John Bohlinger puts an AI tool to the test—and finds a dog that says meow.
The AI driven paradigm shift is upon us, and it’s happening much quicker than we anticipated. You’ve undoubtedly seen AI make amazing stuff, but I was shocked when I checked out AI songwriting site suno.com. When prompted, I typed: “An acoustic-rock-style song. Dog is a compassionate counselor to humans but secretly a serial killer.”
In roughly 20 seconds, Suno gave me two renditions of “The Whispering Canine.” The two-minute, three-verse versions of the song had a full-band recording, with a lead vocal bleeding with angst and well-placed harmonies. The lyrics were, for the most part, great—way better than any first draft I’ve had in a co-write.
If you want to hear “The Whispering Canine”, here’s a link: https://suno.com/song/4a8d8c14-e4b0-49db-9c33-57d36714f627
In the shadows, he hides,
A faithful companion, by your side
With empathetic eyes, he'll understand
But beware, my friend, of the murderous plan
He listens to your deepest thoughts
A compassionate counselor, never caught
But deep inside, his twisted scheme
He waits for the moment, to fulfill his dark dream
He licks your wounds, with gentle care
A loyal confidant, pretending to share
But as the night falls, he stalks his prey
A secret killer in the guise of a stray
The one glitch is that the AI used a solitary black cat in a scary alley rather than a dog. I don’t know if it mistook the image for a sinister dog or thought a cat was a better choice. Let’s face it, cats are far more likely to be serial killers than dogs. So maybe this gentle nudge from AI was a polite improvement. Of course, the title should probably be changed to “The Feline Whisper.”
“If I were still writing for a publisher, my songwriting would probably start with Suno … but I’d miss out on the journey, and that’s the best part.”
So what is Suno? Suno is a web-based, text-to-music generator that can whip up full songs in seconds from a simple text prompt. With the free version, Suno retains ownership of its masterpiece, but the sound recordings can be used for lawful, non-commercial purposes, with attribution credit to Suno. For $8 per month, Suno subscribers own the sound recording, as long as they comply with the terms of service. You can also use the songs commercially, for example, on YouTube or even uploading them to Spotify or Apple Music. The Suno site says: “Unleash Your Creativity: Dive into the world of music-making and let your imagination run wild. Happy composing!”
If this is composing, then ordering takeout is cooking dinner. AI creates songs much like humans do in a songwriting session. But instead of one to three people digging through their notes of clever words, phrases, and melodies they have heard, AI gleans the info from every song, movie, book, etc., and combines the pieces. The only ingredient missing is personal experience. AI uses the thoughts and experiences of everything that’s ever been written that makes it online.
AI is not bad for art. Art is going to be fine. AI will produce amazing work alone and in collaboration with humans, and humans will be inspired to stretch the envelope to outdo AI. But I do feel bad for my daughter’s generation. If I were still writing for a publisher, my songwriting would probably start with Suno, then I’d tweak the results, like adding a chorus to “The Whispering Canine.” But I’d miss out on the journey, and that’s the best part. Songwriting is an opportunity to deeply analyze the most interesting part of life: love, loss, heartache, compassionate serial-killer dogs, etc. Songwriting is hard and time-consuming, but it’s good for you to do hard things. The law of the universe is you get out of it what you put into it. If AI does all your heavy lifting emotionally and mentally, all you get is “The Whispering Canine,” not the experience, not the personal growth, not the challenge, not the sense of accomplishment, and, in the end, not the joy of creating something.
The PG Video crew of John Bohlinger, Perry Bean and Chris Kies recall a pair of killer Rig Rundowns with Nuno Bettencourt & Pat Badger of Extreme and Sammy Boller. Then the trio focus on new gear pieces from Keeley, Danelectro, Gibson, Line 6, and Schecter, before dishing out their opinions on relic guitars, sharing new music they're excited about from Gary Clark Jr, Charley Crockett and Black Country Communion. And they conclude their hang with a discussion about how AI will continue shaping music and songwriting.
The AI-generated ideal … but maybe not for a human.
If there’s such a thing as a perfect guitar, the bots should know what to do by now, right?
