Members RocknPop Posted March 7, 2012 Members Share Posted March 7, 2012 Is there a ritual or something you guys do to get your creative mind going before starting to play. I find myself in front of the computer drawing a blank sometimes. What are your suggestions on getting inspired? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members oldgitplayer Posted March 7, 2012 Members Share Posted March 7, 2012 ..... in front of the computer drawing a blank sometimes. What are your suggestions on getting inspired? In front of the computer??? Inspiration??? Do you have a real instrument with keys or strings, or do you create musical data? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members grace_slick Posted March 7, 2012 Members Share Posted March 7, 2012 ^^ I create at the computer. I am restricted by my lack of instrumental skill. And in answer to the OP, I don't tend to sit down and aim to create unless I am already inspired. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members oldgitplayer Posted March 7, 2012 Members Share Posted March 7, 2012 ^^ I create at the computer. I am restricted by my lack of instrumental skill. And in answer to the OP, I don't tend to sit down and aim to create unless I am already inspired. I've learned something - I didn't know that was possible. Is that what midi is all about? I guess you're a digital babe and I'm an analogue bloke, and the world's big enough for us all. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members rickidoo Posted March 7, 2012 Members Share Posted March 7, 2012 Sometimes I create at the computer, sometimes guitar, sometimes bass. "creating at the computer" is misleading as a phrase because (for me) it really means using a keyboard that can become anything from a piano to an orchestra. So, it's more accurate to say create at the keyboard and simply not mention the word computer. For me, the trick is to always capture any playing I do on a recorder (I use a small handheld mp3 recorder) and listen to it later, skipping around as needed. I hear things later I did not hear when I made the recording. All it takes is a few interesting notes, or a chord or two, or a few interesting sung words, to be the seed that turns into a song. One of my favorite things to do when I finish a song is to place the original hand held recording, along with any early demos, in my (digital) notebook, along with the finished song... then listen to how the song developed. Interestingly, sometimes the finished songs are pretty far removed from the early handheld demo, and sometimes I have gone back to the original demo, groomed it some more, and gotten a completely different song out of it. Never could figure that one out but it's true. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moderators Lee Knight Posted March 7, 2012 Moderators Share Posted March 7, 2012 Is there a ritual or something you guys do to get your creative mind going before starting to play. I find myself in front of the computer drawing a blank sometimes. What are your suggestions on getting inspired? I can't go into production mode until I have something to produce. Grace is great at knocking out things at the computer. A lot of pop producers are. And a lot of pop producers have a song first too. Even a lyric thread and some melody swimming around in your mind first, is enough to then program a beat that works in conjunction with the idea that's in your head. So... ...as I'm quick to repeat ad nauseum around here, for me, the more I can get dancing in my head, riffs, lyrics, melodies, the more effective I can be when I do sit down at a computer. I will however sing into iPhoto to document my ideas. That allows me to refine the concept further. But bear in mine, your imagination doesn't have to know how to play a certain riff, it can imagine it. It doesn't have to be restricted to melodies that always seem to fall out of your guitar playing. It can soar. Use you imagination first. Or at least, that's the way I do it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members rhino55 Posted March 7, 2012 Members Share Posted March 7, 2012 Step away from the computer Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Oswlek Posted March 7, 2012 Members Share Posted March 7, 2012 Step away from the computer Totally. For me, inspiration cannot be sought, only found. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members blue2blue Posted March 7, 2012 Members Share Posted March 7, 2012 In front of the computer??? Inspiration??? Do you have a real instrument with keys or strings, or do you create musical data?Even as a (fellow) guitar player, I'll have to stick up for my ones-and-zeros-slinging compatriot above. Anything that can make original music is an instrument, seems to me, whether it's a D-28 or a box of transistors -- or one of those "re-programmable" music boxes (where you can move the tine-tickling note-rods around at your will). Despite the fact that I've been thumping on guitars for about 40 years now, back in the late 90s when I was pretty involved with the mutant pop end of electronica, I often created much of my music in front of the computer. To be sure, there was always a keyboard or two hooked up and figuring into the mix, but at times, much of what I was doing was chopping and manipulating samples. That said, at least part of the time, I would find myself switching back and forth from the developing music on the computer and my acoustic guitar when it came time to develop lyrics and vocal melodies. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members oldgitplayer Posted March 7, 2012 Members Share Posted March 7, 2012 Anything that can make original music is an instrument, seems to me, whether it's a D-28 or a box of transistors . You may call a computer an instrument, but I will continue to think of it as a tool. An instrument can be a channel for the heart's passion. A computer is a tool of the intellect. Yes - there may have been some original momentary heart's passion that was the basis for programming the software, but I doubt that the heart can continue to be expressed through keys and LCD in the way that wood and steel can instantaneously express emotion. So there....... