Does Creativity Wane With Age?

[SteveStrummerUK]

2 hours ago, paulo said:

4 hours ago, SteveStrummerUK said:

anyone who owns more than 1 Alembic must have a massive [redacted]

guitar case?

Indeed no.

One would probably utilise two guitar bass cases.

[Tim Smith]

On 10/2/2021 at 12:17 PM, Mark MoreThan-Shaw said:

With Library music generally you don't "sell" it to them ( unless you're Hans Zimmer or someone ), you usually write an album's worth of themed material ( i..e Sports Hip Hop Vol III ) and offer it to them gratis and IF it's of sufficient quality and something they they think their clients could use they will sign it to their catalog.

Obviously there are thousands of musicians trying to get in as well so it's quite competitive. Should your music get used by their Clients I.e. in a TV show, with most deals you get half and they get half of the royalties share. There are many variations but that's the most common scenario in a nutshell.  

I know this is going to sound like a terrible attitude, but I don't need those guys and I'm not going to make them an album of free music just for the opportunity to be accepted....or not.

Sorry that's just where I'm at right now. I don't even care enough to care if anyone likes what I do any more. 

I did manage to record some last evening and I had almost forgotten how much fun it can be. Only had enough time to record and shape up a small mix. I had one other mix I spent some time on a few weeks ago. When I came back to it I chopped a lot out of it. I generally over record and over mix parts which ends up they step on each other. I thinned it out a bit. Another common thing for me is there's played in midi off a little here and there. Seems a simple thing to go in and fix it. Just time consuming. Bringing up the midi editing window, going through each track. Before you know it three hours went by. Feels good to have something you consider finished if for no other reason than it was fun to do it for me.

What I'll do with it- Who knows? It probably only means something to me.

[Mark Morgon-Shaw]

20 minutes ago, Tim Smith said:

I know this is going to sound like a terrible attitude, but I don't need those guys and I'm not going to make them an album of free music just for the opportunity to be accepted....or not.

Sorry that's just where I'm at right now. I don't even care enough to care if anyone likes what I do any more. 

It's a perfectly valid attitude, very few musicians can wrap their head around the concept. Even fewer can actually come up with the goods consistently.

But relating back to the OP , when there's deadlines involved and you have to pump out a lot of music in a variety of genres you don't get the luxury of waiting for your muse to grab you.  Creativity is like a muscle and the more you work it the easier it becomes, a lot of it is to do with overcoming resistance and procrastination.

I don't think it's especially age related , maybe the end result is different at different stages of life but I make more music now than I ever did in my teens / 20s / 30s 

[AndyB01]

I wish I'd had access to resources I have now when I was younger. I still feel creative - even at the ripe old age of 59!

I guess it feels harder to be original the older you get, I put down a riff and then think I've definitely heard that before - turns out I have.

Lyrics wise, I think I am a much better lyricist now than in my youth - more to draw on I guess - life experience gives you that at least.

Great question though.

Andy

[Tim Smith]

29 minutes ago, Mark MoreThan-Shaw said:

It's a perfectly valid attitude, very few musicians can wrap their head around the concept. Even fewer can actually come up with the goods consistently.

But relating back to the OP , when there's deadlines involved and you have to pump out a lot of music in a variety of genres you don't get the luxury of waiting for your muse to grab you.  Creativity is like a muscle and the more you work it the easier it becomes, a lot of it is to do with overcoming resistance and procrastination.

I don't think it's especially age related , maybe the end result is different at different stages of life but I make more music now than I ever did in my teens / 20s / 30s 

I probably would not work well under a deadline or it wouldn't be as much fun because instead of doing it for fun it would be doing it for a boss somewhere. If I had to do something in a certain genre fast I would probably grab Acid Pro and pull some genre focused loops out of it as a backdrop. I would imagine some use Biab for that purpose as well. Slap a few verses and a chorus in there and go with it. From what little I know of Library music it's seems to be mostly  filler music for movies or ad spots. Not really structured to be a song. Maybe more theme based. I guess that would make it easier to make. Scaler 2 would definitely help to get ideas with no or little inspiration. Yeah I could probably do it. If it payed the bills with regularity maybe....I think I know better than that. Might be nice side change here and there if I could do it. I'm not knocking you or anyone else who does it. More power to ya.? I'm just not too sure about it working for me.

I know deep down I'm creative. I guess it depends on how a person defines creative. I'm in a lull right now and I'm  grumbling about it because I've done more and better in the past. I think at least part of my issue is being too busy or putting too many other things in front of making music. I have guitars that have hung on my wall for well over a year and I haven't even thought about playing one. I still play music I just haven't been making much of it lately.

Makes me feel much better to think maybe it isn't age related and I'll get it back again. Thanks!

