OCT 29th 1-2-3: Seeking Discomfort
1: Seeking Discomfort ( 3 minute read )
In all my time as an artist I’ve dealt with many forms of creative block and have found that one form of creative block can come from not overcoming something within your craft that Is creating friction.
To give a good example of what I’m talking about lets take it back a number of years.
Back to when I was in High School.
I was probably about 16 years old in high school and had been shown the technical and melodic genius that came from Michael Keene, the head guitarist and founder of the band “The Faceless”.
I had only been playing guitar for about 3-4 years at that point, and had only just recently began to take guitar much more seriously.
As an amateur can very commonly do, I jumped head first into learning the song ‘Akeldama’ from their first album and had little to no understanding of what would be required to play it properly.
I began learning the notes, but couldn’t play them all.
Then I would be able to play them, but they weren’t up to speed.
This would lead me to playing it faster and faster, but when I would record myself and listen back I’d find that I was just making noise rather than actually ‘playing’ the notes.
Then I’d go back to working on playing the notes clearly.
So on, so forth.
One thing I, for a period of time, simply did not want to do was play to a metronome.
Secondly I would be told by my older brother and sister, who had much more guitar experience, that I needed to play it slower and feel out the notes. But I just wanted to go fast.
Third and most painful at that time, I was often guided to go back and learn something simpler because my fundamentals weren’t good enough to even approach a song this difficult. I was told that I would only succeed in ruining my time with the instrument and might even frustrate myself to the point of giving up guitar altogether.
That third point was the one that gave me the most friction and discomfort by far. My refusal to work on fundamentals, and learn some easier songs first, led me down a path where for a very long time I felt uninspired overall.
I would be reaching to play something a certain way but didn’t have the basic skill necessary to pull it off.
I wanted to sound a certain way but no matter how hard I tried, it never sounded right.
Now there is definitely a level of overthinking that was occurring but nonetheless, my inability to work through the uncomfortable parts of my music were huge hinderances in becoming skilled enough to write the music I had in my head.
Though this is a bit embarrassing to admit, it took me years to finally go back and work on my fundamentals.
Even more embarrassing to admit, there was a part of my mind deep down within the recesses of my subconscious that believed that since music came a bit more naturally to me than I perceived it to come to others. I thought that I was better than others who worked on fundamentals. Like I could just move on past it.
Thinking back to that now it makes me laugh at the arrogant little teenager I was, and I’m glad to say that time and experience has taught me how wrong I was.
I had stuck with guitar for a very long time and had always heard how wrong some of the stuff I was playing sounded.
There was a level of arrogance that had bred within my mind. I used to think that maybe I could skirt past the fundamentals and go straight to all the really technical stuff. This thought was in one part rooted in the circle of influence I had grown up in, one that was very artistic and had a strong musical leaning. Another part rooted in my own hubris.
Thus the friction I felt was one part laziness, another part pride. It made me spend a long period of time feeling very trapped by my own mind and was a huge hinderance to my overall creativity.
Though at a certain point the urge to grow as a musician outweighed the pain of my own ego.
I thank God that I have been able to grow past this and its really the main reason why I’m talking so candidly here about these things.
I don’t believe I’m alone in this way of thinking.
Friction or discomfort can come in all sorts of shapes and sizes. It might begin as a seemingly small ‘pain point’, but will usually turn to a point of immense adversity.
Being aware of what brings you discomfort is a powerful tool. It shows you what you ought to work on. Seeking discomfort and prevailing over it will embolden you, enhance your skill and knowledge, and will even prevent a lot of creative block.
My last tidbit for today is this. Seek discomfort, but also look at it as a form of adversity you must advance and elevate yourself through.
This is because, most assuredly; through adversity, always comes progress.
2: Creative Prompts From Us (ex. Write a short story, a poem, a song, or draw a quick illustration of these! Let your imagination run free.)
I. You cannot see. You were born blind and your imagination is stronger than most. What do you imagine? Being that you’ve never seen anything, what does you imagination conjure up?
II. The Space equivalent of the Autobahn, or ‘highway’. How would it be structured? How would it look? What would it feel like to navigate on it?
3: Inspirational Quotes From Others
I. “Perseverance is failing nineteen times and succeeding the twentieth." - Julie Andrews, Actor and Singer
II. “You have to keep your bottom on the chair and stick it out. Otherwise, if you start getting in the habit of walking away when you’re stuck you’ll never get it done.” - Roald Dahl, The Author’s Eye Notebook, Author
III. “The discipline of the written word punishes both stupidity and dishonesty." - John Steinbeck, Author
Thanks for reading!