How: I really do feel that an Increased understanding of music theory, becoming a better guitar player and writing with notation rather than with DAWs helped me realize my musical ideas more than anything else. In regards to the latter, I've often mentioned that I was a music technology Luddite until 2010. At that point, I started writing most of my music using the piano roll or playing it in via MIDI keyboard in real time. Though I certainly feel I wrote decent music in that time, I believe it was nothing compared to what I wrote, but never recorded in the times before then and now. I've returned to writing with my guitar, tab and notation and I feel it is how I write best.
The reasons why are many and varied.
- I'm much more familiar with using sheet music and guitar tab
- It removes the distraction of searching for the best sound to compose with.
- It allows me to practice playing the piece I have written in its entirety before I record it. I believe this is the best way to improve technical skill on an instrument as well.
- It gives me an easy to read, visual representation of everything that is happening in the score. This allows me to better understand how all of my instruments will work together and makes it easier to write counter-melody.
- I find it easier to plan and layout a composition and/or arrangement with notation software than with a DAW
and many more.
Turning point: I'd say I was the best guitar player I ever was when I was 15-18 years old. If I wasn't working, partying, or skipping school, I was playing guitar. One summer vacation, I didn't hang out with any of my friends or go on any trips. I just played guitar till my fingers hurt and kept auditioning band members or jamming at open mic nights. I had no interest in doing anything else but playing and writing music. Looking back, if I would have taken the plunge and moved to a city with a better metal music scene like I always talked about doing....good things might have happened.
Turning point 2: Age 18. I got tired of most members of bands I'd play with never being serious about actual music and decided to just do shit on my own and see if I could break into writing music for video games. This is when I started to write other genres; mostly electronic and funk music. Around this time is when I found the OCR forums and some members here told me about FL Studio. This is a turning point because obviously, this is when I learned about virtual instruments, DAWs etc. and how I could make recorded music, collaborate and learn from others across vast distances.