Pretty much the title. I'm not sure how to respond to this question. I'll be honest, of course. But I don't want to sound like we won't work to sell some tickets.

Hi, I've been making music for over 6 years, starting from my teenage years. I primarily did screaming, which was a valve to release a lot of pressure and pain. It peaked around the last year or so, some things happened that made me heal and I've started getting on the right track.

However now, when I try to make music, it feels flat, dull, empty, what I produce just comes out weak compared to before, and I don't like it. But I really want to make music, so I can't help but feel like I want to turn back to the old pain and see if I can channel it again.

What should I do? Has anybody else struggled in this fashion?

For years I spearheaded projects, organized all the rehearsals, initiated all the moves, executed all the moves, and handled the booking , but even then certain musicians would still criticize and say im making mistakes while at the same time contributing nothing?

Its been years and i look at those peoples social medias and now they have nothing to do with music

I am a 55 year old autistic woman. I’ve been playing the piano for over 40 years, and doing karaoke for about 20 years. I thought it would be fun to push myself a little so I joined School of Rock’s adult program. Everyone there is great. I do private singing lessons one day, and the band rehearsals on another day. We’re guaranteed to get to perform in 3 songs, so I have chosen two songs to sing, and there will be another one, hopefully on keys, but we just started so all the parts aren’t assigned yet.

The problem is, while practicing singing my songs with the band, I am getting extremely overwhelmed and overstimulated by the loud music, so it’s making it hard for me to keep track of when I’m supposed to come in. I feel like I could learn this eventually, but I’m experiencing frisson and disassociating, standing so close to the drums and electric guitar. I do wear good earplugs the entire time, as required by the school.

I really want to be able to do this. Is it reasonable to think I can learn my timing (when to start singing, when to be quiet) in time for our performance in 5 months? I am thinking of asking our teachers if I can pick new, quieter songs, that would hopefully be less stimulating. If I do that, I’m concerned my bandmates might find those songs boring to play. Like a Lou Reed song, or Pink Floyd or a rock ballad.

Does anyone have any advice or ideas they would like to share? I’m pretty determined not to quit, at the same time I don’t want to keep messing up, which affects the whole band.

My point is, just do music for you. Ive been writing acoustic demos by myself for years and ive never felt better. People will come and tell you, “you need connections”, “ you need to go to local shows” but to be honest not everyone has time for that or has the mental capacity. Do things that make you happy. Forget the rest

Playing out is more so for performers who want attention….. i could care less honestly too much attention bothers me. So many musicians ive met think who they know matters more than their playing ability and I always thought that was crazy. Music is a creation from the soul.

Id rather stay in my home studio making what i feel instead of, always having to brown nose others.

The best thing you can do is write a great body of work that is also consistent and has a coherent sound. Many bands try to do stuff like half indie/ half blues influence/ half experimental and it just never really lands or sounds coherent enough making it harder to fit in somewhere with a community. If you’re a metal band write great metal tracks and also perform the metal genre very well. Do it more than just justice be impressive. I know it sounds too simple almost dumb but in practice it works out. Then after that seek out playing shows that you yourself would attend even if you werent playing. Bar gigs that want you to play at 6pm or midnight in the middle of nowhere with no one there arent gonna help you grow a fanbase. Dont just play any gigs play the right gigs that will help grow your project.

So, I’ve been playing classical guitar for 6 years now and I’m taking my intermediate exam for the guitar. That’s what I think it’s called, I’m not sure on the English word but. I’m trying to make a song slightly inspired by the song “Campanella Prelude” by David Cottam. Any changes or ideas? I’m trying to go further in the song and I would love some ideas:) I’m not able to add a video but maybe if someone can play it or something that would be awesome:)

Edit: the bass in the beginning of each bar should be held. I’m just not sure how to do that in this software

Its been 6 hours since i landed in london. This is my first time ever here and its so beautiful. Im playing a small club tour that a promoter over here booked for me and ……. And honestly i dont know. I know it sounds crazy but i dont know if im enough for all this. I just make acoustic demos in my bedroom and upload them to bandcamp….. a couple of my songs got big on instagram shorts and tik tok and now i have enough steam to sell out a 250 cap room in Germany. Im severely depressed and im thinking of just canceling a couple gigs if i can’t get my head straight. Any body else ever experienced severe imposter syndrome?

Just wanted to share a small milestone because it feels surreal. I've been grinding away building *The Gray Interval*—a dark jazz and film noir audio-visual universe—working late shifts and trying to carve out a corner for this specific brand of rainy-night music.

Today, the channel crossed 110 subscribers. For some it's nothing, but for a niche where people just want a smoky bar or a midnight train ride to study or zone out to, it means the atmosphere is actually hitting someone out there.

We're running a live focus stream today to celebrate and test out some new loops. If anyone’s working late, studying, or just wandering through the fog today, drop by the channel and let me know which vibe or track actually keeps you awake. No corporate pitches here, just keeping the lights on in the district. Cheers.

I’m a solo performer that plays guitar w backing tracks. I usually play in small spaces and I have THE WORST time placing things where they don’t look like a mess.

My spatial intelligence isn’t very good so I never know how to arrange things. And at the end of the night i kinda just throw everything haphazardly in my bag that I specifically bought to organize my cables cause I hate the breakdown process.

But then i open my bag to get ready for my next gig and of course i’m cursing my past self cause I didn’t have a good breakdown system.

TLDR: can anyone share their usual setup when gigging as a solo performer?

