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The most important tool for making great art... (a Terje-esqu thought)...


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Technique is great, and no musician should be without a decent amount of it, and mojo is great to, but neither of those things is going to producer great music. They are simply raw elements that will make you or break you as a preformer.

 

I'm personaly more of a writer type musician (songwriter, composer, whatever you want to call it). I love to play, but structuring a beautiful peice of music is what really gets me off. For this, some instrumental proficentcy is also good, as is ear training, etc...

 

 

But the thing that really seperates the great from the mediocer is this:

 

 

A sence of Vision

 

I also paint a little. I'm mostly a surrealist, so it is very rare for me to have the subject in front of me. I have to imagine what exactly what I want to put on paper before I do it. I make a sketch, and I change it until it represents my vision the exact way I want it to. Then I go to work on the canvas. I may change a couple of things along the way, or add a couple of little ornements as eye-candy, but nothing that will fundamentaly change the subject or mood of the peice. It must be true to the vision, otherwise the point is lost. Eye candy does not make a lasting impression on people the same way an overwelming mood or emotion will.

 

Similarly, in music I usually begin the writing process with a little fragment of a melody or a few chord changes that I have either improvised on the guitar or keyboard, or have come to me out of the blue (the latter generaly yeilding better results, though not always). After I have that, I DO NOT add to it with by sitting there and saying "I wonder if this sounds good with it... *fiddle...fiddel*". Instead I try to play it as many ways as possible, both on guitar, bass, and keys, varying rhythms and tempos all the while, trying to find the perfect vibe.

 

Once I have found something that really inspires me, I work from that vision, and I STICK TO IT!!

 

Now, it may be a multi-faceted vision, with several moods, but they must all be logicaly connected in some way to what I am trying to comunicate, and they must flow together in a natural fashion that does not detract from any previous events.

 

If I am inspired durring the writing process with something that doesn't quite fit with what I am trying to do I save it for latter. I will not gatuitusly stick it into the song just for the sake of using it. I also will not add something just to give the musician a chance to show of some chops. I love to show off as much as the next guy, but it's lying to yourself to try and qualify it as art... That said, don't shy away from more difficult things either. I have writen music that I am still unable to play... I write things on my computer, away from instruments, so I am not really thinking in terms of how to play it, just in terms of 'Does it sound good?'

 

anyway, I don't know if this was helpful to anyone. If so, leave some feedback, I'd apprecciate it.

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