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members LCK Posted March 8, 2012 Members Share Posted March 8, 2012 My inspirations come late at night, early in the morning, or when I'm walking around the city, or riding a bus or subway train. Walking is the best time for me to solidify my thoughts about a song I'm working on. Sometimes I write with the guitar, just fooling around with some new chord changes, or tempos (sorry, "tempi"). Sometimes, if there's a piano handy, I'll noodle around on the keyboard until something interesting happens. LCK Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members grace_slick Posted March 8, 2012 Members Share Posted March 8, 2012 Yeah...the inspiration comes at me from all places and at all times...when I'm half asleep, when I'm brushing my teeth, walking to or from work, at work, lying on the couch, watching TV, reading...anything at all. The real music comes to me in my head, and I consider the computer simply the easiest method of getting it OUT of my head. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Barry_Blink_a_lot Posted March 8, 2012 Members Share Posted March 8, 2012 You may call a computer an instrument, but I will continue to think of it as a tool. An instrument can be a channel for the heart's passion. A computer is a tool of the intellect. Yes - there may have been some original momentary heart's passion that was the basis for programming the software, but I doubt that the heart can continue to be expressed through keys and LCD in the way that wood and steel can instantaneously express emotion. So there....... I'm curious how much experience you have with creating music with a computer / listening to electronic music. Because this kind of sounds like old fogey, musically conservative bs to me. And that feel good stuff about wood and steel being able to express ones emotions and passions. They're all tools, and they're all instruments. None are better than the other; it's the songs--and musicians-- that are great, or terrible, not the instrument. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members oldgitplayer Posted March 8, 2012 Members Share Posted March 8, 2012 I'm curious how much experience you have with creating music with a computer / listening to electronic music. Because this kind of sounds like old fogey, musically conservative bs to me. Guilty as charged for being old - and being totally misguided about the way we made music in the 60's and 70's. What were we thinking??? And we were young as well. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members hooker1984 Posted March 8, 2012 Members Share Posted March 8, 2012 The best ideas come me when I'm in the country and it's raining... Nature is my muse Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members grace_slick Posted March 8, 2012 Members Share Posted March 8, 2012 I agree with the attitude that playing an instrument is more organic (and thus considered more "real") than using a computer. You don't really PLAY on a computer, or if you do, it's playing around at a later stage with the technical and engineering stuff ***. You can get in more of a musical zone with an instument IF you can play one sufficiently so as not to restrict yourself even further than "playing" at a computer might. *** this does not include midi type things or hooking up instruments to the computer and playing them that way. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members dannysigma Posted March 8, 2012 Members Share Posted March 8, 2012 I used to get inspiration whilst walking. However, as I now live in Dubai where it is too hot to walk most of the time (and walking round air conditioned shopping malls just doesn't do it for me), my inspiration has slowed somewhat. For initial inspiration, the flow of ideas etc. I find playing driving games on the XBox or PS3 works very well, particularly with some sort of instrumental music playing. The games (which otherwise tend to bore me rigid) seem to occupy the conscious part of my mind without taxing the unconscious at all. With a pad of paper and a pen nearby, ideas start to flow pretty quickly. Not all of them are good ideas, of course. In fact, most of them aren't, but I'd rather have 50 rotten ideas and 10 good ideas than no rotten ideas and 2 good ideas, which is what happens if my conscious mind is allowed to participate at this stage. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members bee3 Posted March 8, 2012 Members Share Posted March 8, 2012 I get inspired, I suppose, when I have free time... it's sort of a forced inspiration many times. But I know, every night after after about 9 pm, I get some downtime from the normal chaos that is my household. I'll usually just pick up an acoustic guitar and start strumming. Sometimes something comes to me, often it does not... (Once I have a verse/chorus idea, I'll usually improvise lyrics to see what feels right, then write them down in an actual notebook that I keep... then I'll lay down a simple track in my home studio... usually just acoustic guitar and vocals. That is typically when I present my lyrical idea here... after I've established a melody and some baseline lyrics. I'll wrestle with the lyrics while I'm at work (not ideal, but you see... I'm getting paid for it... ) and flesh out the song using the ProTools to help shape it). But the inspiration usually always starts with an actual musical instrument and just fiddling around. