I have been playing the piano for a few years now. I'm completely self taught and mostly learnt to play by watching covers of songs on YouTube. I can play most covers almost exactly the same as I've seen them, except the most complicated and technically difficult ones. I also picked up the guitar two years ago and learnt to play fairly quickly.
Here's the problem. I always fail at making my own music. If it's something someone else played, I can look at a video and learn how to play it, but I fail at improvising over a song or a set of chords. Whenever I try to do that, it sounds bland and uninspired.
I also have some difficulty playing songs by ear. I almost always have to look at a video to learn a song. Even though I try, I can't seem to get all the notes right.
What is the right way to proceed here? How can I get myself more acquainted with the music to be able to produce my own melodies. How can I learn to play songs by ear more effectively?
Edit: I should specify that I am not into classical music. I play with a more casual style and heavily use sustain when playing songs. I like how they sound that way. I want to develop my own style and play different songs my own way.
Submitted April 04, 2018 at 10:58AM by Potatase https://www.reddit.com/r/Learnmusic/comments/89pof7/ive_kind_of_hit_a_wall_and_need_some_advice/?utm_source=ifttt