We recently connected with Doter Sweetly and have shared our conversation below.

Doter, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today Learning the craft is often a unique journey from every creative – we’d love to hear about your journey and if knowing what you know now, you would have done anything differently to speed up the learning process.

I truly, truly believe that nothing teaches you better than doing something. I think that’s probably something we can all agree on.

I can watch 6 hours of how-to dance videos today. I can sit and dive deep into a youtube sinkhole and learn all about different steps and history and hops and jumps and shimmies or whatever–I should go watch some dance videos. I mean I can really get in there and watch dance instructors break down every little move. I could probably be able to identify what kind of dance someone is doing after watching all of those videos. But if I didn’t stand up and move my body, I wouldn’t know how it feels to actually lindy hop or salsa…and I still don’t.

Now, replace “dancing” above with any other thing, and you see what I mean. Piano, golf, baking, whatever it happens to be. If you aren’t getting up and doing the thing, you’re learning about how to do the thing, it but not actually learning to do the thing.

Now, I don’t think someone should just start trying to do electrical work without learning something about it first, but when it comes to learning any craft, trade, or skill, you just have to get up and start trying to do it. If you have a passion for something and want to know how to do it, find a way to get started. If you’re passionate about that thing, you’ll make it happen.

For art and music specifically, I’ve never felt like it was a drag to work on the “craft.” Learning songs was like magic. I would hear a song I liked, I would look up tabs or find videos of performances and try to figure out how to make the sound I was hearing happen on the guitar.

My excitement and enthusiasm for learning songs and new things on the guitar far outweighed any of the finger blisters or embarrassment I had flubbing the shit out of Stairway to Heaven or singing horribly out of tune in front of my friends and family. As far as I was concerned, practicing a scale wasn’t about getting good at music or the guitar. I would find myself daydreaming at school wondering how to play a drum beat or a riff or what it would sound like if I made this or that shape on the guitar.

When I started writing songs, I didn’t care about song structure or how verses and choruses worked, I could record the guitar and a microphone into Audacity. Cue me bringing my drums into the room and holding the microphone over a drum and randomly singing into the mic and getting completely lost layering things on top of one another until I realized it had been 10 hours and now I had a song. Not a great one, but I had one.

I got addicted to writing and recording music, how to make my songs sound good, what song structure was, what notes I played on the guitar so I could add piano to the song, what new ways I could mic up my drums, and so what kinds of microphones and microphone stands there were, how to record more than one mic at a time, what kinds of cables there were. I learned about things I needed to as they came along and It was never work or a pain to learn. I didn’t feel motivated to learn the craft, I felt motivated to be creative and learning the craft naturally followed.

Obviously, there are important things to learn in order to record music, play drums, write a song, or improvise a solo on guitar. Music can’t be “mastered” through some kind of linear system. I think, like almost anything else, it always gets deeper and more complex and interesting, and you never really “master” the craft.

You learn songwriting by writing songs, you learn recording music by recording music, you learn guitar and drums by playing the guitar and drums. You hear something and say to yourself “I wonder how to do ( )” or “I wonder why ( ) sounds like that” or “I can’t wait to try ( ).” And that’s where you start learning the craft.

Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers.

I’ve been writing and recording music for over 18 years. In that time, I’ve worn many musical hats. I’ve been a gigging and recording guitarist, bassist, and drummer. I have been a music coordinator and bandleader for a kids’ TV show band. I’ve been a music theory and music technology professor. I’ve been a composer for films, a recording engineer, and (my favorite hat) a singer and songwriter. If it has something to do with music, audio, or sound, I’ve done it or taught it in some form or fashion.

Since the pandemic shut downs ended, I have been recording and playing drums more than anything else. I had the incredible opportunity to be an assistant engineer with Calvin Lauber on some records at Memphis Magnetic. I’ve had the pleasure of drumming with General Labor, Kate Teague, and Spence Bailey over the last year. We’re finishing up mixes on some upcoming General Labor songs and recently, I tracked some drums with Spence Bailey at Easley-McCain Recording. Nothing feels better than working with such uniquely gifted musicians, writers, and engineers. I’m endlessly inspired by each of them and learn something new every time we collaborate.

I’ve also been writing and recording music with Mitch Mealer in our project Great Fortune. By the end of the year, before summer there will be new Doter Sweetly, Great Fortune, and General Labor recordings out in the world and I can’t wait to share them!

Is there mission driving your creative journey?

There’s this idea, and I think I heard it in an episode of Marc Maron’s podcast. I can’t remember where the quote or the idea came from originally, but in my own words, it goes something like this:

You can blow through a horn or pluck the strings of a guitar for 30 years. At the end of that 30 years, the horn and the guitar won’t change, those 12 notes won’t change either. It’s you that has changed. We’re using music and our instruments to learn more about ourselves and our place in the world.

That’s the goal to me. Express yourself, have fun, and connect with others. Be good to the music.

In your view, what can society to do to best support artists, creatives and a thriving creative ecosystem?

We’re all used to the steady a stream of content at all times on the tips of our fingertips. I’m used to it and so are you, and I think that’s a good thing. I think that society is going to continue to enjoy art, music, and movies. Hopefully, that means that there are more opportunities for people to directly support artists. I would encourage people to find a Patreon or a Bandcamp page or a live show and directly support the artists they value. Hopefully the creative landscape of the next 30 years is more egalitarian and people can continue to develop more meaningful relationships with the artists they admire.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://dotersweetly.bandcamp.com
• Instagram: instagram.com/dotersweetly
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC7mhU5YxOXFdd4l_prq2r0A
• Other: https://open.spotify.com/artist/4tIGeIUQJGzDB7mcTqj9v8?autoplay=true https://music.apple.com/us/artist/doter-sweetly/1173111688

Image Credits
Antonia Rincon