Training to be more creative...

[kragen]

I've been playing guitar / bass since mid february this year - guitar to start with, then bought myself a bass and started to teach myself and Im loving it!

My problem is that my great motivation is to be good... so now looking back I see that all my playing so far has been technical exercises - learning scales, learning to play other artists music etc...

The problem is that I dont see myself as "good enough" to be creative... I know i'm not that good... and so nothing I can play will sound as good as the music I enjoy - so I've gotten it into my head that I should wait until ive improved until trying to be creative!

I know thats just not right though - So apart from working on technical exercises to improve the connection between the sound and how to play it... I also want to get over the fact I cant play that well yet... and start being creative! :P

I'm thinking along the lines of finding slower-paced songs I appreciate and have a go at playing along - that way I have more time to recognise the root note.

[Chili]

You cant practice bein creative as such i dont think, bein creative is just something that will come or should come as u get better and get a feel for what ur playing, my advice is basicly keep practicing, have patience, and dont worry about bein creative so early on

[Jace The Bass]

A Teacher of mine is a saxophonists and has taught me to practice all these different patterns although I find them boring but I went through the slog of practicing them and I didn't get it until a few years down the track and it became apparent that what it was doing was that it was teaching me how to not think and play at the same time as well as keeping my ears in tune.
So concluding I would say learn all the tools of music ie:scales,chords,theory etc...and don't worry about the creative side of it just yet as it will come

[Correlli]

I've found that once you find the short cuts, it's really easy to let go, and let it flow. It's takes time to find the short cuts though. A really good teacher should know the short cuts, but won't show you until you've figured it out for yourself.

Learning how to double thump from the start, is not a short cut.

As a matter of fact, if you are being shown this from the start,

you are being ripped off!