Breaking old playing habits when composing

[Flamadour]

Does anyone have any tips or advice for breaking old playing habits when composing music? For guitar in particular, as I find myself in the same routine when trying to create new riffs, I fall into the same habits which results in similar sounding riffs of tracks that I had created previously.

While I do utilise alternate tunings, and favour open tunings for this reason, I still find myself reaching for the same notes.

[Troisnyx]

@spoonman420 @Glassedhouse Pinging yous on the off chance yous have any insight into this.

[SkankyMojo]

At 8/18/23 08:38 AM, Flamadour wrote: Does anyone have any tips or advice for breaking old playing habits when composing music? For guitar in particular, as I find myself in the same routine when trying to create new riffs, I fall into the same habits which results in similar sounding riffs of tracks that I had created previously.

While I do utilise alternate tunings, and favour open tunings for this reason, I still find myself reaching for the same notes.

You could try listening to music outside of your harmonic comfort zone and ingrainning a new set of cadences in your ears. If you're falling into the same harmonic content regardless of tuning etc, I reckon your issue is your ears and what they are most used to. As you're a guitarist, try checking out Allan Holdsworth and exploring the harmonic minor modes, they set me free from a similar rutt.

[spoonman420]

At 8/18/23 09:06 AM, Troisnyx wrote: @spoonman420 @Glassedhouse Pinging yous on the off chance yous have any insight into this.

Flamadour reminds me of a couple of my old friends. One is a classical guitarist who plays the violin and guitar. Great with music theory, can read and play with notation. Another is into metal and playing many notes is important to him. Both are technically better than me but somehow they find it difficult to jam. Their time is off. They listen to what they are playing instead of the whole group they're jamming with. I'm not sure if that is true with Flamadour, but I can hear the timing issues. I'd say, forget about the notes and scales and focus on time... Take 1 note or 2. Play it in the pocket. In as many different timings as possible... sometimes playing. Sometimes not playing. Leave gaps. But remember to count. Where are you landing next time, on the 1? On the 2? Somewhere else? Go there... Just don't lose the 1. Keep counting. And then focus on sounding good instead of having many notes... and then tell a story. Take us to that place in your head... Take us with you and don't leave your audience behind. I can hear the knowledge in Flamadour's music and I know that it is superior compared to many. But, I say, forget about the theory for a while when it comes to notes and intervals, and focus on the rhythm... timing.

[spoonman420]

I have to admit, I was quick to post a reply to this without hearing a lot of your compositions. You are a virtuoso and I commend you for the beautiful music you have created. It would be wrong to suggest playing to a click, I know your music should flow naturally... If there's a common thing you do that you might want to consider breaking, it's the triplets. Maybe try not playing in triplets. When playing really fast and shifting to a different position, there's a pause... what if, instead of playing fast, play slower so that transitioning to a different position would sound seamless... Try going from fast to halftime too, that would be interesting. A user also suggested the use of other instruments in one of your posts... Lastly, if you are open to the idea of playing to a click, it won't hurt to try... and then, if you feel like it, wanna play audio tennis?? :D

[LD-W]

A diversification in your listening material, alongside forcing yourself to practice & improvise in different scales would be the best remedy over the long term. it goes hand-in-hand really: there's always going to be some kind of music out there which utilises more uncommon to see applied theory, so being able to tangibly emulate that in practice while also learning about + appreciating things you haven't considered in the past = a win-win

[Flamadour]

At 8/18/23 09:47 AM, AkioDaku wrote:

At 8/18/23 08:38 AM, Flamadour wrote: Does anyone have any tips or advice for breaking old playing habits when composing music? For guitar in particular, as I find myself in the same routine when trying to create new riffs, I fall into the same habits which results in similar sounding riffs of tracks that I had created previously.

While I do utilise alternate tunings, and favour open tunings for this reason, I still find myself reaching for the same notes.

You could try listening to music outside of your harmonic comfort zone and ingrainning a new set of cadences in your ears. If you're falling into the same harmonic content regardless of tuning etc, I reckon your issue is your ears and what they are most used to. As you're a guitarist, try checking out Allan Holdsworth and exploring the harmonic minor modes, they set me free from a similar rutt.

Thanks for the recommendation. I checked out Allan Holdsworth's music, I like the improvisation that Jazz music utilizes. And I've been meaning to delve into the world of Jazz for that reason.

[Flamadour]

At 8/18/23 02:10 PM, spoonman420 wrote: I have to admit, I was quick to post a reply to this without hearing a lot of your compositions. You are a virtuoso and I commend you for the beautiful music you have created. It would be wrong to suggest playing to a click, I know your music should flow naturally... If there's a common thing you do that you might want to consider breaking, it's the triplets. Maybe try not playing in triplets. When playing really fast and shifting to a different position, there's a pause... what if, instead of playing fast, play slower so that transitioning to a different position would sound seamless... Try going from fast to halftime too, that would be interesting. A user also suggested the use of other instruments in one of your posts... Lastly, if you are open to the idea of playing to a click, it won't hurt to try... and then, if you feel like it, wanna play audio tennis?? :D

Funnily enough, this is the second time that someone has told me to focus on my timing. I do use a metronome when recording, but only recently have I found that by simply adjusting the default metronome sound to one that is more "musical" for example the "sticks" setting in Cubase, did I really start to groove with the tempo a lot more. It's amusing to me that a simple change like that can have such an effect, plus the metronome doesn't bleed into the microphone anymore. Did anyone else use to get anxiety from hearing that dreaded default metronome beeping? I know I did

[SkankyMojo]

At 8/19/23 06:11 AM, Flamadour wrote:

At 8/18/23 09:47 AM, AkioDaku wrote:

At 8/18/23 08:38 AM, Flamadour wrote: Does anyone have any tips or advice for breaking old playing habits when composing music? For guitar in particular, as I find myself in the same routine when trying to create new riffs, I fall into the same habits which results in similar sounding riffs of tracks that I had created previously.

While I do utilise alternate tunings, and favour open tunings for this reason, I still find myself reaching for the same notes.

You could try listening to music outside of your harmonic comfort zone and ingrainning a new set of cadences in your ears. If you're falling into the same harmonic content regardless of tuning etc, I reckon your issue is your ears and what they are most used to. As you're a guitarist, try checking out Allan Holdsworth and exploring the harmonic minor modes, they set me free from a similar rutt.

Thanks for the recommendation. I checked out Allan Holdsworth's music, I like the improvisation that Jazz music utilizes. And I've been meaning to delve into the world of Jazz for that reason.

Always happy to share music with folks, glad you're enjoying it.