Hitting The Wall

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   Here it is again; the perennial problem of "what do I write?" This morning, for the fourth or fifth time in a row I’ve sat down with my digital recorder and my Strat and felt a total absence of inspiration. If I persevere and write anyway I know from experience that what comes out will be the worst sort of crap.

What inspires you to write? I never used to have this problem till I got older. Is it a youth thing? If so I think my writing is doomed.

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pammiwhammi Members Profile Send Private Message Find Members Posts Add to Buddy List Reviewer page Forum Groupie Joined: June 29 2005 Location: United States Status: Offline Points: 54	Topic: Hitting The Wall Posted: October 24 2006 at 12:24
	Here it is again; the perennial problem of "what do I write?" This morning, for the fourth or fifth time in a row I’ve sat down with my digital recorder and my Strat and felt a total absence of inspiration. If I persevere and write anyway I know from experience that what comes out will be the worst sort of crap. What inspires you to write? I never used to have this problem till I got older. Is it a youth thing? If so I think my writing is doomed.
	"I repeat myself when under stress, I repeat myself when under stress, I repeat myself when under stress..."

Gaston Members Profile Send Private Message Find Members Posts Add to Buddy List Reviewer page Forum Senior Member Joined: February 26 2004 Location: Canada Status: Offline Points: 401	Posted: October 25 2006 at 12:48
	A good hit of acid might help...
	It's the same guy. Great minds think alike.

GabbleRatchet Members Profile Send Private Message Find Members Posts Add to Buddy List Reviewer page Forum Newbie Joined: October 09 2006 Status: Offline Points: 23	Posted: October 25 2006 at 15:25
	Hello - nice myspace track btw "Architecture". Well, speaking as fellow girl guitarist... :-) Albeit not a shred monster like yourself ) I wouldn't worry. Everyone has those moments. They can last hours, they can last weeks... On Monday, I spent an hour on a synthesizer and had four chords to show for it - they were good chords but hardly a song!... on Tuesday, I spent an hour to no avail on electric guitar. So then I stopped trying to write anything and just had fun, mucking about with the phaser pedal and 5 minutes later I had my best song ever. Some people believe in Muses or some Goddess of Prog Rock. Probably if there is one, she has a wicked sense of humour and clangs you on the head with The Frying Pan Of Inspiration when you least expect it.

Certif1ed Members Profile Send Private Message Find Members Posts Add to Buddy List Reviewer page Special Collaborator Honorary Collaborator Joined: April 08 2004 Location: England Status: Offline Points: 7559	Posted: October 26 2006 at 11:58
	Indeed - inspiration lies in the most unlikely of places, which is why bands like Muse get rolls of bubblewrap and start recording that... Try playing something - anything - in a style you've never played in before, like Country and Western or Reggae - or even Techno. Try completing a song, even if it sounds awful, then play the same song structure in your "normal" style (if there is one). I used this technique to write "Goldfish" (the Prodigy-esque riff in the "B" section of the verses), and I'm happy with the results, even if they are in a severe need of remixing. Other techniques I've used include chaining up a few effects, then tweaking a dial at random as far as it will go and just playing anything at all. Words are good too - come up with some words and play a melody that goes with them, preferably one that in some way underlines key words or points. Record it, and try to harmonise it. Add a rough bassline, then try to work out a riff or chord progression that might fit. Often, you can lift the riff out, work it so that it grooves nicely, and the melody will still fit - but you may have to rewrite everything else. The last technique I want to share for now is to play a "standard" chord progression or riff, and modify one chord so that it is unexpected or unrelated in some way - so that it deliberately sounds wrong. Record it and loop it, and jam over the top of it. Quite often, a "wrong" sequence can start to sound "right" and even fresh, and can inspire other stuff that works in context. Whatever, I find that these are fun ways of "working", and often have surprising results - if not always good - and can go on to inspire later work.
	The important thing is not to stop questioning.

Australian Members Profile Send Private Message Find Members Posts Add to Buddy List Reviewer page Prog Reviewer Joined: June 13 2006 Location: Australia Status: Offline Points: 3278	Posted: October 27 2006 at 05:13
	From my "experience" when I'm sitting at a computer at school trying to compose something on the keyboard and can't think of what to write about I randomly play chords on the keyboard. It may sound really stupid, but it works for me. I also get inspiration by purposely breaking the rules, or just doing something really, really stupid.


MarkOne Members Profile Send Private Message Find Members Posts Add to Buddy List Reviewer page Forum Groupie Joined: August 18 2006 Location: United Kingdom Status: Offline Points: 90	Posted: October 28 2006 at 11:40
	OK Here are a few of my own "block-busting" ideas 1. Sequenced Loops. A couple of my synths have arpeggiators/pattern generators, and there are loads of presets in there which provide food for thought. If frees you from the having to come up with a backing track and can let you jam over the top of it. Get some good ideas going there, record them and then throw away the instant loops and record your own or even an entirely different backing track to go with it. 2. Go outside your comfort zone Do you usually write music and then lyrics? Well write some lyrics, simply as a poetic exercise and then use the rhyme and meter to suggest a melody line. What harmony or accompaniment suit that? Usually do lyrics first? Don't!.. Plug in and jam some musical ideas for a change! 3. Constrain yourself Give yourself some artificial constraints. Decide ahead of time to write in 7/8 and Eb. And work on that framework.. Particularly if you have never used either. We all tend to gravitate to easy key signatures (I'm a sucker for Dm, and have to consciously try to avoid it these days) and to 4/4 time. My latest price is a 3.4 waltz! 4. Use commercial drum loops or midi files. This is really liberating. Start with a beat and create a complete drum arrangement before even thinking about the tune. Once you have that, get in there with the bass line. Before you know it there is a whole song just desperate to get out! And of course at the end of the composition process, you are free to throw away the original rhythm track and create your own. -------------- All of these methods have worked for me in the past. Usually writers block isn't because you have run out of ideas, it's just that you have been stuck in a rut too long and some new methods of working are what are needed to fuel your creativity! Good luck! Edited by MarkOne - October 28 2006 at 11:41

pammiwhammi Members Profile Send Private Message Find Members Posts Add to Buddy List Reviewer page Forum Groupie Joined: June 29 2005 Location: United States Status: Offline Points: 54	Posted: October 28 2006 at 21:47
	Thank you for the replies! Many good suggestions, some of which I put to use. The results can be heard at http://www.myspace.com/mswhamula.
	"I repeat myself when under stress, I repeat myself when under stress, I repeat myself when under stress..."