34 minutes ago, AndyB01 said:

I wish I'd had access to resources I have now when I was younger. I still feel creative - even at the ripe old age of 59!

I guess it feels harder to be original the older you get, I put down a riff and then think I've definitely heard that before - turns out I have.

Lyrics wise, I think I am a much better lyricist now than in my youth - more to draw on I guess - life experience gives you that at least.

Great question though.

Andy

Ha....that's how old I am. Heading into the big 60. I'm glad you haven't lost it. 

With all the music out there it's easy to play something that sounds like something else.

I never was really great with lyrics.

[paulo]

21 hours ago, SteveStrummerUK said:

Indeed no.

One would probably utilise two guitar bass cases.

Does Strummy go on his holibobs with a separate suitcase for each sock?

[Bapu]

38 minutes ago, paulo said:

Does Strummy go on his holibobs with a separate suitcase for each sock?

One for each plummy, no doubt.

[SteveStrummerUK]

6 minutes ago, Bapu said:

45 minutes ago, paulo said:

Does Strummy go on his holibobs with a separate suitcase for each sock?

One for each plummy, no doubt.

One for Plummy. One for John T.

[Tim Smith]

Here's my latest attempt at creativity. A one night sort of thing. 

 

[Shane_B.]

2 hours ago, Tim Smith said:

Here's my latest attempt at creativity. A one night sort of thing. 

It's really good. I like that type of music a lot. It puts me in a calm mood and creates an atmosphere I like.

I did this a few years ago. It's not my latest creation but probably the best I've done in a very long time. I was in a zone and I couldn't replicate the guitar melody again if my life depended on it. I can't sing or play this well at all anymore actually. I recorded it for my dog Maggie when she died a few years back. She was at my side 24/7 and in my studio for every recording I made during the 14 years she was alive. Just a simple recording I did on my Tascam 8 Track and transferred to my DAW to mix/master/upload.

 

[Starship Krupa]

On 10/4/2021 at 11:06 AM, Tim Smith said:

I know deep down I'm creative. I guess it depends on how a person defines creative.

Websters says "marked by the ability or power to create : given to creating."

In my older age, I have a tighter definition than I used to. In order to be "creative," a person must actually create things. Otherwise, all we're doing is creating thoughts inside our heads, and anyone can do that. The fact that my thoughts are about music or visual art instead of, say, car stereos, doesn't make me creative any more than thinking about boats would make me a sailor.

Part of this attitude comes from dating "art girls" who came equipped with a portfolio of projects they did in art school, and who looked and acted the part, but after I got to know them, I noticed that they never actually created anything. Well, except for confusion and bitterness in the minds of people they were involved with. ?

It's just a label, anyway. Or a conceit. Bottom line, create something. The process of actually doing so tends to stimulate more ideas and more creations.

Even if they're for nobody other than me, I'm fine with that. I would ideally like to share my creations with others, as I have enjoyed the creations of others. But that's not mandatory. Making music makes me happy in and of itself and that's enough. Anything else is gravy.

YMM certainly V!

[Tobias]

12 hours ago, Shane_B. said:

It's really good. I like that type of music a lot. It puts me in a calm mood and creates an atmosphere I like.

I did this a few years ago. It's not my latest creation but probably the best I've done in a very long time. I was in a zone and I couldn't replicate the guitar melody again if my life depended on it. I can't sing or play this well at all anymore actually. I recorded it for my dog Maggie when she died a few years back. She was at my side 24/7 and in my studio for every recording I made during the 14 years she was alive. Just a simple recording I did on my Tascam 8 Track and transferred to my DAW to mix/master/upload.

 

I am getting strong Mark Knopfler vibes from this song, both the overall feel and the singing.  I liked it, well done!

[Tim Smith]

18 hours ago, Shane_B. said:

It's really good. I like that type of music a lot. It puts me in a calm mood and creates an atmosphere I like.

I did this a few years ago. It's not my latest creation but probably the best I've done in a very long time. I was in a zone and I couldn't replicate the guitar melody again if my life depended on it. I can't sing or play this well at all anymore actually. I recorded it for my dog Maggie when she died a few years back. She was at my side 24/7 and in my studio for every recording I made during the 14 years she was alive. Just a simple recording I did on my Tascam 8 Track and transferred to my DAW to mix/master/upload.

 

That's really nice work there Shane! My recordings lack that nice sheen this has. Probably the difference between using real instruments and sampled ones. You are quite the talent and should at least try to do some more when you can. Sorry to hear about your dog. I hate to think about mine dying one day.

I can relate to the " I can't duplicate it again" thinking.  I'll bet you could get close though.

12 hours ago, Starship Krupa said:

Websters says "marked by the ability or power to create : given to creating."

