Major Blues Tune, Take 2: Trying To Be Creative

Once upon a time, many years ago, I was considered a Creative Person by both myself and others. I could sit down and spin out a story or an essay, with or without any kind of a writing prompt. I was always scribbling down poems or ideas for novels. I've written several novels, and I've half-written a few dozen, from first chapters to entire first drafts. I haven't published anything because I am a scared little mouse and always have been.

I was musically creative, too. I've written a number of songs, though it's been a long time. I always felt a great desire to write music, but I would get stuck in the same old chord progressions and the same old arpeggiated left-hand groove.

One of the greatest gifts of Piano With Jonny is that I have broken out of those stale old habits. Yet, I still struggle to reclaim my old creative self. I get angry at myself for missing notes when, really, all I'm doing is making things up. The "missed" note is a note other than the one I had in my head. And sometimes those missed notes can lead to better things. So I'm wrong to beat myself up.

Yesterday I posted a video of a tune I was developing using the major blues scale. It uses a common progression (the one Jonny uses in the course) and it's probably a well-known song, but as far as I'm concerned, I came up with it. :) This morning I decided to explore the tune some more.

This video goes through several starts and stops. It's not that fun to listen to, as it isn't remotely a performance video. But I think it will be good to share here, as a stop along the road of my creative process.

I'm hoping that, in the future, I can feel freer to make things up (and make mistakes) than I felt this morning.

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Picking Up the Pieces

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