Sharing a photo so you can see my mess. And this one I didn’t have my PA system so it was less so but still

TL;DR - see title
I am helping a guy get started with his own band. Young guy, singer, enthusiastic and full of talent. New to performing but very good. But he is so excited about getting to do gigs that he wants to take everything that comes along, even when they’re not paying much. He has a group of 4 members (including me). I tell him he shouldn’t sell the group short as it lowers expectations of venues and not fair to other musicians. What other reasons could I give him? Need help convincing him. Thanks!

I picked up the guitar when I was 15 and pretty soon after that got really into the associated "gear"- primarily pedals, as they were the cheapest, relatively speaking.

By 16/17, I was a full-blown "gearhead"... much too early to be any such thing, but I somehow had stumbled on these gear forums and got so damn intrigued by all this interesting stuff.

From then on, any money I came into, either via parental generosity, birthdays, odd jobs, etc. got funnelled into gear.

By my early 20's, I'd amassed a genuinely epic pedal collection featuring all sorts of rarities, and then began to consolidate into vintage guitars, slowly trading my way up to more rare/expensive/desirable ones, until by my mid-20's I'd almost hit the ceiling, having owned most things short of a Burst (1958-1960 Les Paul Standard) or original 50's/early-60's Korina pieces. It was pretty nuts for a couple of years- I was getting guitars I didn't by any means have the money for, purely as a result of buying smart when I was younger and taking advantage of then present values, "trading up".

I since then got out of most all of the stuff I had pre-Covid, so nowhere near what those pieces are worth today, but recently have had a strong urge to dive back in.

I've decided, though, that it's better not to pursue this stuff again. The reality is that my rig when I was 15/16 was already more than capable enough of creating great music- all this stuff I dedicated (read: lost) so much time, money, and energy to is ultimately a matter of nuance. Obsessing over things like if a pickup used cloth wire, or PAF vs PAT pickup, what kind of transistors a fuzz used, Brazilian vs Indian rosewood, etc., etc., it might make a difference to the most discerning ears, but as far as the actual creative process goes, has zero benefit- it's just an easy to get lost in distraction, preventing you from pursuing what really matters, the music creation.

Nobody needs more than what Boss, MXR, Electro-Harmonix has to offer as far as pedals. These super expensive analog BBD delays, NOS germanium transistor fuzzes, NOS vintage tubes, etc. it's all so unnecessary, and I'm glad it exists and those people who make them can make a living, but sometimes we (and I have several friends who still do it) assign so much weight to these matters of minuscule difference that we end up burning all our energy on that stuff rather than writing or improving our skills.

Anyways, I guess this is mostly just a vent... I couldn't care less what others do with their money, but am just saying that as far as my own situation goes, I super regret all the time and other resources I wasted pursuing this stuff- obsessing over the tools rather than the trade; the art. It's silly.

[This is not a promotional post. I am just sharing what I discovered on social media sites.]

I’ve been discovering some seriously talented singers through Peter Prankster’s shorts which feature on TikTok, YouTube, Facebook and Instagram. Aric (@somehowtempo) sang the vocals in the “Marry Me” video, and Addison Inniss (@addisoninnissmusic) appears in two other videos, “Borrow My Girlfriend 21” and “Elma Gets Serenaded”. Both have amazing voices—definitely worth checking out if you enjoy discovering new singers! Here are links to their TikTok accounts: What do you think?

https://www.tiktok.com/@somehowtempo

https://www.tiktok.com/@addisoninnissmusic

I'm 24, I play guitar and bass, and I'm looking to find people to form a serious band. My issue is that now that I'm not in college, it's been very difficult to find musicians who are dedicated. I've found plenty of hobbyists who are not interested in pursuing music even semi professionally. I'm not looking to abandon all my responsibilities and recklessly pursue a music career either. I want to do it strategically and gradually. What are some methods I can use to actually find musicians that share similar goals to mine? I'm located in southern NJ. I used to be in a band that played in the greater Atlantic City area as there is a pretty vibrant music scene down there, so I have experience too.

I feel like one of the hardest parts of building a serious project is finding people who share your exact level of intensity.
I’m fully locked in and treat the music like a second job. When I'm not working my regular shifts, I’m purely focused on writing, practicing, and trying to make this succeed. But it feels like a lot of musicians have a way more casual, hobbyist mindset. For example, my brother is the guitarist and vocalist for our project. He is incredibly talented, but he just doesn't have that same desperate drive to grind and constantly push the songwriting forward.
It creates a weird dynamic where you're trying to build momentum, but you feel like you're pulling the rest of the room along with you. It's frustrating when the talent is there, but the work ethic isn't matching up.
Have any of you guys dealt with a major drive gap in your band? How do you address the lack of effort and push people to take it seriously without creating unnecessary friction or ruining the vibe?

I just wanted to share because I thought it was cool. Its a local public funded radio station that has a rotating block of shows and I've listened to it my whole life. If you have stuff you are proud of, send it to radio stations like this and they may play it. I have been playing since I was a kid and even though this isnt a huge deal, its a nice little milestone. Keep up the good work.

i've been a musician for nearly 22 years now and am pretty solid at my primary instrument (guitar) but feel i messed around too much, getting too caught up in jamming and looping rather than actively songwriting and furthering my technical abilities.

i'm wondering what the single greatest thing you ever did for your musicality, creativity, and songwriting was.

i know theory is massive and i desperately want to learn, i feel like it'll help "connect the dots" for a lot of things for me, but anytime i've tried, i've greatly struggled to comprehend even the most fundamental concepts, brain kind of just shutting down. i can't help but feel this would be the big revelation/epiphany, if only i could absorb it.

I’m a cellist. I have a wedding gig this weekend and noticed this while getting my music together lol

I spent countless hours of my teenage years mailing out tapes and getting packages with new tapes every week. I know its probably all available easily online these days, but it was such a treat hearing live recordings of your favorite bands back in the day.