r/askmusicians

Genuine question for yall musicians in here.

I've built a small anonymous listening test, 10 short clips, some AI-generated (Suno v5), some human-made (by independent musician without generative AI aid), rated on a 4-point scale. ~5 min, no signup.

What I've found running it so far:

• People who use AI music tools daily average ~67-70% accuracy

• General audience hovers around chance (~43%)

• Self-rated confidence does predict performance (r ≈ 0.38) but moderately: many "confident" listeners still score poorly

My hypothesis is that trained musicians (regardless of AI exposure) might land somewhere in between, sharper ear for production quirks but no specific Suno-pattern recognition.

Would love you to test that!

Try it out! https://parlor.shinyapps.io/audio-short-en/?src=reddit_askmusicians

Genuinely curious what cues you'd use to tell them apart, and whether being a musician helps or hurts.

The selected clips will be used in a follow-up academic research study on how streaming platforms should label AI content, not on training detection models or improving Suno or whatever other model. Skepticism is fair, but the outcome here is consumer protection.

Hi all,

I'm a singer-songwriter in my early 40s and I've never been able to access a falsetto 'head voice.' No matter what I do, I can't get any air through the cords. I have a deeper voice, range is about two octaves (roughly E2-E4). Mostly I make do and emulate singers with deeper voices, but sometimes I'm frustrated by the limitation. I once sought help from a voice instructor who tried to help me slip into it by making funny sounds, but it did nothing. After a few weeks of lessons she got frustrated, I got frustrated, and we parted ways. I've also tried exercises on my own singing scales and leaps with different vowel and consonant sounds. No luck. Any other tricks? Maybe I should try hypnotism next, ha.
(X Posted)

So I’ve been out of having a teacher for a while now, and my climb basically is moving slowly now, and also learning basslines feels like a chore more than something fun. And every time I try to engage with a video trying to teach me bass notes, it's boring.

Could anyone please tell me what key signatures the song Night boat Cairo by the British band Madness is written in and any other things that may be relevant to know in the arrangement such as modes or other relevant key changes maybe for example. I’m learning the keys to play it in a band but I would really like to have more of an understanding of what is going on from a theory perspective and maybe some relevant practices. I don’t want much do I? lol, many thanks in advance to any replies!

As someone who’s spent every moment of his life around music, I started getting seriously into making music around October 2025 using FL Studio. As of the day I’m writing this, I’ve never had any formal music education in my life (although I’ll be taking music classes this summer).

At the same time, I’m preparing for the university entrance exam in Turkey (which is extremely difficult), so on average I can only spend around 2 hours a week on FL Studio.

For now I’m not recording vocals yet, I only make beats (RnB, Dance, Trap, etc.), but nothing I make really gets any attention from the people around me. Of course I’m not expecting people to react like I’ve made a hit song already, but besides my twin brother, nobody has even said “you’ve improved.” Because of that, I’ve started wondering if I’m just fooling myself.

Also, sometimes I come up with a lot of ideas in my head, but when I try to turn them into music, they never sound the way I imagined them, and that makes me feel like maybe I’m just not talented enough.

My goal is to become a genuinely successful musician — first in Turkey, then globally. My aim isn’t money or fame, I just want people to hear my music.

I’ll be turning 19 in a month. Do you think I should keep going, and what advice would you give me?

There’s also a lot more I haven’t mentioned here, but I didn’t want to make this post too long.

I'm specifically talking about lyrics but other things too.

I really only listen to music about love, and I only know how to write about that. The problem with that is I'm perfectly content with being single and I don't miss any of my ex's. I feel that if I wrote about how happy I am, it'll sound kike "Happy" by Pharell Williams

I also need advice for rhythm guitar/lead guitar. Should I learn music theory before making music or should I just wing it?

I come from a family that always enjoyed music. My father and maternal uncle always play songs and discuss them. My mother always practices singing at home. My uncle plays Tabala and as a kid I used to go through his book and started learning Tabala on my own for a few months. So i always had some influence and touch with musical instruments right from childhood but I unfortunately didn't learn any music or instrument (which i regret now)

When I was in college, i started thinking of music composition but always used to hold back myself since i can't play any instrument. Now at 38, i started learning piano with the aim of composing songs in the next 5 years.