There’s no doubt that guitarists simply cannot agree on what is the best instrument. After all, best is so subjective in this context that the very idea is laughable. Still, the unspoken dream of many guitar builders is to offer a guitar that everybody will like.
There are guitar makers who attempt to build a best-of-both-worlds musical appliance that attempts to be either a Swiss Army knife or a meet-you-in-the-middle instrument. These usually wind up being neither fish nor fowl, which actually might accidentally create something a little different from the usual white meat.
The other end of the spectrum is the outfit that doesn’t wish to be a big fish. These are the builders who only want to follow their muse, and possibly exist on a stream of like-minded musicians who “get” what they are doing. If you think I’m projecting here, you’re probably on target. Still, I have wondered if I could design an instrument that would appeal to everyone.
Most of my attempts to solve the age-old puzzle of making a true chameleon guitar have ended up being interesting experiments that came close but were never really ready for prime time. Those models have a fanbase and are becoming collectible in some small way despite their quirkiness. It’s plain to me that the essence of what I’ve done was to channel my love of vintage instruments into something new, and that meant standing on the shoulders of those who came before. Maybe I was just too close to see clearly, and needed a larger perspective.
So, in the spirit of the new AI frontier, I decided to collaborate with the generative neural network ChatGPT for some insight. I typed, “Describe an electric guitar that everyone will like” into the void, and 15 seconds later I had five pages of text that clearly was the result of scraping the online guitar universe. I’ll share some of the high-points.
“A few billion dollars worth of tech spat out the usual references to classic design with modern touches, high-quality materials, versatile pickups, quality hardware, and comfortable playability.”
The first response was disappointingly reminiscent of boutique guitar advertising copy. A few billion dollars worth of tech spat out the usual references to classic design with modern touches, high-quality materials, versatile pickups, quality hardware, and comfortable playability. The list went on with phrases that appear in every book, magazine, or forum about guitars. The summary was, “By combining these elements, you create an electric guitar that not only looks appealing but also offers a broad spectrum of tones, making it suitable for a wide range of musical styles and preferences.” I figured that I needed to hone my queries and drill down a bit more.
“OK,” I asked, “but what could be a new twist on this?” The ChatBot had some interesting ideas, beginning with smart connectivity that could wirelessly interface with various devices like “smartphones, tablets, or computers, enabling seamless integration with recording software, amp-modeling apps, and educational tools.” Next was an idea for LED lighting players could program to enhance their appearance onstage. Of course this has been done, but the next bit was a little more sci-fi: “Implement augmented reality features through a built-in camera or sensors on the guitar.” This sounded surprisingly like a previous Esoterica Electrica [“I Have Seen the Enemy, and It’s OS,” November 2016].
The flow continued. “Players can use AR to display chord diagrams, scale patterns, or virtual effects directly on the guitar’s body, enhancing the learning and playing experience.” I’m not exactly sure why this would be of use, but I played along. “What guitar features will make guitarists look sexy?” I asked jokingly, hoping for some other insights. The answers I got were surprisingly familiar. “Remember, the key to looking and feeling sexy with a guitar is to choose one that resonates with your personal style, preferences, and musical identity. Embrace your uniqueness, and let your passion for music shine through your playing.”
At this point I gave up on gaining any new ground on this endeavor, so I asked for a recommendation for where I might generate an image of the ultimate guitar. The results accompany this article. Then I signed off—the bot thanked me and said goodbye.
After spending a morning thinking about the results of “collaborating” with AI, I was left with a surprisingly hopeful feeling. Every milestone in human history was the result of springboarding off the work of those who came before, whether we know it or not. Most of what is passed off as new is truly built upon what has come before.
I’m certain that these technologies will improve and press ahead, possibly to the point where real breakthroughs occur. But the technology available today just recycled the past like humans do, and it wasn’t any better at predicting the future than the builders I know. Still, a nagging uneasiness hovered just outside of my consciousness, so I queued up Neil Young’s Harvest on vinyl and pulled a double espresso just to get back to real. I’m working on letting my passion for music shine.