How do y'all overcome musician's block

F

freshlysqueezed

New member
Often times when i get into making a beat I'll work on it for a little while and get a baisc pattern going on. When I get to addingmore stuff in there it always seems really hard to find the right kind of instruments to accent the beat. how do ya'll go about the process of choosing the right instruments of the style your working in(new york, adding to a sample, dirty south, etc.)?
 
before i search for the right instrument i make sure i have the right melody, frost etc. once i have that pattern down i switch through intruments while the pattern plays and eq instruments and arp. and appregiate some until it sounds like i can make it sound in my head....hope that helps a lil
 
thing is rightnow i have a kick ass sample with a basic drum pattern over it and don't know how to layer it. What techniques would you recommend for layering on top of a sample?
 
what do you use to make beats? software hardware, what programs if it's software...I usually assign the sample to one track assign the drums to another and play melodies on my keyboard on an open track till it sounds right
 
i try to keep my main melodies complex but simple... for example have a melody with a lot of chords but give it 2 diff. endings so it doesn't sound like it's just repeating... listen to melodies on beats and you'll see wut i mean
 
When I have writers block or musicians block, I listen to N.Y. State of Mind by Nas [Produced by DJ Premier], Respiration by Black Star [Produced by Hi-Tek], and Love Is... by Common [Produced by J. Dilla] because they're examples of songs where the production and rhymes fit each other perfectly.
 
I usually start with a sample that I use. Usually I can hide it in the drums. When I get the block, I just take time to focus my attention to something else I'm doing. It's like taking a short sabatical. When I come back from it, I got ideas on top of ideas and can make them work.

See the thing with samples is that if it already has a drumline in it, you have to work around it. You have to eq the hell out of it to get the bass out and might not be able to work around the rest of the kits. If I go sample based, I'll either chop up a vocal sample and use it as a one shot in my drums or I'll just take an acapella and throw it in somewhere in the verse or hook (after it's sped up or slowed down to my liking).
 
I just get away from music for a while, do some other things and chill the fuck out, it's gonna come back whenever it does, can't push that.
 
Smoke some weed. You won't have a block anymore but I can't guarantee what you come up with will be any good when you're sober. :D
 
Just work very fast, so the ideas are still fresh for melodies and stuff. And then just take some instuments you like. If ya dont like em anymore you can still change em.
 
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