I have writers block--Need Ideas To Cure

[Pappy P]

I'm trying to write music to some lyrics I wrote. But every thing I come up with sounds like something I've done before.

 

When this happens to you, how do you come up with something new or more interesting or different.

 

Usually I write lyrics after I've written the music, but I thought I would try something new.

 

Should I just put it aside until I'm hit with some devine inspiration.

 

Please let me know what you guys do.

[Mike Gug]

I don't write very often, but I've read about one writer that writes down everything he can think of without a filter or judgement. That becomes a spring board.

 

Pick up a book at random and see where the character is. How would you react if you were a character? Sing about it.

[Gruupi]

Go buy some new cd's is always a good jump start. I don't kow how many different styles of music you listen too but I'll pull out a mess of several cd's of wildly different styles on a friday night and just get drunk and listen.

 

Go out and see some live music. Dallas isn't real good for original stuff right now or maybe I am just out of the loop at knowing what the good clubs are. I will say that I have always been pleasantly surprised when I go to Club Dada (in Deep Ellum) and just pop in to see who's playing.

 

Then there is always G.A.S.. I recently bought a Line 6 XT live and there are so many good amp models that I can hardly explore them all. Sometimes its cool just to play with a preset of a sound you wouldn't normally use and improvise. Not knowing how the sound is going to react to what you normally do can kickstart your imagination.

[Caevan O’Shite]

Instead of doing whatever it is that you generally do on the guitar, do something completely different.

 

Usually play a bunch of chords? Try some single-note lines interspersed with double-stops, bends, and - s p a c e - .

 

Or, just hum some imaginary additional lines, like harmonized melodic bits, fills, call-and-response. Hum stuff, let it come as it will, go with waht seems natural and flowing, and don't even think "guitar" in relation to it for a good, long while.

 

Don't flog a dead horse, either. If it's really being a drag, put it away and come back to it when it happens to pop up again on its own down the road.

[Guitarzan]

Pappy..you are teasing me with that pic of the AES620.

i miss mine and it was the same colour.

 

i find i get better ideas when i just play whatever comes into my mind when i am alone and it is all quiet. problem is i forget alot of it or lose the feel and details when i go to repeat it the next day.

[Bejeeber]

How about finding a pre existing song you like that's in a style that would fit with your lyrics, then learning that song note for note.

 

That's all ya gotta do. You'll find yourself automatically inspired to write some fitting music right afterwards.

 

Hey it worked for Keith Richards, John Lennon, etc., and the worst that could happen is you learn a new tune.

[Fingerstyle_Jim]

Tap the right side of your brain - get into the habit of recording your warm-up noodling, without dwelling on the fact that you are recording. Just warm up like usual, then listen to each days warm up the next day, after you've already warmed up. You'll hear licks and chord progressions that you won't believe you played. It won't all be good, in fact a lot of it will be high on the cringe factor, but, there will be fragments of ideas that can be built on and sometimes whole sections of songs that you would never have come up with by sitting down and saying "I'm gonna write a song now".

 

Jim

[Blue Strat]

All of my licks and riffs belong in a Collective Soul song. Not that that's a bad thing, but when a little twisted guitar is what I need...

 

1) change tuning to EBEEBE (the secret weapon!!) or DADGBE or DADGBD

2) pull out all the pedals I own - flanger, tremolo, wah, chorus, etc. and then get wacky with the settings.

3) put a few distortion pedals in series.

4) switch to a different instrument - drums, bass, banjo, harmonica, keys, etc.

[Eric VB]

I'm with Blue Strat on #4 ... piano/keys makes me approach things very differently than I would on guitar.

 

Don't play keys? Go get a cheap one and learn the notes (not that hard). Don't worry about being Beethoven or Mozart; playing "two-finger style" can get you started.

 

Wind instruments are good, too, if you happen to already play one.

 

If you're up on your theory you can write the old fashioned way with paper and pencil, or "in the box" with your favorite midi program (that allows you to type/mouse in the notes). Sometimes unexpectedly a mis-typed note can be the foundation for a new idea.

 

Although playing another string instrument (or retuned guitar) can help -- I prefer mandolin -- I think it doesn't release you totally from guitar technique (pull-offs, hammer-ons, etc.).

 

If you still can't get away from your favorite transitions, e.g. I-IV, then listening to something new like Gruupi and Bejeeber suggested should help. Go see your local symphony orchestra playing the classics for some good inspiration (better than listening to them on a cd, IMO).