In my older age, I have a tighter definition than I used to. In order to be "creative," a person must actually create things. Otherwise, all we're doing is creating thoughts inside our heads, and anyone can do that. The fact that my thoughts are about music or visual art instead of, say, car stereos, doesn't make me creative any more than thinking about boats would make me a sailor.

Part of this attitude comes from dating "art girls" who came equipped with a portfolio of projects they did in art school, and who looked and acted the part, but after I got to know them, I noticed that they never actually created anything. Well, except for confusion and bitterness in the minds of people they were involved with. ?

It's just a label, anyway. Or a conceit. Bottom line, create something. The process of actually doing so tends to stimulate more ideas and more creations.

Even if they're for nobody other than me, I'm fine with that. I would ideally like to share my creations with others, as I have enjoyed the creations of others. But that's not mandatory. Making music makes me happy in and of itself and that's enough. Anything else is gravy.

YMM certainly V!

I always looked at this like we are chips off the old block ( the creator) and so we are also creators in a much lesser capacity. I often imagine other things besides music that I guess I would call creative but they border on  engineering. It starts as an idea on a piece of paper that took shape. I see no harm in using things others created to make my own creations.

@Starship Krupa said-It's just a label, anyway. Or a conceit. Bottom line, create something. The process of actually doing so tends to stimulate more ideas and more creations.

 

Just writing that little diddy in the studio the other evening made me feel better. I can't explain it.

 

[Starship Krupa]

On 10/5/2021 at 12:07 PM, Shane_B. said:

I did this a few years ago. It's not my latest creation but probably the best I've done in a very long time. I was in a zone and I couldn't replicate the guitar melody again if my life depended on it. I can't sing or play this well at all anymore actually. I recorded it for my dog Maggie when she died a few years back. She was at my side 24/7 and in my studio for every recording I made during the 14 years she was alive.

This song is great. Traditional Country seems to be such a rarity today. When I check out "Country," it just sounds like rock with a Southern accent. The world could use some more of what you do! Also, from a mix/mastering viewpoint, it's excellent.

And condolences about Maggie. I used to have to close the door to my studio space to try to keep my dog Kittery out while I played drums, as I didn't want to injure her ears. She would then go around the other side of the house, through my workspace, through the guest bedroom, through the kitchen just to be with me while I was playing. She outsmarted me. Some say that dogs have the intelligence of a 4 or 5 year old human, but I swear, with my baby girl, it was more like an 8-year-old.

My girlfriend moved out, and we shared custody for a while, then she moved to Seattle. I went up to visit them a few months before Kittery passed and we had some fun, took a trip to Don Bennet's Drum Shop in Ballard. She followed me into the vintage drum parts room, we found some parts I needed for the Slingerland kit, and then I sat down to have a tap on a Gretsch kit they had. Same as ever, she wanted to be by my side while I was playing, so I had to tie her off to a shelf in another part of the shop. BTW, for any drummers in that area, the shop is not only amazing, they love doggies.

On 10/6/2021 at 6:56 AM, Tim Smith said:

I always looked at this like we are chips off the old block ( the creator) and so we are also creators in a much lesser capacity.

Amen to this. When it's going well, musicians (and other artists) seem to channel the spirit (by whatever name). I don't know if it's possible to be a musician and not be in touch with the infinite. We are given the gift of speech, but there are things that can't be communicated by words. When we're with a loved one, it's touch. A hug or caress says "I love you."

I'm with you and Shane on the inability to recreate guitar solos.?I've done more than one "scratch" take on guitar that I couldn't top after several tries. And then I had to go back and learn it the same way I'd have to do with another player's part, note by note. And I think "where did that come from?"

In my mind, John Coltrane, especially in the years with the quartet that included Elvin Jones, is one of the best I've heard at channeling it. There's even a church in San Francisco (where else, eh?) that considers him a saint. I didn't know what they were on about until I started playing drums 9 years ago and got into Elvin Jones. The gentleness and yet sometimes ferocity with which they play touches me in spiritual way.

[Tim Smith]

17 hours ago, Starship Krupa said:

Amen to this. When it's going well, musicians (and other artists) seem to channel the spirit (by whatever name). I don't know if it's possible to be a musician and not be in touch with the infinite. We are given the gift of speech, but there are things that can't be communicated by words. When we're with a loved one, it's touch. A hug or caress says "I love you."

I'm with you and Shane on the inability to recreate guitar solos.?I've done more than one "scratch" take on guitar that I couldn't top after several tries. And then I had to go back and learn it the same way I'd have to do with another player's part, note by note. And I think "where did that come from?"

In my mind, John Coltrane, especially in the years with the quartet that included Elvin Jones, is one of the best I've heard at channeling it. There's even a church in San Francisco (where else, eh?) that considers him a saint. I didn't know what they were on about until I started playing drums 9 years ago and got into Elvin Jones. The gentleness and yet sometimes ferocity with which they play touches me in spiritual way.

