composing music in my dreams

on several several occasions I have dreams up new music... I've composed full length songs on guitar or magical guitars, complete bands, etc. I always think the music sounds genius and even if some parts are less so I eventually pull off some cool solo or something that constitutes genius. anyways, how likely is it that this music is actually great stuff? I seem to hear it perfectly well in my sleep and always think its great as I'm composing it, and I have a pretty critical ear when it comes to music. When I wake up I recognize that the music I composed was rather complex and yet I can never recite any of it - rather I can sort of remember the genre and mood of the songs I create.

What are the odds that I am creating great music? Any of you have dreams like this?

dreampt*

dreamt*

I don't have dreams like this. Despite being a musician, my dreams rarely even have sound, never mind music. If you can't remember any of the actual notes, it would be difficult to tell if it's any good. The nearest non-music related dream comparison I can make is that I often have dreams where I'm holding forth to a group of people about some fantastic idea I've had. In the dream, I believe that the idea is great, and so do the people I'm addressing. But when I wake up I realise that the idea is in fact crap.

I agree with the whole 'idea is crap' part. but still I have a hard time believing I'm not composing good sounding music. An idea is one thing but an sensory image or sound might be totally different.

FYI there was an author who claimed he came up with all his stories in a dreamplace. he'd write them down as soon as he woke up or something.

from another point of view, allow me to say it seems like this sort of thing represents an inability to exercise such potential in actuality. in other words, perhaps your aspiration to create these great things -- songs, moods, ideas on a guitar -- is more easily fed in dreams than in real life. maybe you don't feel ready to put this work forward, so you dream it.

i have woken myself up to write down a song i dreamt up that sounded amazing in my dream, and in the cold light of day it wasn't anything special.

there was some old aphex twin interview where he claimed to write his pieces in his dreams

That interview was bonkers! A great read.

I had one of my dreams where I compose music. I composed songs for a complete band during a live show. I was playing piano this time.
Ahhhhh, I wish I could hear this music when I wake up. I swear to god it sounds great.

imo the hard part is not the idea, it's being able to execute or translate what sounded good in your head on an instrument (or paper, or whatever)

CaptLorax
I have the same 'problem' it's been kind of driving me crazy for a few years. The music is real as far as I can tell, I can still remember it 'in the cold light of day' and hum the basic tune. It's mostly classical and complex, the most frustrating thing is that I can't write it down; similar to hearing a great story and not being able to write!! pity really, I think people would enjoy it.......

Yeah man. I actually had a memorable segment a week ago. One or two bars. Even if I had a keyboard to immediately play and write down the notes, I wouldn't have been able to recreate the magnificent synth sound on the whole note.

dreampt*

this has happened to me maybe 2, 3 times?

with verse-chorus-verse structure, breakdown, bridge, everything! I wonder what my brain is doing

supposedly the theme from the first movement of bruckner's 7th symphony was sung to him by angels in a dream

a couple of times I've had a weird semi-sleep paralysis thing going on, where in what feels like a just falling asleep state I'm composing something awesome in my head, but I can't get up to do anything about it. Then I kind of remember it but forget the details when I'm actually awake, cuz yeah it's always super complex.

i once woke up able to play 'where do you go to my lovely' having learnt it in a dream, which i then did only once and never again. but it was kinda strange

My magic guitar playing was sooo good last night. I kept going back to sleep after I woke up just so I could keep playing. The drems were lucid and memorable. I remember experimenting with lots of ideas until I found the song that sounded best. Bur I'd kill just to hear the improv sessions.
It's so much easier finding the exact sound you want when you are dreaming. There's no hurdles standing in your way.

When reality came creeping in, I could still hear myself fiddling around on my magic guitar. The sounds/ideas became less varied as my mind found singularity. The last bit of music was very Zeppelin-esque

Okay, I know the last post for this was a couple of months ago, but I just wanted to say that this started to happen to me about 1 or 2 years ago. Never happened to me before. I wouldn't be the composer in my dreams, but they would always have background music, like a TV show or movie, or I'd be at a club with music playing. It could be of any genre: rock, alternative, classical, rap or freestyle(house/club). These songs were so good, I honestly thought I was just remembering songs from my childhood that have been long forgotten, but I realized soon through internet searches that these songs don't exist. I once wrote down the rap lyrics as soon as I woke up, and I realized these words are much too complex to have thought up quickly in my dreams... I wouldn't be able to do that in real life. Also, I finally remembered the melody and an entire hook for one song which is titled: "love and the dark". Oh man, this song sounds awesome. I wish I had real musical talent to capitalize on this.

lol, i was talking about something similar on the "non-ILX dreams" thread not too long ago. i often hear pop music in my dreams, music that seems super-great to me. when i wake up, if i have a dream song running through my head, i'll hurriedly sing it into my phone so that i don't forget it. in the process, a lot of the detail and harmony gets lost, but i can usually at least get the general gist down. they're not often so remarkable as they seemed while i was asleep, are sometimes just mutated versions of existing songs, but every once in a while, i get something really good. about half the songs i've contributed to my "band" have come from dreams.

this happened twice to me this week. first time the song was so great and i was building it up and adding breakdowns and cool little bits and it was just so, so great I was so proud and then I woke up.

next time, I dreamt I was breaking into a hotel to steal samples so I could make a remix of French Montana's Unforgettable.

i too have made music and experienced magic guitar playing many times over the years, and almost never have i retained any of it upon waking. except once! i had a brilliant riff going. woke up and immediately picked up my real and not magic guitar and started banging it out. turns out it was the opening notes of the crystals' "and then he kissed me." which made me laugh so hard. i popped a tape in the four-track and made a song with it anyway.

For some reason when I do this it's always progressive trance