none of the mainstream cliches. One listen & it sticks in your head (if you’re anything like me that is). Kinda reminds my of bands like The Chameleons & The London Suede. Enjoy the funny banter at the end of this one 
target=”_blank”>Tears For Fears – The Hurting
Man, what can I say about this band & this album. It’s one of those perfectly melancholy songs. The vocals harmonize perfectly & just hit me in an emotional place. The sounds in the breakdown was unpredictable as well. It’s close to 30 years old & still sounds fresh to me. The songwriting is stellar & this album is in my top 3.
target=”_blank”>Jean Michel Jarre – Zooklookologie
This is the song that made me want to play synths. I had never heard anything like it & although it may sound a bit dated to someone who has never heard this before, to me I still recall my first reaction & am still amazed with what Mr Jarre created. Once again, the melody has a slight sadness to it that tugs at the emotions while pulling my into the new universe of sound. I highly recommend the whole Zoolook album.
I could go on for days, but instead I’d like to listen to what YOU love. Do me a favor & make a comment below.
Have a happy music listening experience,
Jason
P.S. – Don’t forget to comment & tweet (down below) & “like” (up above). All your feedback & support is appreciated.
(Plus you’ll be sharing loads of great music with friends!)
Origins of Sampling d/l & my one time Group coupon deal!
My Ableton Tutorial Group coupon deal has ended
Thanks to all who participated!
Below is a great podcast on Sampling. Hope you enjoy it!
Origins of Sampling
I stumbled on this podcast by Jon Leidecker & found it pretty fascinating. It plays long samples & full songs, so patience pays off with this one. Some of the info is fairly common knowledge but a lot isn’t. You may be interested to know who Jean Michel Jarre sampled on his Zoolook album (one of my faves). Now you’ll know. Pretty cool!
Happy music making,
Jason
The Suck Factor
The Suck Factor
I was talking to an artist I met the other day & was intrigued that he was not only getting by with his art, but that he was living a pretty good life from it. Most of what he makes sells out pretty fast, and it’s not like he lives in a big city, so I was impressed. Naturally, I had to investigate what made him tick & what separated him from all the starving artists.
I already had learned that he was very good at what he did so I figured that he obviously was born with quite a gift.
well… yes & no…
He definitely had a gift, but it wasn’t as an artist. A least not from the start. His gift had more to do with his ability to plan for what most artists would consider red flags for any artistic pursuit. Sucking.
Where most people would try something once & fail, try again maybe a year or 2 later, failed again, then give up, he didn’t look at things the same way. His art of choice was ceramics, something I tried once or twice and gave up (anyone need an ashtray?). What really surprised me is the story he told me & how he viewed his experience. It’s not the way most of us approach things or define the experience at all.
Apparently, this artist was far from naturally gifted at ceramics. I guess he started off as a hell of an ashtray sculptor himself, but he came from a physics background & instead of feeling like a failure, he looked at his artistic venture in a more scientific way. If one approach didn’t work, he would take note and try again slowly improving his technique. Sometimes it would take 10 or 20 tries just to figure out where the issue in the process was. It seemed that in his mind, he already knew he would nail it given enough time. Keep in mind that he wasn’t even thinking yet about selling or even showing his work. He was still getting the process down.
After about 1000 attempts he was prepared to show his work & people bought it up right away. Some things obviously sold better than others. There was also pricing to keep in mind. He didn’t want a $20 piece to devalue his $500 pieces but he knew he needed both to make a good living. He didn’t really have an artistic conflict about one thing selling better than another because he simply enjoyed the process of creating, not necessarily the specific piece. He knew that his art was a job, a job he could love, but a job nonetheless.
This really hit me hard and made me take a good look at my creative beliefs, my work ethic & my definition of failure & success. Was I willing to try something 10 times? 100? 1000 times? until I had mastered my creative art? If I am being honest, I’d have to say no & the reason for that is that I was defining failure as a certain number of times I don’t succeed. Sound familiar?
Remember, there is a huge difference between the art you make and the art you share. Don’t let the art you are making now deter you. If your goal is to be great at something, plan for a lot of sucking & missing the mark. Try not to let it get you down.
Remember that many people have to go to college for 4-8 years before they are prepared to do what they do well. Can you imagine someone judging their architecture skills on what they were about to accomplish & understand after a week of schooling? So why then would we judge ourselves on our art or music before we put in the proper amount of time? From that point of view it sounds a bit silly doesn’t it?
Now once you become a “natural” at one aspect of music, don’t think you weren’t meant to explore another style just because your work is not nearly up to par with the style you excel at. How about making 100 attempts at it before you judge?
I can give you a perfect example for myself in how I will use this new process. I am not great with many soft synths. My strengths would be Ableton’s Operator, Subtractor (reason), and TAL’s Juno 106 clone. Most soft synths I just poke around on the presets, tweak the knobs I understand & then use EQ, Filter & fx to get an interesting sound. If I don’t get the sound I’m looking for, I go back to the familiar. This, I must admit, slows me down & limits my options.
You could argue that less options is a good thing & I would strongly agree, however I believe that too many options mainly becomes a problem if you are not already skilled or familiar with the tools you are using. For example, you can’t have too many words in your vocabulary unless you have no idea what the words mean & how to use them in a conversation.
What I’ll have to do to get better at more synths is put the breaks on making songs & take a week (or a month) on 1 new soft synth until I can consider myself proficient at it. Then I can add it as another option. I predict that doing this process a couple times will make the process go a bit faster each time as I find similarities and common themes among different tools.
What is it that you can apply this to?
What is it that you think you are a failure at?
Do you think you will still be a failure after 100 or more attempts?
Are you willing to let go of instant gratification to allow yourself to improve at whatever pace is necessary?
If the art you make doesn’t satisfy you, pat yourself on the back for the improvements you made since your last attempt & then refocus on perfecting your weaknesses in your next attempt. When you attempt something new, set aside some time for the “suck factor”. Maybe that’s why they call it suck-cess
Happy music making,
Jason
P.S. – Don’t forget to comment & tweet (down below) & “like” (up above).All your feedback & support is appreciated!
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