Quote (JoShoeWah @ Tue, Dec 2 2008, 07:45pm)
You're just not getting it though.
I'm not talking about whether you're capable of playing the stuff you write. Musicianship is a multi-faceted career/activity and you usually need to learn and become adept at several different things.
Classical training and learning music theory.....personally i think if you don't use these two exceptionally useful learning tools then you are quite silly, the prospective gain for any budding musician is huge for both of them. However they are not going to help you write a creative song, and that's what i'm talking about, not your ability to play something complex.
I really can't understand why so many of you on this forum believe that to be influenced by somethign means you HAVE to use it. Be selective in what you absorb and don't just mimick what you hear......it's not hard to get an idea of what kind of sound you want to make just from some other influence.......it doesn't even have to be an audible influence to spark an idea....it's what's called a train of thought, you start with an idea and it evolves until you have something you want....or often something you don't want that you keep working on and moulding into something you do.
We are not born with inherent amazing creativity, not most of us anyway.....we have our own views on things and our own ideas and that is the beginning of your creative ability....but like any ability you need to train it and find an efficient way to get what you want out of it....knowing the theory of how notes work together will help you become more efficient at this yes, you will spend less time noodling around trying to figure out how to play that lick you just heard in your head.
But i think it's beneficial to get as wide of an array of influences as you can, why not? If you're worried it will taint your creativity and turn you into a cover artist...then just listen to an exceptionally large amount of influences, the more you listen to the less mimicky you will be, you can't mimick the whole collection but you can take selective ideas from the collection as a whole and form your own ideas from them, i guarantee you will stop listening for that one lick you want to steal and start getting your own ideas from what you're hearing.
OHNOES LITTLE RED RIDING HOOD STOLED MY PASHUN
You do know you're agreeing to what i'm saying with what you wrote. From teaching guitar for over two years i've realized; you can either do it (and thus potentially talented) or you can't (at all...). Some people just dont' have efficient communication within their brain regions, or God knows why they can't do it.