Hey music makers!
Quick thing: If you're like me and sometimes avoid songwriting because you're stuck on "what chords should I use," the Harmony Vault solves that.
You get 270+ progressions, organized by key type and custom tags for fast searching.
I started a learning program this week to improve my learning skills. It began with a 45-minute assessment to identify my strengths and weaknesses as a learner.
I was pretty surprised by the results.
Despite my ambitious nature, willingness to start things like a YouTube channel or this newsletter, and my confidence that I can learn skills I never went to school for, there's still a part of me that has a fixed mindset.
And it's showing up as a fear of failure I didn't know existed.
I see it in my procrastination. My struggle with time management. And mostly, my avoidance of sitting outside my comfort zone.
Instead of just doing the thing, I linger and hunt for perfection through gathering information.
One clear example is in music production. Years ago, when creating music, I would search and search before wrapping up a song. I was looking for more answers instead of just finishing.
And I'd justify it. Bruno Mars sits on songs for months. Kendrick Lamar will hold a project for years. These people are creating masterpieces.
That takes time, right?
What I was missing in that comparison is that their stakes are way higher as experts in their fields.
But more importantly, what I wasn’t seeing was the volume. The number of failures they're logging privately and the speed at which they do it.
The lesson I'm learning is that I have to fail fast and be comfortable with making lots of mistakes. Growth happens through the large volume of mistakes, not avoiding them.
The three stages of learning
The program broke down learning into three stages:
Declarative: What's given to you by a teacher…the information.
Procedural: You start applying it and making mistakes. This is where you teach yourself through trial and error. No one can do this for you.
Conditional: It becomes automatic. You can apply it to different scenarios without thinking.
Most people stay too long in declarative. Just consuming information.
The growth zone is procedural, where you're making mistakes and self-correcting.
How this looks in practice
This week I’ve been working on tone on the bass. I learned what positions to play in and what plucking strength gets certain tones. That's declarative.
Now I'm in procedural.
I’m practicing with a metronome, applying it to an Anderson Paak bassline that I’m learning, making mistakes, and adjusting.
I’m trying to get faster with the lines while maintaining good tone and getting closer to real playing.
Next, I'll take more bass lines and try to get specific tones while playing them at tempo. Each song is a scenario. That’s my focus on conditional.
I never thought about it with this clarity before.
Object writing challenge
In response to last week’s newsletter, Alan from the community reached out and recommended a book called Songwriting Without Boundaries by Pat Pattison (Amazon).
Thank you, Alan. I have my copy now and started the first challenge 😉.
The book consists of several 14-day object writing challenges. It takes ~16.5 minutes a day. Timed exercises to train the writing muscles.
Here is the three-stage learning framework in action.
Declarative: I learned what object writing is a while back, so I took this time to gain a better understanding of it.
Procedural: I'm doing the exercises daily, making mistakes, and learning through the process.
Conditional: When I write actual songs, I'll apply it to make my lyrics more sense-bound. That's when it'll lock in.
The procedural stage is what I've been avoiding. That's where the fear of failure lives.
But that's also where the growth is.
The adjustments
I'm leaning into the messy middle now. With more reps and an eagerness to face my mistakes and learn from them.
I will also stop searching for the perfect answer before I start.
Instead, I will get comfortable with the information (from a good source). And then move into the procedural stage.
The songwriting sessions are now running alongside the bass and guitar work but in small daily doses.
This week, I’ve been doing object writing in the morning as instructed. I practice my instruments in the afternoons and evenings.
Quick question: Do you procrastinate on things because you're afraid they won't be good enough?
Hit reply. I'm curious if this resonates.
If you're struggling with practice or avoiding your instrument, this video breaks down what actually works
P.S. Still interested in the Harmony Vault? Here you go.
P.P.S. If the Practice Blueprint isn't for you, no worries. You can opt out here
You'll still get the regular Music Maker's Journal (harmony breakdowns, song analysis, all the usual stuff).
