How to create good work: put more feeling into it

One of the odd niches I follow on Instagram is drummer accounts. I love seeing The Pocket Queen and Sterloid slap the skins on my feed. There’s no speed-scrolling with drummers. You have to pause for long enough to feel the groove, and once you do, it’s hard to scroll away. 

A few years ago, I read a caption from Sterloid that encouraged drummers to put more feeling into their rhythms. (I’ve searched long and hard for the specific post to link it, but I can’t find it, so if my memory isn’t perfect, forgive me.) He said there’s no need to play more and more complex beats. You just need to play the simple stuff with as m much feeling and emotion as you can. As I read this caption, he was playing the simplest drum beat around in the video above; the first beat anyone learns. But he was doing it with great feeling. And it sounded great.

As creators, the temptation of complexity is great. We think that if we can play something, or shoot something, or write something that most others simply couldn’t, our work will be meaningful to people. To some degree, this is true. But if we take a long, hard, honest look at the art that has really shaped our culture…we discover how simple it is.

After I read this caption from Sterloid, it immediately changed the way I play guitar. I picked up my old acoustic and strummed the same old chords I always had. But I put more feeling into it. And it sounded better. When I write, I’m tempted to use big words and long sentences, and explain complex concepts. But when I really boil down an idea, and share an opinion on it–with no caveats or protections, that’s when I reach my audience. 

So do you want to create good work? Stop chasing complicity. Start diving into feeling.