r/askmusicians

First of all, let me be clear. I don’t know how to make music. Period.

The idea of it seems so simple, the beats are in my head but, I was never really able to implement it into an actual software to sound the same. I started learning about 4 years ago and I have tried on and off, never really gave it the time it deserves.

I’ve been writing stuff, nothing too brilliant. Just my feelings in my notes app, can’t really sing and I TRY to rap but, well… I guess it’s safe to say I am not the best. I can’t play any instruments at all.

My inspiration for music comes from NF, an American based rapper who doesn’t resort to vulgarity and curse words but, still raps quite impressively. The cinematic and dark aura about his music drew me in.

I started with YS, when a friend introduced me to “Don’t Mind”. And we moved briefly to karachi so that kinda fuelled my hunger for rap and DHH. Got into TY as a separate artist, loved his lyricism, and flows. Eventually listened to AUR and TA in 2024 where I was depressed quite a lot so, made a bond with his music especially as I focused more on his lyrics which weren’t the typical ‘braggy hip hop’ kind. And since last year I have been listening more to JANI (primarily), Hasan Raheem, JJ47, Jokhay, Umair, Aleemrk, Shareh.

Listening to these artists inspires me and I want to be one of them one day (big goal but it doesn’t you to dream big). I try and copy their flows and cadence with my own lyrics sometimes and create my own flows too but, none are groundbreaking stuff, doesn’t help that I am an introvert and don’t like to ‘show off’ or ‘test’ my skills.

Back to the main problem, lyrics are only gonna get you so far, music requires a beat, an identity, drums, piano, violins, the whole shebang. In my mind, I could do it if I pursued it whole heartedly and not like a side hustle that I remember to check on from time to time. So, the question is…

“Is making music (production, composition) really that hard? Should I collaborate with someone instead of trying to learn it myself just because I want everything MY way?”

I’m 24. I started playing the drums at 6, was in kids’ bands by 7, and by 9 I was playing both drums and piano for a church choir. Music felt like my whole life back then. Then my parents decided we were moving to a new church, one with no kids’ choir and no interest in letting kids play in the adult choir the way my previous church did. That church was a big part of my growth in music, so I struggled, and I no longer had the means to keep practicing and improving my craft.

To make it worse, my parents made me stop all forms of music. They believed it would distract me from aiming higher, since they wanted me to be an engineer or a doctor, so I was banned from music clubs. Since then I’ve lived a quiet life of relative solitude. No friends, no new hobbies, just doing what my parents said. But now I’m a software engineer.

Lately I’ve been recording my own music, since I finally have the freedom to do it without my parents frowning. I’ve built a small home recording setup and made a few studio buddies. Honestly, it’s where I’m most comfortable.

For a year now I’ve been working on a few singles, and I have an EP in sight. My sound is Afro-fusion and R&B, and I plan to experiment with it until I land on a signature sound of my own, maybe even a new genre. So far I’ve released 2 singles and have a few hundred streams in total.

It’s been hard juggling a hectic, time-consuming software career while trying to give my all to music again. I have a lot of ideas, but my knowledge gap in music is wide, and I know I need to fill it. In my mind I’m far ahead of what my hands can do right now. I’m also aware that making good music, especially as both producer and artist, takes a lot of time, failure and experience.

At first I did this because I love it and it’s FUN. I love writing songs and freestyling nonstop, I love the sound of my own voice (I believe everyone does, lol), and I find the process of creating something and giving it life fascinating. But the bottom line is that I have to decide whether to take it up full-time and say, “Hey, this has to pay me too.” Making it a career could free me from the juggling problem, let me dedicate real time to getting better, and help me sort my bills, which matters a lot as an adult with no income besides my current job.

Here’s the plan I’m considering: save enough to cover 12 months of rent and bills (about $10,000), plus roughly $15,000 for studio gear and everything else the music needs, then leave my job and give it a full year.

Whenever I tell someone, they say, “Man, you’re good, but you’re also a great and enthusiastic software engineer. Music takes a lot of money to get to the top, not just talent and dedication. Don’t you think you’re heading down the wrong hole?”

And... fuck, sometimes I don’t know whether I’m just a kid who won’t let go of his old toy or I’m really cut out for this. The music world has changed and keeps changing. What it takes to get noticed, and to STAY noticed, is so enormous that I sometimes feel I won’t reach the peak because I’m starting a bit late.

