This is an excerpt from my book, ‘The Useful Musician’, available on Amazon.
WHY IT MAKES YOU MORE USEFUL:
It makes you a craftsman instead of waiting around for the music gods to inspire you.
WHAT TO DO:
Learn how music works. Don’t be content to let it be a mystery. That’s just lazy. There IS mystery in music, but YOU are nowhere NEAR that point. Knowing how the music goes together, seeing the whole picture, understanding all the parts, speaking the language—THIS is where you live. THIS is what makes you a great ensemble player. Playing whatever you feel like playing right in the moment makes you, well, pretty useless. (Unless you’re monstrously talented. In which case, call me–I’m pretty useful.)
THOUGHTS:
It’s a rookie move to say, “I don’t like to know what I’m doing. I just like to feel the music and play whatever comes out my hands.” I’ve known musicians like that all my life, and they can only do one thing—play it their own way. They can’t go along. In fact, I know a lot of musicians who are like this.
“I don’t know anything about theory and all that. It just confuses me. I just play what comes out.”
As you might guess, I can see that all over their playing. They can only play solos over chords that stay in the key, only play chords in the ‘regular’ positions, only play something one way—the way the feeeeel it. They limit themselves because they like it all spooky and stuff.
Look, there IS mystery here, but it works at a deeper level. Coming up with something that moves people, something that pulls on people’s souls—there’s definitely mystery there. That’s a deeper element of artistry, but don’t miss this:
Knowing what you’re doing doesn’t stop you from engaging the mystery of music.
You just have to make sure you’re not confusing the two.
There are some famous musicians who fall into the know-nothing category , but are so supremely talented that they can afford to force everyone around them to do it their way. If that’s you, what are you doing with this book in your hands?
theusefulmusician.com 