Running out of ideas- what do you guys record?

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Ricklh

Ricklh

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Now that I've got a really good feel & familiarity with the MR-8, I've started to run out of ideas for songs to record! Do most of you folks here write and record your own material for the most part, or do covers of material, a mix of both, or do you mostly use the machine to flesh out your song ideas? So far, I've been doing little demo's of old stuff but that is starting to run out of steam. I realize that the first thing I need to do is get some more instruments - all I'm recording presently is acoustic guitar and vocals, but even with added instrumentation, there's still the dilemma of what can I work on? Got some suggestions for me on how to get inspired to be more creative with this little red box?

(edit) Maybe this will be more helpful for my above question: my musical influences is melodic pop in the tradition of the Fab Four, Big Star, Badfinger, etc.

One more question: do any of you guys/gals collaborate (send each other demos to add to)?
 
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Ricklh said:
Now that I've got a really good feel & familiarity with the MR-8, I've started to run out of ideas for songs to record! Do most of you folks here write and record your own material for the most part, or do covers of material, a mix of both, or do you mostly use the machine to flesh out your song ideas? So far, I've been doing little demo's of old stuff but that is starting to run out of steam. I realize that the first thing I need to do is get some more instruments - all I'm recording presently is acoustic guitar and vocals, but even with added instrumentation, there's still the dilemma of what can I work on? Got some suggestions for me on how to get inspired to be more creative with this little red box?

(edit) Maybe this will be more helpful for my above question: my musical influences is melodic pop in the tradition of the Fab Four, Big Star, Badfinger, etc.

One more question: do any of you guys/gals collaborate (send each other demos to add to)?
Click to expand...

More intruments will definatley help. Especially if you invest in a drum machine that can add bass etc.

Look elsewhere for inspiration, you never now where you will find it. When I get bored I tend to record weird stuff like video game music covers, or TV shows like a "Chips TV show" influenced song that I recorded on the MR-8 a few months ago.

I often write songs for my wife to sing on to get her more involved with my music. (I make her write the vocals though)

If you post a riff I would more than glad to add bass (I'm a bassist mainly) and or drums etc. I have been itching to do this for a while now.

For example I just played around with this one tonight on the guitar and bass forum:

http://www.nowhereradio.com/artists/album.php?aid=2255&alid=-1


it is called "Agtronic-practice loop" (original name)

Sometimes it also hepls to stop listening to your favorite music and listen to some other genres or music to help enrich your musical pallete.

Hope this helps!

clif
 
Clif, thanks much for your comments, they are very helpful. When I get an original riff together, one I consider worthy of having someone listen and possibly add to, I'll be right here with it. I'll check yours out and let you know my thoughts. Having the wife sing is something I've considered as well, just gotta get her to do it! The fake TV theme idea is cool, I'll have to try that myself. I feel like I have the potential to record something really cool-sounding with the MR-8, I just gotta come up with it.

Rick
 
As far as songwriting goes, the best thing is to write from experience. Not necessarily autobiographical, but start from the standpoint of what you are familiar with.

As an example, I once worked this job that can best be described as a festering boil on the rear end of the planet. I quit the job before completing the training phase it was so awful.

In the meantime, I had absorbed all this technical jargon related to the job. So the next day after I quit, I sat down with a pen and paper and wrote a song about everything that could go wrong on that job incorporating all the jargon (for me--the lyrics come first and then the music fits the lyrics) I'd learned. It was good therapy.

On a brighter note, it could be a more upbeat song about your first experience of (for example) seeing a sunset over a mountain lake.

I know people used to dish out a lot of crap on John Denver because some of the stuff he wrote (they thought) tended to be musical saccharine, but "Rocky Mountain High" (for one example, was written after seeing a meteor shower at 3:00AM from his front porch. "Sunshine on My Shoulders" was written to celebrate the coming of spring after a long Minnesota winter.

From the opposite end of the emotional spectrum, one can always write from angst as the rap [is that really music], punk, alternative, grunge and heavy metal seem to "thrive" on. It's not really my cup of tea, and I'm not sure those songs will have any lasting merit. But who knows what people will still remember 50 years from now if the Lord tarries?

Just don't give up.
 
Now that was almost depressing. Talk about angst.
I don't even get 50 years for my crap to be forgotten?
I feel cheated.
No fair.

I guess I would definitely fall into the angst/doom and gloom category.
I wrote one song for my kids when I was in the hospital with my youngest, then 1 year old. He had bacterial meningitis, and it was extremely scary. So I forced myself into a Dr. Seuss frame of mind and came up with "smell the smelly smells". From such absolute sorrow came one of the only happy songs of my life.
 
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writting

try and stay creative, and dont forget the re-writes, my songs change and improve after i give it a couple of days, then almost always, do a re-write of the song,

im working on a solo album, and its always hard to come up with ideas, i listen to lots of mucic on nowhere radio to get my ears fresh, not so much commercial music
 
Well, to discuss philosophies of songwriting is straying a bit far afield for this forum.

My basic tenet is whatever unleashes your creativity in recording, whether it's writing your own originals or trying to do something new and exciting with an old song [such as was done several months ago by one of the members of this forum when he did an arrangement of "Saint James Infirmary" on ukulele], it's great that we have access to technology like the MR-8, the VF-08/80, or the VF16/160 to help us make those dreams reality.
 
I suggest you visit the Songwriting forum and lurk around there for a while. See what other people are writing as well as the responses.

You may pick up some new techniques, see things in a new way, etc.

Don't know what instrument you play, but if you play guitar, try an alternate tuning and play around with that for a while. That works for me as it tunes my ear to some new chords and sounds and whatnot.

Main thing though, is keep on writing, even if it's s*it and you know it's s*it, write through it. something inevitable shines through and you will be back on a roll.

Good Luck.
 
rguagenti said:
I suggest you visit the Songwriting forum and lurk around there for a while. See what other people are writing as well as the responses.

You may pick up some new techniques, see things in a new way, etc.

Don't know what instrument you play, but if you play guitar, try an alternate tuning and play around with that for a while. That works for me as it tunes my ear to some new chords and sounds and whatnot.

Main thing though, is keep on writing, even if it's s*it and you know it's s*it, write through it. something inevitable shines through and you will be back on a roll.

Good Luck.
Click to expand...

Hey, thanks for that - very good advice.
 
The muse has gone?

What your saying is the muse is gone, how do I get it back (muse being creative spark)?

This happens to everyone now and then, I've read biographies of famous writers/musicians and they get the problem from time to time. And the more you try to write, the worse it gets!

Couple of ideas. Yes, buy a new piece of kit. Try a keyboard, doesn't have to be an expensive one nowadays the cheap ones sound great. There will be loads of unusual sounds and rhythms on that to play with, which may inspire your writing.

Second idea is to give it up for a spell. Take a break from writing and recording. Do soemthing else with your time. Don't touch your guitar for a few months. Get some other experiences. Then, when you feel refreshed come back and see what happens. I had a spell away for 7 years! Now that was TOO long, but my goodness the songs are coming thick and fast now. There aren't enough hours in the day for me to get all of my song ideas down on tape. When the muse goes with me, as it will, I'll have a load of half- ideas to work on. That's a nice position to be in.

Good luck.
 
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