expressing yourself and all that stuff.

[mathias]

How do you do it? Do you feel the need to express yourself through your music? Or do you play for other reasons?

How to get to where you want your sound to be? And how do you decide what it is you're trying to express? How do you work with others to express it?

Do you work within a framework of a given genre and then express yourself with the freedom that comes with that? Or throw everything out and only pursue what you're interested in playing and making it sound like?

Thinking about this a little bit tonight. Would love to hear what people think on this sorta touchy-feely subject.

[sonidero]

HMMM Deep Thoughts Indeed...

I've never really thought about the music I make in an "I'm expressing my emotions through this" type of way... BUT when I go back months or years or decades (yes) later I hear that a lot of it was based off of stuff that was happening to me at the time... I took what was around at the time and poured it as sound onto tape or disk or whatever... I look at the music and musicians I love and see that they seem to treat albums or recordings the same way...

I've never been able to play exactly what I want with the people that were around and close to me a various points, but I learned from them and apply their techniques to my own stuff... I'm just going to be playing and making and recording music for the rest of my life because it's really the only thing I am interested in and care about doing...

[bigchiefbc]

I never sit down and try to consciously express a specific emotion through music. Generally, I'll turn on some pedals and jam around for a few minutes, and if I dig the sound, it will generally make me think that it "sounds" angry, sad, happy, drunk, whatever. That will then usually inform the emotion that comes out in the riff I write. So really, I let the sound/tone/fx decide for themselves what emotion they're going to express.

I hope that made sense.

[skullservant]

I put a lot/all of my negative emotions into my music. It's really the only way I relax/vent. At the same time it pumps me up, so its this really weird dichotomy of letting off steam and getting really excited while recording to actually be recording and letting off the steam. I usually don't aim to convey specific emotions in the sounds that I create, but sometimes if I have a strong concept going in I do. I often improvise, so it's mostly about 'feeling' I suppose.

[WeHuntKings]

I have discovered recently that I was making the most music a year ago when I was happier than I am now. It was all very euphoric and ambient, and with touches of teenage grunginess. It morphed into a reverb smeared post rock type stuff and then into an insidious drone doom. My recordings usually start out with a riff or general idea in mind and then they morph and change as the process takes place, so I guess you could say a lot of what I do at home is improvised. A lot of it is based off of what I was feeling and listening to at the time, but I do know this about myself: Music is a way to express myself and vent a lot of emotions that I don't usually express in day to day life. However, depression is not really a good emotion to utilize, because everything ends up sounding like shit/not good enough.

I'm also starting to realize that trying to glean influence from whatever you're listening to can be a destructive thing. I've been listening to a lot of crazy black metal recently, and while I want to play stuff like that so badly, it has made me realize I am not the best guitar player in the world and that I REALLY need to hone my chops. I've now put writing/recording my own stuff on the backburner in favor of practicing and learning guitar from people better than me, as well as playing original with other people that has already been written or formed somewhat.

[theavondon]

I've gone from exclusively venting about anger to venting about depression. Via lyrics, that is. Everything I write still sounds kinda angry.

But, basically, I just start writing. Whatever comes out, comes out.

[jfrey]

I write mostly sad sounding music. But sad sounding music makes me happy so....

[alexa.]

I just play cuz it's fun to play, that's all there is to it.

[jrmy]

It's an interesting conundrum. The way I do things now is:

1) When I'm in a band context, I go in specifically to make music as a band. Which is to say, I am willing to compromise on anything that is not a solid, "fall on my own sword" issue, in the understanding that by doing so, the songs will have musical solutions that I would not have stumbled upon if I were working on them by myself. I have a bandmate that I've been playing with for over twelve years, and we come at things from completely different perspectives, but that's the great part of working with him.

2) That said, because there are certain things that I don't want to compromise on, or that I want to try that he doesn't like, I do my own solo stuff, and try to be as serious about that as I am about band stuff, even though it's recording-only. It takes a TON of pressure off, and I can work at my own pace (which is sometimes a LOT faster than my bandmate's pace, and occasionally slower). If I ever have a song idea that he doesn't like, I just file it away, and see what happens when I try it on my own. Also, I get to work on things with weird oblique strategies, which so far we really haven't gotten around to in the band (though I don't necessarily think he'd be against it, we just haven't tried it. And if we did, it would be differently than I'd do it on my own, per point 1 above).

As for expressing myself, I've gotten a lot less hung up on the notion of "self expression" than I was in college, when every single band decision seemed to be life or death / end of the world. Now I just go to make music that I enjoy, in whichever context (band, or solo I'm in). The expression part seems to take care of itself that way.

[Helter]

I just plug in and play for that feeling of awesomeness when you play something that you think really sounds good... because it's cool because you made it, not someone in a band you like, but because it came from your own fingers. I love that feeling.

[01010111]

My guitar is my pressure-valve for all my negative emotions. It doesn't matter what I play, but it seems that the times I play the most are the times when I'm sad. When I don't plug-in I play the saddest and it usually ends in tears. Sometimes I'll play a riff from a song I've heard or something I'm working on, but the times when I feel the best about my playing are when I harness my emotions into a fully featured song. I'll find a melody and take it from there. Adding choruses, key-changes, build-ups, or whatever until I have essentially played a song for my sadness; then it's usually either gone, or I can finally cry and experience my sadness as I should.

I kinda feel like I should try and find a way to codify these songs into something that I can record/perform for others, because it seems like the best music is the music that's the most personal for the musician.

When I play in a band, though, I'm just there for the cake. I'll play whatever so long as it's fun to play.

[Ghost Hip]

I cannot not play/write music. It's a natural everyday activity for me. I used to write songs that were venting or about sexual anxiety/teenage bullshit when I was younger. Now most of my writing is third person. Lyrics have become narratives in which I express thoughts about other people, feelings, and situations I've encountered. I also like writing songs in first person but as someone else or a character that I've constructed.

Guitar wise, there's just no feeling better to me than playing music with others. I don't care what kind of music someone else plays, I can usually vibe off it and write a part to accompany theirs.

I guess it goes two ways. When I'm writing songs I am expressing my thoughts and feelings about certain things through characters and narratives. But if I'm playing with others I really enjoy the experience of two or more musicians figuring something out.

[rfurtkamp]

I used to write.

Then I picked up a guitar and the muse slowly got eaten by a tape echo, I don't write much any more but I play guitar more than I wrote (and I was a monastic asshole who spent 4+ hours a day writing most of the time).

I play what I hear in my head, that won't leave until I get it out, or sometimes I just play. Sometimes I just find a sound and go with it. Sometimes I make soundtracks for movies I'd like to see but don't exist.

Sometimes I just screw around.

All the same result. I'm happy, I have an outlet, occasionally people like it.

I don't do full on bands any more (and didn't before I became disabled) that do the same song twice. The wisest advice I ever got was to not be trapped by your own catalog or expectations. If tomorrow I want to do an all acoustic show, I will. if I want to be a blues tribute band for the night or a set or a moment, sure.

But the rest of the time I'm just me.

[Chankgeez]

I play because it feels good.

I don't get to where I wanna sound, the sound gets to me.

I'm all over the place with my playing.

[mathias]

I mostly screw around.. none of it really counts as songwriting and nothing really sounds like songs or music. Worse, I'm having trouble expressing what I'm feeling through the guitar. (Hence starting this thread.)

That said, since starting this thread, I picked up a couple books on more rigorous practice for the musical part of playing guitar. With my new (not really all that structured) practice schedule, there's time set aside for just noodling to warm up, and another block of time for focusing on songwriting and improvising new melodies. We'll see if that helps..