Sold off my gear for writing

J

jarrydee

Audiobay productions
YUp..I made a big mistake!!!!!
I sold all of my gear except the bare min. thinking it would get me back on track with writing...WRONG.....

I start to write and BOOM..Im surfing the net..looking at gear..reading on gearslutz.com....then I get depresseed cuz I cant write nothing.....

I dont know what I need to do to get back to writing..but I think I have tried everything!!!!! I pick up the guitar and realize im playing the same crap I have been for years.... Sorry for the rant but I had to get it out and I know a lot of you know what I am going through...so it felt like the right place!!!!!!!
 
We've all been there....

....even though we didn't all react in the same fashion. As a former educator I feel it is my right and responsibility to give you a remedial homework assignment.:eek::eek:

I get the feeling that your guitar and the way you play it is getting in the way of your creative side. Here is what I want you to do. I want you to write a story. No music. Just words. Then, and only then, make the story as SHORT as possible. Tell it completely using the fewest words possible. Then break it up into pieces and make some of the lines rhyme. Then post it here for us to take the scalpel to it. Then, and only then, you can pick up your guitar and have fun with it.

Seriously, it will get you going in a different direction and pull you out of the slump that we have all experienced. The "MAGIC" will come back at some point. It always does. This, however, will give you something worthwhile to do whlie you are waiting. Good luck. We're thinking of ya.;)
 
If you feel your guitar playing is in a slump - and that it is limiting your writing, perhaps working with some alternate tunings could help.

It can be very easy - in particular on guitar - to fall into the same chords progressions, strumming patterns and riffs. Changing to alternate tunings - or even changing using a pick to finger picking in standard tuning, can open up new ideas.

Naturally, up-fiddler's suggestion to just write a story without a guitar in your hands can also take you in directions you would not go when trying to write melodies & rhythems.

Work through it - all writers from time to time hit a wall. When those times come, disipline and a basic understanding of the actually craft of writing can often carry a writer through a slump.

Keep in mind, gear can help fine tune the song, arrange the song and record the song.........but it is your mind, heart and soul which must create the song.
 
up-fiddler said:
....even though we didn't all react in the same fashion. As a former educator I feel it is my right and responsibility to give you a remedial homework assignment.:eek::eek:

I get the feeling that your guitar and the way you play it is getting in the way of your creative side. Here is what I want you to do. I want you to write a story. No music. Just words. Then, and only then, make the story as SHORT as possible. Tell it completely using the fewest words possible. Then break it up into pieces and make some of the lines rhyme. Then post it here for us to take the scalpel to it. Then, and only then, you can pick up your guitar and have fun with it.

Seriously, it will get you going in a different direction and pull you out of the slump that we have all experienced. The "MAGIC" will come back at some point. It always does. This, however, will give you something worthwhile to do whlie you are waiting. Good luck. We're thinking of ya.;)
Click to expand...

Thank you so much...I will do as you say!!!!
 
mikeh said:
If you feel your guitar playing is in a slump - and that it is limiting your writing, perhaps working with some alternate tunings could help.

It can be very easy - in particular on guitar - to fall into the same chords progressions, strumming patterns and riffs. Changing to alternate tunings - or even changing using a pick to finger picking in standard tuning, can open up new ideas.

Naturally, up-fiddler's suggestion to just write a story without a guitar in your hands can also take you in directions you would not go when trying to write melodies & rhythems.

Work through it - all writers from time to time hit a wall. When those times come, disipline and a basic understanding of the actually craft of writing can often carry a writer through a slump.

Keep in mind, gear can help fine tune the song, arrange the song and record the song.........but it is your mind, heart and soul which must create the song.
Click to expand...

Its not realy the guitar..I have played woth different tuneing and your right..I came up with some cool riffs..but then im done...cant seem to write..and that just seem s to make me not even try to write..I have been making music since I was 4...I know it sounds stupid but I feel like I have let myself down..like I shoukd have got much farther than I am now...like I wasted my life on music instead of school.....All this cuz I cant seem to write anymore...crazy huh!!! The last song I finnished can be herd here myspace.com/jarrydee
I cant sing at all, so please excuse the vocals..I have other people to sing if I ever write somthing worth while!!!!....Thank you for responding..I knew I could count on my fellow songwriters!!!!

PS..I play everthing myself....Could that be a problem to..would it be better if I tried to create with another person?

It's so weird ..I feel like a newbee thats been playing for 30 years!!!
 
Think about your family

Is there some one in your family you need to say something to, like your father, who you have had difficulty in communicating with in the past? Thematic pieces that address very personal messages can be quite cathartic. Make it simple, use the same tired chords and don't worry. It worked for Peter Gabriel.
 
dogonjon said:
Is there some one in your family you need to say something to, like your father, who you have had difficulty in communicating with in the past? Thematic pieces that address very personal messages can be quite cathartic. Make it simple, use the same tired chords and don't worry. It worked for Peter Gabriel.
Click to expand...

