Can people who know theory make anything that comes to mind?

H

hi-ku

New member
If someone knows everything about theory or every note etc. make up something in their head and play it on an instrument like nothing. This might sound like a stupid question but i've been trying to find out. Thanks in advance!:D
 
I find the only limitation to doing this is my instrument knowledge

Pretty much anything I can hear in my head I can render in my daw no problem but I have been doing this for 36+ years, so it should be that way.

i.e. the more you do it the easier it becomes
 
Yes. No, maybe. Sort of.

Its a very philosophical question and I'm not sure if theres really an answer to it.

Like bandcoach above me said, anything he can hear in his head he can render, but what if he can only hear sounds in his head that hes heard before in his DAW. You cant really imagine a new sound inside your head without having heard it somewhere first. Its like trying to imagine a new color, you can't, your brain doesnt work like that.


So what I'm saying is, timbaland might have heard every sound out there and can imagine anything. But you haven't heard that much, so your imagination is greatly limited.

---------- Post added at 11:20 PM ---------- Previous post was at 11:07 PM ----------
bandcoach said:
I find the only limitation to doing this is my instrument knowledge

Pretty much anything I can hear in my head I can render in my daw no problem but I have been doing this for 36+ years, so it should be that way.

i.e. the more you do it the easier it becomes
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bandcoach, I don't mean this in any disrespectful way,

Do you think you could imagine in your head a note thats not a note from the 12 note scale we use?
 
Here is my two cents: A great musician who knows theory is going to be better musician than a great musician who doesn't. People tell me that I'm a great guitarist. I've done a lot of studio work in Nashville. i think I'm an okay guitarist who could have been a much better guitarist had he studied instead of depending on his natural ability. i play around with a lot of cats in Baton Rouge and New Orleans who are schooled musicians and I never tell them that I know next to nothing about music. I never let them know, but I'm intimidated every time I play with them! I always play it safe with them because I'm too scared to try different things. If I knew my theory the way I should, I would know in my head what I could try that would work and what wouldn't. I always stress to younger musicians to learn everything there is to know about music because after all, this is our business and a person should know everything there is to know about their particular line of business. Its just good business. I recently learned something that kind of bummed me out: I was always under the impression that Jimi Hendrix didn't know theory. I just learned recently that in fact he did. Same goes for Eddie Van Halen, but I think every one already knows that. I always use the analogy of a baseball pitcher who can throw ma 100 mph fast ball. That's a God given talent, but in order for that pitcher to utilize that talent he has to have coaching. The same goes for music. A person can have the God given talent for music, but for that person to reach their full potential as a musician they need to study. Look at Jaco Pastorious. Look at Flea from the Red Hot Chili Peppers. The list goes on and on. I know in Nashville these days all the young cats showing up have all gone to Berkley and graduated from their college and university music programs. As I'm sure most of you know, this is a very competitive business and getting more competitive every day. I study some theory off of YouTube and at groove3.com, but I still have to fake most of what I'm doing. That's the good thing about music though, you can play it and learn about it your whole life and still never know it all. I met Les Paul in Nashville and he was telling me that he still practiced scales and things. And he was close to 90 when I talked to him. Know your theory. It will only make you better!
 
timfosho said:
bandcoach, I don't mean this in any disrespectful way,

Do you think you could imagine in your head a note thats not a note from the 12 note scale we use?
Click to expand...

yes - I work with microtonal stuff often and certainly have heard enough out of tune singing and playing to feed that particular sense of out-of-temperament.

however, I think you misunderstand the original question which was along the lines of if you hear a tune or a chord progression in your head can you plug it into your daw either via an instrument such as keyboard or by scoring it in - I can do both and have been able to do so for a long time.

As for hearing new sounds, why not - the premise is that we can translate what we can imagine to a synth model we understand - when we get those how do you make this sound questions I can always identify how to create the sound with a subtractive synthesis model because I have been using subtractive synthesis since 1978

XploZiveToyz said:
I recently learned something that kind of bummed me out: I was always under the impression that Jimi Hendrix didn't know theory. I just learned recently that in fact he did. Same goes for Eddie Van Halen, but I think every one already knows that. I met Les Paul in Nashville and he was telling me that he still practiced scales and things. And he was close to 90 when I talked to him. Know your theory. It will only make you better!
Click to expand...