 

You may want to read up on your theory, too. Maybe take private lessons or attend a class at your local community college.

 

Then there's always collaboration. Not necessarily on this song; maybe start a new project. You'll probably get more out of it if you can work face-to-face instead of on-line, but if that's your only choice ...

 

(There may be more advice searchable in the Songwriting and Composition forum here.)

 

Good luck! Keep us updated!

[Caevan O’Shite]

The angle of alternate/open tunings that was brought up by Blue Strat can help here. Also try good ol' Open-G (D-G-D-G-B-D, low-to-high) and Open-D (D-A-D-F#-A-D), or their relative equivalents up a whole-step, Open-A and Open-E, respectively. Playing in unfamiliar territory can bring good surprises that you may never have fallen upon otherwise; just look what it did for Keith Richards!

[Gruupi]

Sometimes something as simple as a new chord or voicing can get you going. We all have a closet full of books (well I do at least) with chords, progressions, theory or what not. Try open string chords or triads verses full 6 string chords. Sometimes a bass note and a couple other notes is all you need.

 

All of us go through dry periods but just plug in and blow and eventually something good will come along. I wouldn't be too concerned unless you have a record company breathing down your neck to finish your next hit single. If its been a week or a month, thats not really very long. The longer you play the harder it is to make gains but with slow steady practice and an open mind, you will notice over the months and years how your playing and writing of music progresses.

[musicalhair]

Hey, this sort of popped into my head when I read your post Pappy Blue: maybe the things your writting right now seem to sound the same to you because they are like giving "voice" to the same character. I used to play with a guy that sometimes wrote sort of like an actor improvising for a character. Each song was from a very different point of view with a different attitude and like his own vocabulary. I think the key is that each word has an accent pattern built in that is often tough to overcome, so we choose words that that fit the flow or the words we choose often influence the flow. In essense any tendencies we have with word choice will come out in our songs. Breaking out of that and breaking out of "character" might be one way.

 

Another thing I was thinking was from my own experience. When I go through scraps of ideas for songs-- things that don't get past the starting phase for what ever reason-- I find a lot of the same ideas and experiences getting expressed. When I actually write a song and "finish" it, then a lot of times those ideas are like done and out of me and I don't find myself writting them again. I've got a couple of cliches I always have to remove from things but, I guess what I'm saying is that sometimes I think scraps of paper of song fragments that I've written or are working on that are similar are like all parts of the same song waiting to be finished.

[theyapster]

hi pappy blue,

i fell into this trap a few years ago, sounds like your makin it a routined chore or thatyou have to do things a certain way or have to write a song when u think u want to write 1.

any words you have that your happy with just keep them, any chord sequences you have that your fond of or a melody in ur head make a note and record it( even whistle a melody, into dictator fone or any recordable equipment. then out of the blue you will find when your humming something or just sat strummin it will just come to you, youl find a melody that will marry with ur words or vice versa, normally set out to write lyrics just like a story, of youve summet u want to say, summet you want to recall or just summet that makes you feel good/ bad, write a short story and then gather your lyrics and ideas for that song from the short story.

only write and only think of writing when your inspired or summet just stands out you know will work.

hope that helps as i also used to get very frustrated but now just let it flow

[Guitarzan]

putting things together that you don't think fits is cool. sometimes i will take music that allready has lyrics and try putting another songs lyrics to it and make it fit by stretching words or rushing other sections. this can be fun and rewarding.

sometimes a lyric will blossom when it is sang over a melody that wasn't intended for it originally.

 

sing goofy lyrics and when you hear a melody that sounds cool rewrite the lyrics to your liking.

[Pappy P]

Thanks. You guys always amaze me with the amount of information you can provide.

 

I liked all of the suggestions.

 

Thanks for Sharing.

[Caevan O’Shite]

Try a capo way up the neck; try different keys than you usually play in. Try deliberately using an approach or style of playing that you usually avoid.

 

By the way, PB- love that avatar-pic you're using. Gorgeous! Is that your guitar, or the same model?

 

_____ http://www.geocities.com/bbirdmusic/aes.jpg

[Blue Strat]

Originally posted by RicBassGuy:

Don't play keys? Go get a cheap one and learn the notes (not that hard). Don't worry about being Beethoven or Mozart; playing "two-finger style" can get you started.