Is this realistically possible. Some of my strengths are, i have a good ear for good music, right from childhood which ever song i liked became a chartbuster, but I'm aware that doesn't necessarily translate to making good music. I hear all kinds of songs and film scores and enjoy them. After i started learning piano, sometimes while driving i find myself humming new melodies, although they are not good i find it as an encouraging sign.

The thing that i feel that's not my strength is, even though i have been involved with music and musical instruments from childhood i feel that i don't have the natural talent or ability to pick up notes or patterns in music. I spent one entire summer with a violin obsessively playing gibberish but it didn't lead no where, so don't think that i have the natural gift.

What does the community think about my endeavours, i already regret having lived this long not making a solid attempt to learn music earlier. I know it's never late but i am looking for constructive and realistic encouragement on if what I'm looking for is achievable.

I'm new to singing maybe a month or so i made some progress now i can decend and accend my voice decently

but i told one of my friend and he told me that singing are just for those who are "talented" at it

now i have this doubt in my mind.

To really experience singer there who weren't good at singing before they trained is it really all about talent or are you able to hard work your way through it

24M from Germany here. I’ve been interested in music since my teens and used to spend months making sample-based songs on GarageBand. Despite always feeling creatively drawn, I ended up studying finance mainly for stability because my traditional family never believed in artistic careers.

Over time I realized I will be extremely unhappy if I don't start believing in myself, so last year I finally started taking music seriously again: got a MIDI keyboard, a DAW, and started learning music theory consistently.

Artists like PinkPantheress also made this path feel more realistic to me because I relate more to the producer-artist side of artistry than the traditional “big vocalist” type. She got me into artist branding and I've been studying how to market yourself and find a niche.

I’ve been exploring what I want my sound, visuals, aesthetics, and overall artistic identity to feel like. A lot of it is inspired by media I was obsessed with growing with a more modern personal twist. I keep genuinely enjoying the creative process of building atmosphere and emotion around the music.

I’m not expecting overnight success, but a few trial TikToks performing better than I expected encouraged me to keep building and improving. I haven’t started posting officially and regularly yet though as I’m still learning all the tools I use.

Right now my focus is mastering my DAW, improving my production skills, and mastering Adobe After Effects to bring my ideas to life to post and build an audience. My long-term goal is to eventually move my artistry beyond social media and into the real world in a sustainable way.

For people who seriously pursued music or artistry later than expected:

How would you approach this stage? What should I focus on early to avoid wasting time or burning out?

i've always wanted to become a singer. ever since i was 6 years old. i have it all planned out, but one question. how to become famous? i've thought of self promotion online but theres billie eilish and ed sheeran etc. who have become super famous without that and without a previous acting career, like lots of others. my music and songs are super important to me and i really want them to be recognised in the future, because one of my biggest fears is being an underground artist for my whole life and never making it super big. do i need to build a brand? do i actually need to self promote or pay for promotion?

As a musician, is sharing music to music platforms that support AI music not something dumb? Should real artists boycott those platforms? Thinking of using alternatives like Deezer that flags AI music and doesn’t push it trough their algorithms to help real artists.

22M — Looking for advice about getting into the music industry as a guitarist/singer-songwriter

Hey everyone,

I come from a very music-driven family and grew up surrounded by it my whole life. I also have relatives and connections abroad involved in music, including winners/former contestants from shows like The X Factor and The Voice.

For most of my life, I always thought it was cool having people around me involved in that world, but I never seriously considered it for myself beyond just enjoying music casually.

That changed around September 2025.

Over the last year or so, my social circle changed massively for the better. I started meeting more musicians and bands, and I now have fairly regular contact with several smaller bands/artists that are beginning to make a name for themselves. Being around that environment again really reignited something in me and brought back a passion for music that I honestly thought I had lost during my teenage years.

At the same time, it also made me realise that the career path connected to my university degree probably isn’t what I truly want long term.

So I wanted to ask anyone with experience in the industry or anyone who’s been in a similar situation:
What advice would you give to someone trying to get into music seriously at 22 as a guitarist and aspiring singer-songwriter?

Whether that’s: networking, improving as a musician, getting started performing, writing/releasing music, or just navigating the industry in general.

I’d genuinely appreciate any advice or experiences people are willing to share.