So true!!! Ya know, one thing I found that I do is to try and write about other people or the world's problems..I have noticed that when I write personal things, the next day it sounds so corny that I scrap it because of embarrassment..I think thats one of my singing problems to..I will not try to sing on my songs unless every one is goan away..I just cant sing when there are people to hear me...cuz I suck:(
 
jarrydee said:
PS..I play everthing myself....Could that be a problem to..would it be better if I tried to create with another person?

It's so weird ..I feel like a newbee thats been playing for 30 years!!!
Click to expand...

Don't beat yourself up too much......sometimes the muse finds us easily and sometimes we have to wait for the muse. I find, if I keep writing (at least something) even if it's crap, eventually I can work through it (that is where the disipline and the craft can help.......vs. simply waiting for something to happen) Sometimes, if I'm really hitting a wall, I'll go back and revisit older material that I was never happy with, to see if I can be inspired to re-write something. Or I'll try to take a rock song I've previously written and change it to a country song, etc.

Regarding playing everything...vs. finding another person: I have found writing with another person can help - but if you normally write alone, trying to write with someone else can be hard to get use to - you really have to leave the ego at the door and be willing to significantly compromise your own vision. I belong to a couple of writer associations, one of which, the Nashville Association of Songwriters, has a group in my city (so I have a pre-established network of local writers I can hang with) and at times I write with someone else....but it can be a slower process than trying to stay on my own (although the song that has made me the most money was co-written with someone.....so I can't say co-writting is a bad thing:D)

For what it's worth, like many people on this site, I play several instruments, write my own lyrics, act as my own producer/engineer - and have been doing so for almost 40 years. Often changing from guitar to piano or playing some organ or harmonica or banjo or dobro, etc. can fire me up (the more different instruments you can utilize, the more time you work at creating something, the better the chance the muse will find you)

I too have times where I feel I'm not where I should be as a writer (I suspect every writer feels that from time to time)........but I have found that after now writing more than 200 songs, my percentage of decent songs vs. crap improves each year. What almost always works for me.......keep playing, keep writing, keep trying to create something.

So work though it, don't beat yourself up - if you've been doing this 30 years and can play multiple instruments, you obviously have some disipline and skill - that should help you work through your slump!!!!
 
mikeh said:
Don't beat yourself up too much......sometimes the muse finds us easily and sometimes we have to wait for the muse. I find, if I keep writing (at least something) even if it's crap, eventually I can work through it (that is where the disipline and the craft can help.......vs. simply waiting for something to happen) Sometimes, if I'm really hitting a wall, I'll go back and revisit older material that I was never happy with, to see if I can be inspired to re-write something. Or I'll try to take a rock song I've previously written and change it to a country song, etc.

Regarding playing everything...vs. finding another person: I have found writing with another person can help - but if you normally write alone, trying to write with someone else can be hard to get use to - you really have to leave the ego at the door and be willing to significantly compromise your own vision. I belong to a couple of writer associations, one of which, the Nashville Association of Songwriters, has a group in my city (so I have a pre-established network of local writers I can hang with) and at times I write with someone else....but it can be a slower process than trying to stay on my own (although the song that has made me the most money was co-written with someone.....so I can't say co-writting is a bad thing:D)

For what it's worth, like many people on this site, I play several instruments, write my own lyrics, act as my own producer/engineer - and have been doing so for almost 40 years. Often changing from guitar to piano or playing some organ or harmonica or banjo or dobro, etc. can fire me up (the more different instruments you can utilize, the more time you work at creating something, the better the chance the muse will find you)

I too have times where I feel I'm not where I should be as a writer (I suspect every writer feels that from time to time)........but I have found that after now writing more than 200 songs, my percentage of decent songs vs. crap improves each year. What almost always works for me.......keep playing, keep writing, keep trying to create something.

So work though it, don't beat yourself up - if you've been doing this 30 years and can play multiple instruments, you obviously have some disipline and skill - that should help you work through your slump!!!!
Click to expand...

your right!!! I think I wil just keep writing even if I think it is crap half the time...once in a while I do land on somthing I think is great..but that feeling always seems to die away.....and your right about the co-writing..I have a few times wrote songs with my father (he has played guitar and wrote since he was 16..he is now 54) and I feel myself writing things I dont like cuz he likes it..his style just seems 60's to me..and thats the music I love but it wount cut it today...I have a kinda classic rock style that even though I try to get rid of..seems to come out in my music!!!! Thanks for the help..I will think of everything said here tomarrow morning when I start to write...(I am most creative early morning after getting the kids off to school)
 
Don't worry.


Writing and playing may be something you need to do, even if it's not always as productive as you'd like - or as productive as other people might like.

Forget those other people and forget the voice in your

Just allow yourself to play without any expectations. Stop trying to justify your art. Just let it be.
 
Supercreep said:
Don't worry.


Writing and playing may be something you need to do, even if it's not always as productive as you'd like - or as productive as other people might like.

Forget those other people and forget the voice in your

Just allow yourself to play without any expectations. Stop trying to justify your art. Just let it be.
Click to expand...

sounds good.....I will use that thinking!!!!
 
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