How Creative are you..............Really?

[ancient_mariner]

I believe in that too. The two approaches aren't mutually exclusive.

But as a guitar player I might know where my fingers need to go, but I couldn't tell you what notes I'm playing or what key I'm in.

The fingers going where they need is the important thing - give me a moment and I can tell the key, make it a lot longer and I'll work out what the notes are.

This morning was all about rhythms and dynamics, lots of rubato, lots of loud & then very quiet. I'd only bunged a guitar in the car because I wasn't sure if it might be useful, and didn't know whether it would be used or what we'd play if it was.

Matt Kloskowski mentioned last year on a video that when he's shooting landscapes he sets the camera to bracket automatically so that he can get on with seeing and getting the image without having to be fussed about getting exposure exactly right at the time. Something I really appreciate about an EVF & spot meter is that I can define the parameter of the exposure that's important (aperture or shutter speed) and then point the camera at different parts of the scene to get the right exposure within about 1/3 stop. The camera becomes much less intrusive like that. There are times it's good to pop the camera on a tripod & think about the technical aspects of the shot, but I'd still rather be thinking about what I see in the viewfinder than treating it as a purely technical exercise.

 

[Steve Smith]

But as a guitar player I might know where my fingers need to go, but I couldn't tell you what notes I'm playing or what key I'm in.

I can read music - but not fast enough to play it.
If I'm at home with a guitar in my hands, I could work out which notes I am playing.

However, if I was playing a gig and you stopped me and asked which note I was playing, I couldn't immediately tell you.

This is true with me playing guitar, mandolin, ukulele or banjo but strangely, if I am playing bass, I do it thinking in terms of notes.


Steve.

 

[Pookeyhead]

Music makes an interesting comparison. Whilst all the notes are the same, the inflection, the way they are applied, makes all the difference. I know people who can pick out the conductor, soloist, or even orchestra from the way the piece of music is played.

I can tell the difference between a Mozart piano sonata played by Vladimir Ashkenazy and one by Mitsuko Uchida. I admire them both immensely as musicians, but to whom does the creativity belong? I suggest it's Mozart. After all, he composed it, and the purpose of a classical music performance to hear Mozart. Thisis why great store is placed in performances on period instruments, from original scores... because people want to hear Mozart.

However... cover versions. Yes.. there are those that try to get close to the original, and they're just copies, but then again there are those that throw the original out of the window and start again. One my favourite covers is Madonna's "Ray of Light" covered by Sigue Sigue Sputnik! Terrible musicians... utterly terrible... but there;s creativity in what they did with the song. They took something that wasn't theirs and razed it to the ground, and rebuilt it totally. It's brilliant. In THAT instance, I'm appreciating Sputnik's creativity more than Madonna's

Craft skill is not creativity. They are separate things.

 

[Ed Sutton]

The fingers going where they need is the important thing - give me a moment and I can tell the key, make it a lot longer and I'll work out what the notes are.

That's akin to knowing where the controls are on a camera and being able to alter settings without looking IMO. Which relates to:

...I'd still rather be thinking about what I see in the viewfinder than treating it as a purely technical exercise.

I don't think direct parallels can be easily drawn between playing music and taking photographs.

I can read music - but not fast enough to play it.

If I see sheet music my eyes glaze over. It's meaningless squiggles to me!

 

[ancient_mariner]

This is true with me playing guitar, mandolin, ukulele or banjo but strangely, if I am playing bass, I do it thinking in terms of notes.

Bass playing seems to be a much more technical exercise, not least because it apparently demands an understanding of music in a way that's not needed for guitar. Bass players seem to have a different approach to music and interaction than other musicians I've talked & worked with.

Curiously I can (well, could) read music for brass, but not for stringed instruments. As a teenager I'd learn pieces for guitar from music by first playing the notes on tuba, then transferring to the guitar by ear.

I don't really do tab either, and my eyes are too 'slow' to follow at speed now.

 

[Dave in Wales]

One man's creativity is another man's crap.

 

[Pookeyhead]

One man's creativity is another man's crap.

Creativity isn't something that can be measured like that. You can't have "good" creativity, or "bad" creativity. The outcome of the creativity may be regarded as good, or bad by people, but it's either creative, or it's not. That's determined by the thought that went into the work and the ideas behind it.

 

[Blank_Canvas]

Bass playing seems to be a much more technical exercise, not least because it apparently demands an understanding of music in a way that's not needed for guitar. Bass players seem to have a different approach to music and interaction than other musicians I've talked & worked with.
.

Paul McCartney sad pretty much the same thing in one of his interviews.

I think we are all creative to a degree, some more so, some less so, and at different times of your life. I would suggest that when you have time on your hands and have less pressing matters to deal with 'thinking time' that's when the best ideas flow. In my case anyway. That said, I have a friend who is a set designer reckons she is more creative under pressure.

 

[Yv]

Paul McCartney sad pretty much the same thing in one of his interviews.

I think we are all creative to a degree, some more so, some less so, and at different times of your life. I would suggest that when you have time on your hands and have less pressing matters to deal with 'thinking time' that's when the best ideas flow. In my case anyway. That said, I have a friend who is a set designer reckons she is more creative under pressure.

I know how she feels, not necessarily being creative per se, but certainly being under pressure often brings out the best in me, so I can see how that would apply even to the more indefinable 'creative' flair some have, though like you say, won't apply for everyone.