So how many of you get tired of music and music writing sometimes??

I get that myself every now and then...

it's so unstable... sometimes i have myself planted in fromt of my computer for 8 hours in a row, working on a song... sometimes a week long, sometimes a month..

But sometimes i get a little bit sick of working on songs, patterns, software, that i stay away for a month just to ease up on all that stuff! a month!

But after that month, it's so good to get back at work again..

does anyone experience the same?

Sometimes I get pretty severe writers block, and my songs turn out like

I loved a girl

She had great hair

ANdI care

About her

Thats when I know I need to get away from the song for a while. THe important thing is to fuel your mind with something else, but always return to your work. Make loads of notes and let the ideas come naturally.

When my guitar playing sucks, I write lyrics, and when they suck, I'll play guitar. And when both are terrible I draw a picture, or write a book, or drive a car, or swim in a river. Anything to take your mind of the song that would probably eventually kill you..........

I am in the middle of recording a cd. The songs are always going 'round in my head at work. I have a radio here but won't listen to it cause I am working on the arrangements in my head. It gets a bit frustrating at times cause I can't stop the songs in my head. I don't use a computer to record...and I can't imagine it being very fun that way...having to create patterns etc. Sounds like work to me. After this project I'm gonna take a well needed mental break.

Yep, happens all the time. I've found that it's cyclicle. I'll go strong for a few months, then get tired of working on the same stuff, or maybe get tired of the people I'm working with, and just need to take a break. Usually a few weeks off is enough to recharge my battery, but it's been as long as 4-5 months.

It happens to me every day and goes away every day. Sometimes the frustration lasts for several weeks or even months but I keep playing everyday and I still try to write. I probably shouldn't though. I know that you need to take breaks now and then, but I'm so obsessed with my music that I can't stay away. It's torture at times. It's like not being able to sleep which actually happens on some nights.

CURSE THAT CAPRICIOUS MUSE!

Happens to me too. I get so frustrated sometimes when I'm not going anywhere that it just gets to me.

But like LDF, I rarely take breaks from it. I usually will just try a different instrument to take my mind off of my feelings (guitar to drum machine, piano, bass, uke, whatever).

Keeps me awake quite often late at night though, so it can't be too bad.

Inspiration. It's all about that. You don't feel it, you can't write it. The whole idea is to look for inspiring things that do not necessarily have to have anything to do with love being lost/found/misplaced, etc. I'm gagging on blues songs about a real or ficticious woman as the centerpiece and all the crap endured on her account comprising the lyric. What subjects are inspiring and how do they affect the pen-hand? Take a look at the stuff happening world-wide and think about a particular subject. The truth about this world is far more interesting than any fiction because it is so incredibly and astonishingly real. Think about any kid walking point in any army in the middle east right now. What's in his head. You can make a good bet it's the blues. He's walking to an AK backbeat singing RPG blues. A song to that end would be so damned timely right now too. It could be you. Our normal everyday routines can quickly and very easily turn us into blind-folded, unfeeling servants of the Holy Mundane. But, you have to look, see and try to feel the stuff out there waiting to be thought about. Writing has a lot in common with acting. You have to get your head into the role with the subject of the moment (inspiration) and use the language of that subject. The vocabulary itself may even reveal it's own poetry and cadence. I think the whole key to writing is to look for inspiration all the time. Yea, love is the single most common thread between most people but these days it seems to be more of an excuse to carry the instrumental, or in some cases an entire genre, than the other way around. I'm for a great instrumental and I strive to incorporate it whenever possible and/or appropriate. I just finished a song about love but it's more in tune with life than focused on just a woman. In this case it's my past and present real life feeling. Did not write it overnight but the inspiration kept with me through to the end and I felt accomplished in it's completion. It's not radio station faire but it is my Valentine's Day gift to my wife. I'm a little sappy that way. Hope I actually contributed something here rather than just practiced stroking (keys).

www.digitalsoundplanet.com/Members/000161030_000025595.mp3

I agree with digitalsnipe that there are way too many love songs out there. Not even love songs, more like silly, childish infatuation songs.

However love is important, but as songwriters, we should be able to be more creative, original and "holistic" in our approach. Love isn't just about the girl, it's about life and how she fits into it. This is what most don't realize in real life let alone songwriting.

A good trick would be to omit any "babies" or derivative lines like "you're everything I need". You'd have to be a GREAT songwriter in order to put stuff like that in a song without it sounding contrived and sappy.

I'm the same way. I'm currently a week and a half into my "no songwriting phase". It'll last at least another week or so. I enjoy this time off though - I can spend more time with my wife rather than spending time in the basement writing mediocre songs that no one will hear.

i frequently overdose on listening to my personal recordings