I don't get it.

[lovehearty42]

I see and hear all these different bands that basically do nothing short of puke awesome songs. So, I pick up my guitar, I hear drumming in my head, and I think "Holy shit, I can feel it. It's gonna be epic!" Then, when I try to actually play what I hear in my head... that's when it all falls apart. So, while there are all these bands out there with no classical music training (lessons, theory, composition), I'm stuck in this rut where I can play, and I know my music theory, and I can compose, but I can't write music that isn't electronic to save my life. What gives? Does anyone else have a similar problem?

[Lacquer Head]

You just have to learn the fretboard. Where each note falls and be able to play with out thinking about it. Anyone with a basic music theory can compose something with software, but it's much harder to do it with an instrument. Just keep practicing. That's it. The more you learn to play, the more you realize you don't know lol

[Heartless Angel]

I've never had a formal music lesson in my life, I learned to play a guitar just by dicking around in my spare time. I've composed... sort of... all kinds of shit. It's not so much composition as it is screwing around with random sounds and techniques until I have a pile of them that I can play in a certain order such that it sounds like a song. The key is to not let theory be limiting. They're guidelines, not rules. For me it's a simple process, hear something basic, imagine some complexity to it, improvise. I personally like shred guitar. So for me, a lot of my creations are just random shredding I thought would sound good woven into a basic piece, modified over and over until it no longer sounds like anything I've previously heard. So yeah, don't be limited by theory. Use it to create a rough outline, then just kinda use your imagination to fill it in, don't be afraid to change shit around until you like it.

[Rowan]

You cant teach/learn creativity.

[Rhaps]

I've never had a formal music lesson in my life, I learned to play a guitar just by dicking around in my spare time. I've composed... sort of... all kinds of shit. It's not so much composition as it is screwing around with random sounds and techniques until I have a pile of them that I can play in a certain order such that it sounds like a song. The key is to not let theory be limiting. They're guidelines, not rules. For me it's a simple process, hear something basic, imagine some complexity to it, improvise. I personally like shred guitar. So for me, a lot of my creations are just random shredding I thought would sound good woven into a basic piece, modified over and over until it no longer sounds like anything I've previously heard. So yeah, don't be limited by theory. Use it to create a rough outline, then just kinda use your imagination to fill it in, don't be afraid to change shit around until you like it.

I did that along with fretboard memorization. A simple exercise to do daily for muscle memory is to start at your 1st fret on the low E, then play the 3rd, then move up to the 1st A, and then so on all the way up each string through the twenty second fret, then do it backwards, then switch to doing it from 1st to 4th using your pinky so that it learns too. If you mess up a note, start the exercise over, even if you're on the twentieth high E. It's grueling, but it yields results.

Note- I'd say to ise the middle finger to do a 1st to 2nd stretch, but your middle finger is usually already pretty quick, so I just skip it.