Go sit on your porch and strum your guitar. Write your own song. Plant a vegetable garden. Walk in the woods. Volunteer at the senior center. Put your 12 X 7 cm hand held yoke to the digital universe in your sock drawer for a day. Talk to real people. Creativity, sensitivity, compassion, fairness and the environment we live in are being debased daily by the tech bros who would have AI monetize the air we breathe while we’re busy experimenting with artificial music and realities being fed to us by silicon chips.
I feel like music is probably the most incredible and impactful form of art. I can’t think of any other medium where I would sit there and enjoy the same 3 minute experience over and over again and find meaning in so many different ways. Well, I took my wife to the Salvador Dali museum here in St. Petersburg, FL a few months ago and he did have some paintings that captivated you for several minutes. But I don’t think I’d go stare at the same painting over and over again over the course of days and years like I do with music.
@mfeeney0110 John Prine is a wonderful example, I can listen to his songs on repeat for hours and find so much enjoyment in everything from the harmony to the lyrics.
For me at least, a big part of enjoying the art of other’s music is the story behind it all - who the artist is, what their history is like, and the stories they have to tell. I connect deeply with songs and artists that I can relate to in some way. I love John Prine’s song “All the Best”, the way he presented it on The Texas Connection when playing it live was hilarious. “A couple years ago, I got a divorce for Christmas. So, I went out and bought myself an electric train kit because I’ve never had one before. Brought it back home and nailed it to the dining room table, just because I could. This is called I wish you all the best”.
I suspect that theres a significant number of people that don’t really care as much about that. They want something that makes them feel like dancing, or something that blows out their speakers, or something that can be put on in the background as they go about their day. That’s fine and for those people maybe AI music isn’t as off-putting and doesn’t matter as much. For me personally, I wouldn’t find any kind of deeper connection with music being created solely with AI. I think experiencing another artist’s genuine interpretation of creativity is the biggest draw of being a listener.
I can see it’s value in mastering tools and in certain extents, as someone else suggested maybe making up the drum track might be alright. The whole point of music creativity for me is just the opportunity to express myself creatively and I enjoy the process of doing so - so I can’t see using anything like suno personally. Though I haven’t released anything, I even use my guitar for the bass lines in my songs drop pitched down an octave just because I don’t have a bass guitar. I got pretty good results converting that pitch to MIDI and using a virtual instrument, but it’s still technically me playing.
Anyways now I’m just rambling. I’m also a bit pessimistic about AI in general because I work in tech and there’s a big divide between people who think it’s going to change the world and people like myself who aren’t convinced it can be trusted upon for anything. There’s software companies in the law enforcement business that are working to try and get generative AI to be able to create police reports and complete arrests for officers. It would most certainly save them time but imagine if false information was hallucinated into someone’s criminal case. Sounds like a recipe for disaster imo.
This is the forum hub description:
“A temporary place for AI topics. The JG team are discussing guidance on sharing AI content.”
Seems like folks needed a place to rip/dis on AI, a place to voice their displeasure. It’s temporary so enjoy it while we can. That’s fine. Just like politics and religion no one gets converted online. I will continue to write my ditty’s and songs and prompt some of them through AI for production. Mostly because it is fun. What is fun and interesting does seem to get lost in these discussions. Hard to have fun when you consider something to be the death of art, creativity and all of humanity. LOL
Not sure I get where you’re coming from, Clint
I was under the impression that this area was set up more for people who wanted to discuss +/- share AI content and topics, rather than simply ‘dump’ on it. It appears to me that most of the comments come from folk who use aspects of AI when it suits them, but have some reservations about it. That’s fair enough. It’s a new development, which is changing the music industry whether we like it or not. Like everything, there are pros & cons.
Only if you choose to limit yourself
I wrote a song about it in the last AI thread I started and had good fun defending AI produced songs as genuine art at our last open mic
I think the indifference comes down to using AI as a practice tool / generative backing tracks to using AI for commercial music generation. Take the former what’s the difference between using the highly recommended trio plus to generate drum and bass tracks compated to using AI software to do the same?
Tbh I’m not sure (nor do I really care) whether my Trio+ drum ‘n’ bass beats are AI or ‘smart programming’. As you say ‘What difference does it make?’
Clint is not talking about commercial music generation, he’s talking about using it to create songs that give him/others pleasure.
I find it interesting that there was a phase around this time last year where a number of community members were sharing AI-generated images, which ruffled very few feathers, compared to some of the strong feelings aroused when it comes to music.
We’re on a guitar-learning site, so it’s only natural folk have strong opinions on music AI, but in the large scheme of things, it’s only a trivial matter.
I’m sure if we dug back far enough there would be folks bemoaning the evils of converting an analog signal to digital. Haha, that other AI (I suppose).
That’s it for me on this thread, I need to get a November original acoustic (behind schedule) and AI production version out the door. In the mean time:
As a fun tool to practice, someone could compose a guitar solo or melody and prompt Suno to generate many type of backing track. And have fun, similar to what this youtuber describes in this youtube short :
I just watched Stephen Colbert on The Late Show interview Pete Townsend. Townsend said that he has 350 to 400 pieces of music he has written over time that weren’t good enough to use. He’s thinking of feeding them into Suno to see if AI can turn some of his rejects into useful songs. I don’t know what to think about that.
This is some impressive software. Plus scary when one considers the comment near the end concerning military use.
Just watched the vid, and my takeaway is that everyone who plays an instrument better get out and play live.
Obviously that will not happen, but to get anywhere near a balance between live playing and AI music, it is incumbent on us all to support live music. At the very least.
Our OMs go some way towards that but we need more participants stepping up, and long may they continue.
Live music forever.
Regarding my last post, I tried making a practice backing track for a Jingle Bells solo arrangement I’m learning right now. So, I uploaded the .mp3 of the Jingle Bells guitar arrangement and I asked him to make a backing track with some bells and a christmas vibe. But, it completely wipe out the .mp3 I gave him and covered it in a really different style which is not usable at all as a backing track for my playing. From my understanding, it takes the pro version to make what I’d like to do. So the free version of Suno seems pretty useless as a practice tool. Disappointing.
That’s fine. Just like politics and religion no one gets converted online. I will continue to write my ditty’s and songs and prompt some of them through AI for production. Mostly because it is fun. What is fun and interesting does seem to get lost in these discussions. Hard to have fun when you consider something to be the death of art, creativity and all of humanity. LOL