Yep. With me it's more keys than guitar but same basic thing sometimes. It gets really deep. Far too deep for the CH section of the forum. I mean, pretty much anything is too deep for the CH.?

[craigb]

5 hours ago, Tim Smith said:

Yep. With me it's more keys than guitar but same basic thing sometimes. It gets really deep. Far too deep for the CH section of the forum. I mean, pretty much anything is too deep for the CH.?

Sometimes things get deep here... ?

[Shane_B.]

On 10/6/2021 at 3:02 AM, Tobias said:

I am getting strong Mark Knopfler vibes from this song, both the overall feel and the singing.  I liked it, well done!

Those are some mighty big shoes to fill. Thank you!

On 10/6/2021 at 8:56 AM, Tim Smith said:

That's really nice work there Shane! My recordings lack that nice sheen this has. Probably the difference between using real instruments and sampled ones. You are quite the talent and should at least try to do some more when you can. Sorry to hear about your dog. I hate to think about mine dying one day.

Thanks! There's nothing wrong with using samples. What you did is excellent, samples or no samples. I struggle with midi and everything I try to do sounds really bad, but I have never invested in a good sample library either.

On 10/7/2021 at 2:31 PM, Starship Krupa said:

This song is great. Traditional Country seems to be such a rarity today. When I check out "Country," it just sounds like rock with a Southern accent. The world could use some more of what you do! Also, from a mix/mastering viewpoint, it's excellent.

Thank you. I've said it before and I'll say it again, I turned my radio off when music died in 1978. Especially country.

Thanks for the kind words. Sorry it took so long to reply. I've been wading around 20" of blown insulation in my attic for the last week rewiring part of my house for a remodel and haven't been on much. Still going to be busy for the next month or so. I need to be done by the end of Nov. for Thanksgiving here in the U.S.. Relatives will start piling in around then and I need to get finished before then.

BTW ... I forgot to give credit for that song. I never share that version, I have it up on youtube set to private to share on facebook with credits on it and I forgot to give credit here. A guy named Blaze Foley wrote and recorded that song. I did a cover of it. Merle Haggard covered it also, but I prefer the original Blaze Foley version. That guy was the real deal. Lived hard. IIRC one of his relatives shot him. 

[telecode 101]

@OP.. Really interesting question. I really think it depends what you want to get out of music and how you approach it. I sort of approach it now as it’s something I do in my free time and I try to make time for it as it’s “my” free time that I do this stuff for. It’s my mental me time away from kids and wife and chores. It’s sort of like, you know,  some guys have woodworking as a hobby and made desks and chairs. Some guys have  a $2000 bike and the cycling outfit and go cycling all the time. My thing is doing music. That’s sort of how I approach it. I have no aspirations to become Drake.

FWIW.. there are many guys that were writers on the side while having a day job and sort of did this thing where they made time for their alter life such as writing – and did become quite famous from it. Sort of like John Grisham. He was a lawyer and family man and wrote because he loved to write. And hit it big. So anything is possible. You never know man.

[Starise]

20 minutes ago, telecode 101 said:

@OP.. Really interesting question. I really think it depends what you want to get out of music and how you approach it. I sort of approach it now as it’s something I do in my free time and I try to make time for it as it’s “my” free time that I do this stuff for. It’s my mental me time away from kids and wife and chores. It’s sort of like, you know,  some guys have woodworking as a hobby and made desks and chairs. Some guys have  a $2000 bike and the cycling outfit and go cycling all the time. My thing is doing music. That’s sort of how I approach it. I have no aspirations to become Drake.

FWIW.. there are many guys that were writers on the side while having a day job and sort of did this thing where they made time for their alter life such as writing – and did become quite famous from it. Sort of like John Grisham. He was a lawyer and family man and wrote because he loved to write. And hit it big. So anything is possible. You never know man.

That sounds like my life exactly. Picking up the extra instrument was probably a mistake at this stage in my life. Even so, it was very educational and will help with compositions. I have a mostly desk job where I work and I'm on a computer all day. This wasn't always the case in my job. I got a fairly recent promotion. It's technical mostly and not clerical which makes it interesting for me, but to work this job all day and them go home to a computer again is often just too much even though it's something totally different.

I'm getting closer to retirement now. I will probably have the larger better equipped studio then. It's a great thing to do if a person is not as mobile as they once were. Right now I am in pretty decent health and able to do pretty much anything I want to do. I was thinking I might have two gigs after retirement. The music recording and another gig that's more physically active.

If I could start material and have all kinds of time to work on it I'm sure my music would be a few notches higher than it is. Hopefully that will be me in the future