Are we creative by nature?
May 22, 2023
Guitar composition is something anyone can (and should) create. But some think they don’t “have it” or lack imagination and can’t compose guitar music.
In this post, I’d like to show you that you are already creative and can easily compose original music on the guitar.
When you do simple things in your everyday life, you create. For example, let’s say you commented on this post: “Thank you! I feel more confident in my creativity and can compose original music without the guitar”.
No one has put together this string of words in that specific way. Don’t believe me? Try to google my comment example with quotation marks. It’s original! The result says: “Your search did not match any documents.” (Although, when this post is published, it might lead to this page…).
However, I’m sure your comment will be much more interesting than my example, and you can then Google your comment and test your originality yourself.
Like writing, communicating with others using language is also based on your creativity. You’re creating sequences of words in your unique way.
Even when you speak, you improvise in the moment, like improvising music on your guitar. Bassist and author Victor Wooten beautifully explained this point in his TED talk.
Guitar Creativity & the “Four C Model”
In psychology, the “Four C Model” differentiates between four levels of creativity. The first level, “mini-c,” concerns novel and personally meaningful interpretations of experiences, actions, and events.
It means, for example, that when you played a few notes on the guitar as a beginner, you may have experienced a feeling you created something new and different to you.
According to this concept, “mini-c” inherently exists in a learning process that we can foster and nurture to move on to the next level of creativity.
Creativity from a biological perspective
But psychology can’t provide definitive proof for our creative nature. So perhaps we can get evidence from a biological perspective. This quote describes it nicely:
“One of the defining features of humanity is the ability to be creative. This ability is exhibited throughout human society and is a fundamental force in the development of humankind. However, the concept of creativity itself is shrouded in imprecision and subjectivity, making it difficult to address from a scientific perspective. One approach to the rational study of creativity in humans is to consider it from an evolutionary perspective, aiming to identify related behaviours in other species that can be studied without the cloud of human subjectivity that the word creativity entails.” (Wiggins, 2015; doi: 10.1098/rstb.2014.0099).
I’d add that it’s also very difficult to compare creativity levels between people. What are the parameters and who decides them?
I’d add that it’s also challenging to compare creativity levels between people. What are the parameters, and who decides on them?
That’s why the term creativity can be open to interpretation and tricky to measure scientifically, although there are efforts to research specific aspects of it.
My conclusion and guitar composition
We still need more research to understand creativity. But despite its subjectivity, there seems to be a broad agreement that being creative is an essential part of being human, even if it’s on a fundamental level.
It happens when we learn something new and begin our learning process as babies and even in the womb.
The cool thing is that this long post results from a comment I received on a different post. It is a chain reaction of inspiration and creation; you can choose to be part of it.
To be more creative is your choice, whether you believe it’s in your nature. How? Commenting on this post is a simple way! Learning guitar to enhance your creativity is another.
Enhancing guitar players’ creativity is what I’m trying to promote through my guitar composition group, Solo Guitar Composition Artistry Group, where I share free resources and videos.
I also opened a new venture called The Art of Guitar Composition Academy. This programme gives a holistic overview of music as an art form. We explore there all the elements of music practically and experiment with compositional tools that will help you through every stage of the creative process.
To learn more about it and to see if it’s the right thing for you, schedule a guitar chat with me – https://udiguitar.com/contact-udiguitar/
acoustic guitarbecome creative by learning guitarcan anyone compose musicclassical guitarCreativity from a biological perspectiveelectric guitarenhance creativity by learning guitarguitarguitar booksguitar compositionguitar creativityguitar improvisationguitar lessonsguitar lessons north londonguitar teacher north Londonlearn guitar compositionlearn guitar improvisationonline guitar lessonsthe four c model for creativity