A lot of folks have bought the myth rather than checked the facts; when Hendrix was called up to do his national service in the army he spent every free minute studying and practicing guitar -scales, arpeggios, chords, etc. James brown used to employ Hendrix before he went into the army and is known to have said that he was much better player after he got out of the army than when he was working for him, that he knew stuff and was a better musician and player as result.

van halen is a freak who spent every waking moment studying and practicing, and, yes I believe Les Paul would still be working at the fundamentals - how else do you play incredibly well - he had the doctors set his right arm in a cast (sometime in the 1990's, I believe) so that he could continue to play after breaking his wrist in a car accident - that was his dedication to his craft coming through and being strong in his commitment to his obligations to perform and record
 
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I'm not sure if I am qualified to make a reply as I have no musical training whatsoever and I don't play an instrument (I envy those that do play), but I make my music by using the loops/sounds etc in my DAW, then shift everything around until I feel happy with what I hear.......I am also a late starter in making music as I am 73, but a lifetime of listening to my preferred music from the 40's onward I feel has helped me...I cannot post my soundcloud link yet as I have more posts to make.

---------- Post added at 09:29 AM ---------- Previous post was at 09:24 AM ----------

How about you post a link to your guitar tracks!.

---------- Post added at 09:31 AM ---------- Previous post was at 09:29 AM ----------
XploZiveToyz said:
Here is my two cents: A great musician who knows theory is going to be better musician than a great musician who doesn't. People tell me that I'm a great guitarist. I've done a lot of studio work in Nashville. i think I'm an okay guitarist who could have been a much better guitarist had he studied instead of depending on his natural ability. i play around with a lot of cats in Baton Rouge and New Orleans who are schooled musicians and I never tell them that I know next to nothing about music. I never let them know, but I'm intimidated every time I play with them! I always play it safe with them because I'm too scared to try different things. If I knew my theory the way I should, I would know in my head what I could try that would work and what wouldn't. I always stress to younger musicians to learn everything there is to know about music because after all, this is our business and a person should know everything there is to know about their particular line of business. Its just good business. I recently learned something that kind of bummed me out: I was always under the impression that Jimi Hendrix didn't know theory. I just learned recently that in fact he did. Same goes for Eddie Van Halen, but I think every one already knows that. I always use the analogy of a baseball pitcher who can throw ma 100 mph fast ball. That's a God given talent, but in order for that pitcher to utilize that talent he has to have coaching. The same goes for music. A person can have the God given talent for music, but for that person to reach their full potential as a musician they need to study. Look at Jaco Pastorious. Look at Flea from the Red Hot Chili Peppers. The list goes on and on. I know in Nashville these days all the young cats showing up have all gone to Berkley and graduated from their college and university music programs. As I'm sure most of you know, this is a very competitive business and getting more competitive every day. I study some theory off of YouTube and at groove3.com, but I still have to fake most of what I'm doing. That's the good thing about music though, you can play it and learn about it your whole life and still never know it all. I met Les Paul in Nashville and he was telling me that he still practiced scales and things. And he was close to 90 when I talked to him. Know your theory. It will only make you better!
Click to expand...
I meant to reply here not on my own last posting....Can you post a link to your guitar tracks.
 
If you'll be so kind as to tell me how to do it I'll throw some stuff up. I've never done it before and hadn't really planned on doing so now, but if you'd like I will. If you'll either tell me how to do it, or tell me where the instructions on how to do it are I'll do it. Or you can PM me your email address and I'll send some stuff to you. I know how how to do that. LOL!
 
bandcoach said:
get yourself a free soundcloud account - SoundCloud - Share Your Sounds and upload to there and then share using the following tagset

[soundcloud]http://www.soundcloud.com/your-artist-name/your-track-name[/soundcloud]
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Hello bandcoach....I have just sent Xplo a PM with the same suggestion and also suggested watermarking if concerned about downloaders, I had to watermark my music after some tracks were used elsewhere Grafix2's sounds on SoundCloud - Hear the world
 
Thank you good man. I had been wondering about how to do that. There is a fairly new site called Music Gateway that looks kind of promising. It's for people putting projects together and looking for musicians. The way I understand it, some of it will be for spec, others will be paid gigs. But you have to put up a profile/resume, and along with it, examples of your work, so its about time I learn how to do this. I have a studio at my home and if that site can help me pick up a few paying gigs, it will be worth the time it takes me to do the profile thing and post a few examples of my work. Thanks for the info!
 
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