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moderators Lee Knight Posted March 8, 2012 Moderators Share Posted March 8, 2012 Call me old school but the act of coaxing a melody from a real instrument is a very large part of creating the inspiration to make music. I can't imagine typing out a melody and being happy with myself, musically speaking, but obviously people get that reward. Or, they don't know what I'm talking about. Hmmm. I don't think you're really grasping what's going on with these mysterious people who are "typing out a melody". What is that? Typing out a melody. I can't think of any real world examples of what you're referring to. Is a piano keyboard any less a "real instrument"? We better tell Tchaikovsky the news. Bach and Paul McCartney too. I get that everybody has their own method, but I don't get everybody not getting everybody else. You like holding wood and wires in your hands to create music. I like no instrument. I write in my head. Some plink on a midi keyboard in Fruity Loops. Some write directly to stave. It's all music. It's not how you get there but where you get. Or something like that. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Barry_Blink_a_lot Posted March 8, 2012 Members Share Posted March 8, 2012 Stayed focused, BBAL, today's class discussion is about how we get inspiration, not how we play and with what methods. Old fogey, musically conservative is telling me what about making music? What you are displaying with your statement is the contempt you have for those who can utilize keyboard and a real instrument but they choose to openly profess inspiration comes from the latter? Keep blinking. The image will come into focus eventually. Dense and jaded. reading is fundamental. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members blue2blue Posted March 8, 2012 Members Share Posted March 8, 2012 You may call a computer an instrument, but I will continue to think of it as a tool. An instrument can be a channel for the heart's passion. A computer is a tool of the intellect. Yes - there may have been some original momentary heart's passion that was the basis for programming the software, but I doubt that the heart can continue to be expressed through keys and LCD in the way that wood and steel can instantaneously express emotion. So there....... To be sure, it's a very different process, much more like composition. But, you know, guys like Mozart or Beethoven (and plenty of others) could make music with a sheet of paper. Maybe no one else could hear it until musicians played it, but I would say it was still music. Everything that rises must converge. These are all paths to the same muse... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members blue2blue Posted March 8, 2012 Members Share Posted March 8, 2012 " Happily, my view of music and art is fairly broad. You know, I don't usually talk much about playing guitar here, because it's really impertinent to the issues we normally deal with, but, while I'm not a particularly good guitarist, I am a somewhat serious guitarist. I've been doing it for a little over 40 years and it's been central to my musical life as an adult. So, it's not like I don't have some perspective and experience here. It's not like I don't know the feeling of stumbling out onto rain slicked rocks overlooking a stormy sea and losing myself in my $20-guitar-of-the-moment as waves break across the rocks and rain spatters my guitar for hours, carried along by the muses. Is creating music using a computer different? Yes, to be sure. But, as far as I'm concerned, its potential is every bit as musically valid and personally exciting as using any instrument -- if you've got the right mindset, if you're open to the creative spirit. We all potentially work in very different ways. What works for you might work for me but some of what works for me, apparently might not work for you. There's no good or bad to it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members rhino55 Posted March 8, 2012 Members Share Posted March 8, 2012 Is there a ritual or something you guys do to get your creative mind going before starting to play. I find myself in front of the computer drawing a blank sometimes. What are your suggestions on getting inspired? One of the best ways to fight writers block is to try a different approach. In this case the first thing that comes to mind is stepping away from the computer. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members blue2blue Posted March 8, 2012 Members Share Posted March 8, 2012 I get where you are coming from but computers, with email to check, the internet to browse, and games to play offer many distractions as well. Plus, the op mentioned sitting in front of a computer and drawing a blank. One of the best ways to fight writers block is to try a different approach. In this case the first thing that comes to mind is stepping away from the computer.I'm not quarreling with advice to switch instruments or get away from the computer for a musical change of scene (assuming one has another musical avenue, at any rate). And I guess there are people for whom the computer or particularly the internet are too-tempting distractions -- but I would suggest that is another problem altogether. I'm just pushing back against a strain of thought that seems eager to dismiss one of the most important sets of musical tools to arise in fifty years. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members rhino55 Posted March 8, 2012 Members Share Posted March 8, 2012 I'm not quarreling with advice to switch instruments or get away from the computer (assuming one has another musical avenue, at any rate). And I guess there are people for whom the computer or particularly the internet are too-tempting distractions -- but I would suggest that is another problem altogether.I'm just pushing back against a strain of thought that seems eager to dismiss one of the most important sets of musical tools to arise in fifty years. I'd say it is the most important set of tools since God made the Les Paul/Marshall. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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