I’m ready to fail as much as I need to in order to get somewhere with this. I’d like your input on whether it’s stupid. Am I fucking nuts?

Thank you, great musicians, for your time. Sorry this is so long.

What’s something in music that seemed really simple at first, but ended up taking you ages to actually get good at?

Could be an instrument technique, singing, rhythm, ear training, improvisation, recording, or even performing in front of people.

Curious what other musicians struggled with more than they expected.

Wolf Alice are a terrific UK rock band currently supporting Olivia Rodrigo on her US tour. Bassist Theo Ellis has left the tour because his wife is having a baby, and his place is being covered by Julia Cumming from Sunflower Bean, who supported Wolf Alice last year.

What’s this like for Julia? At this level is it relatively easy to step into a band and play bass for two hours? I don’t suppose the songs are complex but there’s a fair amount of variety for the genre and the band is very tight having toured together almost non stop for years.

Obviously she will get rehearsal time and presumably will have had a fair bit of notice that this was coming, so maybe I’m answering my own question. Still feels like a big ask but maybe not. Just interested in how people see this kind of thing? Easy? Hard but doable with time and prep?

Post script: thanks all, super interesting

For context: My band is from Southeast Georgia. We’re an electronic dance/indie rock type gig. So… not really the favored taste in the area. Bands who haven’t been around as long as us but play stuff like metal core/hardcore/ the like are having gigs every weekend, but we’ve fought tooth and nail to only have two over the last year and a half or so. We have a social media presence, have published music, but no one will book us!

How should we go about getting more gigs in the area? As of right now, we’re lucky if we get a rejection email back from promoters.

Im looking for a groove box that is portable, im making hip-hop, RnB. Now keep in mind i am on a budget of maximum $350-aud.

I really want to start making my own music and eventually create an EP, but I have no idea where to start. I’m interested in R&B/neo-soul and have Logic Pro and a MIDI keyboard. For anyone who makes their own music, what should I focus on learning first?

obviously take this all with a grain of salt as Im not showing my face/name/or music right now.

I want to be big in music. Like very well known. But I'm 27 and live in LA where everyone seems either younger or more successful and it's getting to me a bit. So without showing the actual art, here's where I'm at:

I've been making music for 10 years and releasing music for 5. I have 3 studio albums out, like 10 singles, a few music videos, 35k monthly listeners and my biggest song is at 1.7M streams. I have 30k followers on instagram (mainly from music) and 25k on tik tok (not really from music), I have a live band that performs my stuff and a manager who's super cool but not very connected, he's 27 like me. I'm in little blogs & music pages & i'm recognized slightly in the music scene mainly by strangers sometimes.

so the question is, i'm genuinely wondering, is this enough foundation to "make it" the way i want to at 27?

before u say "oh numbers don't matter ur focused on the wrong thing, if u love it you'll never fail" etc etc. I get it. I really do. but that's not the issue at hand really. also unfortunately in the music industry: numbers do in fact matter quite a bit. I believe my music to be good, i produce & engineer & record it all myself and try to think outside the box while sticking to what works but retaining my sound.

I don't feel old at all, i know I'm not. but i just feel really discouraged right now and i think hearing other musicians opinions would help right now cuz yall get it. so do i have a solid shot? should i keep going? or is this just not very likely at this point and my anxieties are signaling to stop exhausting myself for this lol

I don’t know if this is the right place for this but I’ll keep it simple…

I have a band with friends of mine and we play around our city.

When we first formed this band we had this person join as a singer even though we had a singer in mind (one of us was going to play an instrument and sing).

They were super emotionally abusive towards our lead guitar player and I found out later that they forced the guitar to let them into the band, they misunderstood something the guitar player said one time about doing a project together and thought it was this one.

They didn’t have any stage presence, terrible stage fright and were controlling and also made advances towards our drummer even though we said no relationships in the band (drummer was getting out of a relationship).

They ended up leaving the band because they ended up having a falling out with both myself and the guitar player (cause we did not like them).

Recently we saw the person at a show and we were uncomfortable with them being there but it’s a free country.

Personally I don’t really want to see them again and it seems they might be coming to our next show.

Should I try to do anything about it like not let them into the venue? They make our guitar player super uncomfortable and nervous while on stage.

Apologies this is a lot