Writers block

Tabnak

Member
...a little off topic, perhaps, but dammit, I've had it for weeks now.
I can't get anything good out of my computer lately. It seems I spend more time fiddling about on my settings and all than creating anything. You know that feeling when you've got some cool chops in your head, but as soon as you actually strike a note, the idea is gone? Anyone got any good tips for getting the "flow" back?

tabnak
 
Drugs.

Of course, by the next day I usually figure out that what sounded great yesterday, in reality sucked. Same thing with gin martini's - plus you get a hangover!
 
take a break

i been thru that and some, what i did i told myself i going to take me a vacation from my music play me some video games yes even make love to my wife which with this music is hard to do but she love it because iam with her then in the studio all the time which is cool cause when you go back to your studio she is happy will not bug you till the next month or two weeks which ever comes first. and stop updating this i find got to stop you will never make any music if you keep tweaking the computer take a break and enjoy life then when you get back to your studio all kinds of ideals will come in your head keep tracking.
 
banm33,

Ugh, trying to read something like that with no punctuation on a Friday afternoon is KiNd Of AlMoSt As BaD aS tRyInG tO rEaD sOmEtHiNg LiKe ThIs...


Tabnak,

Seriously, I go through this a lot... one of my friends and I used to talk about the same thing quite a lot. He was avoiding getting a computer to sequence with because he was afraid he would get lost in the technology and lose the art.

I find that if I don't worry about it too much, it goes away soon enough. And fortunately I like all the computer geekery stuff too, so if I end up wasting a few hours tweaking things or trying a million plug-in settings on a guitar lick or downloading a dozen Sound Fonts and audiotioning them or burning some CDs to back stuff up or whatever, I actually still enjoy myself...

-AlChuck
 
If you don't feel like writing or recording anything, don't. That's what I do anyway. Just do what you want, and come back to it when you actually 'want' to, otherwise at least in my case, I find I'm just wasting time.
 
Sorry about that. I was at work when i wrote that and you know how that is when you suppose to be working. speed don't get caught. lol
 
thanks guys,

Emeric, I DO feel like writing, it's just that I can't seem to finish anything. I've got loads of songs that last about twenty bars and then I go "hmm, now what...":)

AlChuck, thanks, I'm not worrying too much, mostly when this happens, I tend to return to writing guitarmusic outside the computer and check back later. Glad (for me, not for you) others have this too.

I will take that break, though:D

greets, Tab
 
123

Get a cheap little 2 or 4 track recorder, and plug the line out of whatever you are playing through into it. Now instead of concentrating on trying to write this or write that... just play. Practice your chops, play cover songs, try weird stuff. Get lost in it. Something almost always happens for me then, and when it does, I hit pause and I have it forever. Stop it after its recorded 30 seconds worth and go back and try to write a background or melody part to whatever it was.. or perhaps just stop and come back to it later... next thing you know, you fall into a chorus part, and you can now hit pause again, and have it on tape so that you never forget. You'll end up with tapes that are full of short parts that were cool that you couldnt think of anything else good to go with it. (be selective, if you write a good part, dont ruin it trying to force a crappy part in, just forget about it and mess with it again next week) Another cool thing about this is you can toss the tape to the side when its full, and listen to it in a few weeks, and things you had already forgotten about will fit perfectly into that new one you were working on earlier. Every idea is a good idea, regardless of how it sounds at the time. The weakest sounding thing might sound great with "that" melody over it, but you would never have remembered anything of it if you didnt happen to go through your tapes one night, stoned. Archive everything you write. You'll find that when you have writers block, you can go back to the parts and pieces that you saved on tape when you WEREN'T blocked, and sometimes it kickstarts the whole process again. New ideas, new arrangements, etc. That one I have in the MP3 forum (the only one I have to reference happens to be a good reference!) was written entirely like that. The chorus part I think was written 1st, and on another tape there ended up the very beginning part. I thought the beggining part sounded neat, which is why I recorded it in the 1st place, and started messing with it, and it also turned into the verse part, same notes, etc, just picked differently. I thought "man, I;d like to have a chorus that was slamming to go with that" Couldnt write a damn thing to it, tried and tried and tried. No luck. Then I was going through some old tapes again and found that chorus part. Thought "Hey, that would fit well" Tried it. It worked. I wanted it to built more prgressively, so I sat and wrote the part between the main verse and the chorus. The last 20 seconds or so is the same bassline he plays during the verses, only I do it with him, heavy. This process works.. Record everything on a cheap easy medium without quality worries, and just toss it to the side. COme back later. Much later. See what happens. Sometimes its just what the Dr ordered.
Paul
 
For what it's worth...

I used to spend a lot of time on the road for business, and I'd come up with lyrics and tunes that I just couldn't remember later.
I've started carrying one of those mini-cassettes around now so I can get the stuff saved while it's hot.
I saw a piece on Tommy Lee in which he said while he was locked up for dumbass in public or whatever, he'd get ideas for songs and call his home phone and sing on his answering machine! O.k., I think the guy's toast, but that was pretty creative! :D
 
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