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Here's one for all you songwriters:


badmotor

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Posted

Ever lose inspiration for a LONG period of time?

 

I been playing music since I was 13 I guess (now I'm 31), and have always had something more or less going on. Been in tons of bands, in more recent years I have been band leader/chief songwriter.

 

For the last year or so, I've pretty much written nothing. I've picked up guitar less and less, and it's got to the point where I'm just not picking up an instrument at all. I'm not inspired to sing or write. I had a weekend recently where my family went away, and I thought "Yes!" ... I have the opportunity to crank up the guitar and write music. I spent a total of 10mins playing, got bored, and decided to do maintenance on my computer.

 

What the hell is wrong with me? I've identified myself with music all my life - if that's not what I do, I don't know who the hell I am! :freak:

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Posted

Sounds like Writer's Block to me, and it can last a long time--The remedy? Walk away from it for awhile and dont think about it: usually the good that comes out of Writer's Block is a flood of ideas when that moment hits you

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I have had similar problems...you can't make something happen if it's not there. I think it's good to make sure you have some time to just fart around with ideas regularly - you will distill them down to something good.

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Yup, haven't been able to write a decent tune in yers, nothing strikes me as good. I don't try, I just know that some day I'll come up wth something that'll get me going again!

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Posted

I can come up with musical ideas without too much trouble. Trouble is, if I don't use them soon, I lose them. So...that puts the pressure on for lyric writing. I like to keep the tap open, so to speak...even if it's only on a constant drip.

 

Remember that even if you're not consciously writing things, you can make your brain record things...be it from conversations you are a part of or hear, books you read, or just goofy things you see happening. Tell the back of your brain to log those things. They will come out later when it figures out how to use them. Then just sit down and pound it out...get something on paper...tweak it later, if you have to. Then write some cool music around it...or tweak it into a tune you already have that needs lyrics.

 

The important thing is to always keep your ears open for themes and ideas that you can develop from. Don't sweat not having anything coming out of the tap...just make sure you're always alert to ideas that can fill the tank. Your brain will work it if you let it!

 

It works for me pretty often...hope that helps.

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Posted

Here's something else that usually gets my creative juices flowing again when I am "stuck" for awhile:

 

Listen to new music! Explore new genres that you usually don't listen to much. The greater the variety, the better. But it should definitely be something radically different from the kind of music that you write / want to write. Try to get into it, get a feeling for how it works.

 

This usually spawns new ideas in me, opens my eyes to new angles of approaching songs / music. Sometimes you just need to look at things from a different perspective, and you will discover marvelous new things.

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