I put some mail-box lettering on the keys of my cheap Casio keyboard (got it when I was 11!) so I could learn the keys. I still haven't learned them, but the letters work great as a quick reference. One of my guitars has lettering on the neck showing what notes I'm playing. So, now I can easily transfer chords from guitar to piano.

[Pappy P]

Blue Stat:

 

That's a good suggestion

 

"I put some mail-box lettering on the keys of my cheap Casio keyboard (got it when I was 11!) so I could learn the keys. I still haven't learned them, but the letters work great as a quick reference. One of my guitars has lettering on the neck showing what notes I'm playing. So, now I can easily transfer chords from guitar to piano."

 

I was afraid that was cheating, but If it's good enough for you, it's good enough for me.

 

 

All the above suggestions are excellent. I was able to try some of those last night. It really helped I think I almost have the chord prog worked out.

[Museeip]

I agree that a capo and tunings can spur on some insparation. I tend to try to write in "themes". In other words I might come up with a riff and find the "theme" in it, maybe the rythm, or the melody, or even the phrasing, and I try and build on that. Kind of like how a lot of classical songs develop.

[Jabberwocky]

Hey Pappy Blue

In my experience inspiration is very little to do with technology or sounds......its about what goes on inside. The essence of a good song is that it makes the listener feel something, and they are going to feel very little if the song is a painted by numbers, built by bricks sort of thing.

Just look at the blues, born out of all that delta despair, and compare it to sanitized white blues we hear now, which is awesome technically and sonically. But which one is it that makes you really feel the blues??.....Robert Johnson, John Lee Hooker and the like every time.

 

Likewise the Beachboys for that California Summer sound, Nirvana, Eva Cassidy, Hendrix, Joplin.... man, the list goes on and on.....you just know that it all comes from deep inside.

So try this.....get out there and live on the edge, break the girls heart or get yours broken, ride the motorcycle at 140 mph along the beach, watch a bird fly, watch a war documentary, stand in the rain, find God....whatever it takes.... and right there and then bundle what you feel inside into a lyric and get it on that dictaphone which you ALWAYS carry with you.

 

Back in the studio or the bedroom, slap a simple riff to it that matches what you sang at the moment of the feeling, anger, sadness, happiness whatever, THEN you can decide 'is it a Strat sound or a Fat sound, hard backbeat or soft piano. Maybe this word would be better than the 'Inspirational' one I sang at the time.

 

The crafting, I believe, comes AFTER the inspiration.

 

Ok, possibly you will say 'What a lot of sentimental claptrap'.......well, maybe,... admittedly the best songs have come out of real life experiences as opposed to manufactured ones, but try it and see what happens. You may just get something special. Good luck.

[Kramer Ferrington III.]

Originally posted by Jabberwocky:

So try this.....get out there and live on the edge, break the girls heart or get yours broken, ride the motorcycle at 140 mph along the beach, watch a bird fly, watch a war documentary, stand in the rain, find God....whatever it takes.... and right there and then bundle what you feel inside into a lyric and get it on that dictaphone which you ALWAYS carry with you.

The motorcycle along the beach may not always be practical, but the dictaphone is a great idea. I myself have an el cheapo recording walkman that I turn on when I'm practising.

[Eric VB]

Originally posted by Museeip:

I agree that a capo and tunings can spur on some insparation. I tend to try to write in "themes". In other words I might come up with a riff and find the "theme" in it, maybe the rythm, or the melody, or even the phrasing, and I try and build on that. Kind of like how a lot of classical songs develop.

Thematic writing can be very rewarding. Taken a step further, a theme -- music or subject -- can tie together several songs, like Close to the Edge (Yes) and 2112 (Rush) ... but that can be a little more challenging. In classical music the forms have changed over the years, but a sonata, concerto or symphony is usually going to have at least 3 movements, with the middle movement typically at the slowest tempo. In a way it's like playing a set that ends with a slow ballad and then a power rocker.

 

A fun device when working with themes is inversion (click on Inversion(music) -- it won't let me post a direct link to that), especially inverted melodies. It can be used to generate a little variety.

[AWD 8T2]

I just gotta give you 1 word of advice, it may not be long but it will influence your decisions on writing music and lyrics. When you write a song make sure you havent listened to any music in about 2 to 3 days because you will b strongly influenced byt hat person ( which isnt a bad thing) its just you might find that song sounds too much like what your being influenced by ... Including your own music!