The level of entry differs between prompting, bear making (shortcut here) and « being a musician »
What you as the musician get in return is where the biggest difference is.
The harder the skill, the deeper you got to dive into the craft, the more complete your understanding of it is.
And in turn, the more you can draw inspiration from.
Taking myself as an example
As a kid/teen, I thought music theory was somewhat useless.
Then I got into jazz, learned some of it, thought jazz was the pinnacle of music and musical freedom and complexity.
Then in my 30s, got into playing classical piano pieces and listening to classical music and opera, getting deeper in theory as well as becoming a more capable musician.
Now the music I make draws from all that, which makes it more personal and deeper (in my own biased opinion)
For the listener, they might not get it entirely, which is fine, but to me, it’s a huge difference and improvement.
Now that also carries whether I use samples (which I seldom do, but it does happen from time to time)
And I would assume, as I haven’t done it, some of it might also transpire into prompting.
But the pleasure and satisfaction I get from crafting the music is so that I’m not interested in making music by prompting.
Getting in that zone, with the experience and luggage I have, is akin to a psychedelic experience I doubt would be accessible through just prompting and waiting for the thing to pop up out of thin air.
