The Three Things I wish I knew when I started writing music

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- - - - How To Write Music - - - -
How To Write Music explores the fundamental skills that underpin every great piece of music whether it’s a song or a film score, string quartet or video game sounds track.

0:00 Intro

0:56 Fundamental vs Complexity

3:14 Avoid Nostalgia

5:17 Technology

7:01 Can I teach you to be a great composer?

[anatomicallymodernhuman]

“Don’t get it right. Just get it written.” - a creative writing tutor at Oxford U recently said that to my wife’s class. Applies to equally to us, I think.

[gabrielforsberg]

When I trained in the Royal Marines in my country we got this slogan beaten Into our souls. "the average train until they get it right, the best train until they dont get it wrong" It can applied to anything in life, being elite in anything means being able to deliver an almost flawless execution of fundamentals consistently. That is what truly differentiates the amateurs from the pro:s in all things. I couldnt agree more with what was being said in the video on that front :)

[vleiratfilms]

Even at age 77 the work I’ve done on Guy’s courses had been so useful. This man is so right about learning how to use what you’ve got and make it better. Thanks Guy.

[goodyeoman]

I used to write loads of stuff on keyboard as a teenager, when I had no self-doubt or anything. I'm much more conscientious now, which is probably a limitation. Sometimes the best thing is just to get going, and keep refining what you've done, rather than try and nail a perfect song the first time round.

[FCGColouristUK]

"Do the fundamental things really well"
This statement applies SO PERFECTLY to my area which is colour grading for film. I started off using all the tools and copying the greatest colourists....never got anywhere
Now I have a very uncomplicated workflow which I focussed on perfecting and now I've got more work than I can get done.
Great

[whitex]

That is exactly the point: don't teach, enable learning. As a teacher I say: that is the most important sentence ever. Enable learning.

[anonagain]

While most shark species have to keep moving to breathe, some breathe by way of buccal pumping, actively “inhaling” water by using cheek muscles to draw it into the mouth and over the gills, and they can stop moving.

Sorry, couldn't resist. As always, thanks for the lesson Guy!

[songOmatic]

i'm writing tons these days, and recording too.

probably never be heard, but I'm really gettin a kick out of it.

[AOD.]

Really a big Thank You! This is exactly what I was stuck on. The clarity of common confusion of each new musician is mostly as you said within this video. This helped me a lot.

[pirotrav]

Great Wisdom here. I always feel a really fun energizing vibe watching your videos. Guy is the neighbor or friend you hope to have but in practice you meet one or two people of that caliber your whole life.

Always lovely advice, very practical, but also a fantastic energy to everything you do. Awesome work. And the crux here is of course on target. Fundamentals, fundamentals. I've definitely found myself spending hundreds of dollars on synths and software just to 'watch it go' for 10 minutes 😄. But I do find given enough time I work my way back to it and dig in properly. Well as far as these things go. I'm a software developer, mountain biker, and skier, among many other things, so music is largely a passion I spend a few hours a week on really. But still an important hobby for me as it's transcendent in a way that other things aren't.

[BraddersMusic]

Thanks Guy…. Favorite comment was related to “you can’t teach this, …we enable learning”. This is so true, and in the same sense as “you can lead a horse to water…..etc..”. students have to want to learn from the head and the heart, or it’s not going to be easy!

[ReinkeEric]

I really appreciated this vid! Thank you for confirming all this for everyone.

[cheddle]

I really love your style of teaching! I can tell you really enjoy facilitating the learning process.

[lukystreik]

6:49 Absolutely right. highly gifted photographer takes amazing outstanding impressive fotos out of the worst camera they can get with no problems. It’s never the gear itself.

[LindaMissad]

Such good tips, Guy. Having the technical skill and the technology skills along with finding your own voice in the music, is the biggest growing point. Sigh --- working on it continuously --- however, the process can be fun as well --- All of Thinkspace Courses are invaluable for helping one down that road. Thank you for all you offer us!!

[LBJedi]

Thank you so very much for this. It’s valuable to hear this sort of message as many times as I can.

[andrewdeck]

Such an encouraging and inspiring video! Thank you. Ill get back to song writing! Thank you.

[sergiogmartinez]

Absolutely agree, learning is a self process, the teacher is an enabler, great message Guy!

[mr.t]

Great video Sir!
I just found your vids today. I am a Brit musician/bass player acoustic/vocals living in the US many years now.
Had many partial songs and a couple of completed “starters” …sometimes I just get in “the flow” and well….it flows. No seeming rhym nor reason.
Anyways, THIS vid for me was so encouraging - and stirred me up!

Many thanks!
🙏🙏

[mikemoscomusic]

Love your wisdom, Guy! Many thanks as always..
Mike.