Hope you all have a great day x

Ive been playing in a death metal band for about 6 months now played 2 gigs and played them without earplugs. I'm looking to buy some reusable earplugs to use on stage to protect my hearing, I've seen lots of advertisements for loop earplugs. Are they actually good or is it just a big marketing budget? If they aren't what are other good recommendations of a similar price?

so im 15, going on 16, and ive been making music for myself for 2 years almost. i can write sing, play piano and guitar, and music is what i love the most basically.

so 2 days ago i was having this conversation with my dad, where i told him that i want to be a musician and make music my job. what he said was, “start now, upload your music to social media (ive had other social media accs where i’d upload unrelated stuff to music that have grown to 15k+ followers every single acc even one that has grown up to 50k)” which sounded pretty fair, i mean, that’s what has been on my mind since ive started playing and singing, but there’s one issue: fear.

The fear of your videos never blowing up and giving up on it, the fear of being clowned by ur surroundings, the fear of not getting people to listen to your music and only listen to you because of ur covers and blah blah blah.

Another big problem is production. Lets say i start uploading my songs and on tiktok, and one of them blows up, is going to a studio snd paying a producer big amounts for him to finish the song a good idea or should i keep on posting till i get signed to a label?

What is the best way to get people to listen to YOUR music, cz i think of examples of people who have blown up on because of tiktok wouldnt upload covers and got famous overnight, like d4vd or sombr, how did they get famous and signed to a label?

well this was mostly a brainstorming session, of fears and doubts about the industry, if u have any major advice to give me i wouldnt mind.

I’ve never found an explanation that I can get my head around.

This seems self evident to pianists that I know, but as a guitarist, the names of the notes are basically arbitrary to me.

So I’ll explain a song like “It starts with Emaj, then Bmaj, then Dbmin” and my pianist friend will say “you mean C#min.” And I’m thinking that’s just a different name for what I just said, why do you sometimes choose to call it by the other name?!

If someone can finally help me understand this please, it’d be a great help. Thanks!

Recently I've been trying to expand my taste. Let's take Slipknot for example. It's just so loud and busy and angry it just... I don't understand how to listen to it as dumb as this sounds. It sort of just feels like an assault on my ears and mind there's like 50 bass notes per beat sometimes while some guy screams in my face LMAO.

Seriously how do you get into this I'd genuinely like to know.

Like they are willing to release music and want to make even a little 5 bucks from it but the way to promote music just seems like a lot for them. Like idk what artists are similar but the first one to come to mind is Elliott smith or Nick Drake, but Y’Know without the alcoholism and suicides. Like they want people to listen to them and they want to have people enjoy their music but without the sorta fake facade.

I've been making music as a hobby for almost all my life, even though I have no music theory knowledge. When AI vocal generation became a thing, I decided to start making and releasing full songs.

The vocals are AI generated, but everything else is made by me. I produce electronic music, and all the instrumentals, melodies, chord progressions, bass lines, drums, and overall composition come entirely from my own ideas and my own brain.

Can I still be considered an artist even though I use AI for the vocals?

I also have close to zero listeners on Spotify and other platforms, but I think part of that is because I refuse to make cringe social media content just to promote my music, but also because people don't recognise me as an artist because of the AI vocals and so believes that my songs are not made by me at all..?

Answering some of the questions:

1.Why not contact a singer?

There are a few reasons. Most singers expect compensation if the song makes money, which is understandable. Some would probably do it for free, but finding the time to collaborate can be difficult, and many of the free singers don’t have proper recording equipment, so I would probably have to invest money into a good microphone as well.
The biggest reason is probably my personality. I just prefer working solo. My own voice is decent, but I love female vocals for the style of electronic music I make.

2. Do you write the lyrics?

Yes.. I write the lyrics myself, then I use an LLM to correct grammar and fix parts that might not make sense since English is not my first language. The meaning behind the lyrics comes from my own personal experiences, so they are still mine.

Only one song had fully AI generated lyrics, andhonestly it was awful..I was just experimenting.

3. Are the AI vocal chords generated too?

To some extent, yes. Once I upload the instrumental, I usually generate around 30 to 40 different vocal takes and only keep the parts I actually like to compose the final vocal performance.
In a way it’s similar to working with a real singer and selecting the best takes.. i guess