/mu/sicans,
share your typical songwriting process. what do you do to overcome writer's block?
>write a song
>hate it and hate myself for writing it until someone says it's good
>repeat
>>63383941
Keep a pen on you and a small notepad to write out shit whenever it comes to you. I have this packet of index cards I always keep with me.
Just write and write and write until you can't write no more. If you have writer's block go listen to some music you enjoy or watch a movie; do something you enjoy be it hiking, reading, whatever.
>>63384042
A pen, he says
>>63383941
When I write lyrics I listen to Dance Gavin Dance and remind myself that it doesn't matter what the fuck I write as long as it rhymes.
>>63383941
I make a riff
Bass guy joins in
Drums go to the speed I say
Other guitar jumps in when he sees fit
Fix it up
Put lyrics on top that fit with a theme we relate to
>Come up with an idea
>Sit at a piano or my saxophone and noodle around with the idea
>Sketch out a rough outline of where I want he idea to go in my music notebook
>Write the full thing on Finale
>Edit
>Give draft piece to a friend who plays that instrument (or people) to get their opinion
>Repeat last two as necessary
>Give finished draft to that person (people) to perform for me, even if the piece was written for my instrument (saxophone).
>Have it premiered by said player (players).
If I have writer's block, I might noodle around to create some ideas or just go into finale with no plan and see what comes out.
>>63384042
This. I'm 25 y/o, just got back into playing guitar and bass. I was at work, up on a roof working on an air conditioner... and an awesome riff popped up in my head. I was trying to remember it... Completely forgot it. I wouldn't have been able to write it or aything, the worst part
>>63384042
I write, record, and produce all by myself and it's starting to get a little maddening. It feels sometimes that I'm boxed within certain ideas and techniques i.e. strum patterns, chord progression, and melodies I try to add with vocals
>>63383967
this is exactly what happens to me every single time except i don't stop hating it even if someone likes it
I compose, but I go by my own personal thing, The ear knows. If it's bad, the ear knows, if it's great the ear knows, and other ears will know
>>63383941
>Starting point = an overheard line, jumble of words found somewhere, chords/melody/rhythm stumbled across while playing
>Spend hours building around initial idea
>Scrap and redraft
>Scrap and redraft
>Scrap and redraft
>Realise the whole thing is shitty and nothing good will come of this
>Walk away and feel better
>Await next spark
>Bonus round; previously scrapped sessions can be scavenged for usable parts/ideas
>After about 30-40 rounds of this, enough acceptable material for an album that very few people will hear and even fewer will care about
>Wonder why I bother
>Start again
I need some tips on overcoming writers block. I've got the worst case of it right now.
i usually use a recording app and record my ideas, wait a couple days/weeks, come back and listen to them. whatever i like i work on
the thing about me is that when i'm stuck with something i'll like it at the moment but later on i'll think it's trash or something like it's too simple or it's not simple enough etc.
>>63384468
sometimes helps to just do it, even if you don't have any ideas - just make a shitty song and try not to kill yourself for being so loathsomely uninspired
OR
try to imagine something new that would make you shit your pants with joy, then convert your brainwaves into sound via the Schatzkov-Aahlinophone technique
>start by copying an artist you like and chaning the sound a little
>next work on combining the styles of two artists, it's ok if your music still sounds like a rip off at this point
> find a song you like with only ok lyrics and promise yourself too make you're finalized lyrics at least at that level of quality
> once you get the hang of writing in the style of artists you like start adding something of your own, think personality, all great albums have unique personality
> once you get there practice every chance you get. Song writing is a skill just like any other, you need to work at it to get better. And record every idea you have, If it means you even get one gold momebt or riff it's worth it.
Good luck pal.
Man if you are feeling Burt out sometimes you just need a break.
>>63384731
op here. At this current point I'm extremely influenced yet discouraged by Kevin Parker. Lonerism is about 75% of what I listen to right now, but it's so wonderfully crafted I don't even think I could rip it off. I mentioned above, but did not mention that I was op, that I find myself boxed within a certain sound. I don't even want it to happen. It's like I'll come up with a solid riff, and maybe even have an idea of what kind of vocals to add to it, but when I open my mouth I just get super frustrated and feel like I'm resorting too much to a certain technique. Or I feel like I don't know how to make my voice sound a certain way in a mix. I appreciate the advice doe senpai. No one ever gives me feedback on my soundcloud in the threads, so if someone could give me some feedback I'd really appreciate it https://soundcloud.com/fuisumero
>>63384731
Chris...? Is that you...?
>goof around with guitar until I spontaneously do something cool
>write a riff around it
>improvise lyrics
>write down improvised lyrics
>change lyrics, but keep the melody
My impros are usually about the things in my bedroom, where i write music. Though sometimes they're about nature or something. Phil Elvrum is an inspiration for me.
Speaking of inspiration, if I'm in a rut, I listen to as much music as possible from various different genres. If you need inspo, go and take, don't wait for it to come to you. You'll get nothing done
>>63384870
It's not bad, but a little generic.
I find the best way to make something unique is to challenge yourslef in the writhing process. You clearly have the basic idea of song structure, melody, etc but you are doing in it a very simple way. Try learning new chords, forcing yourself to only play on the bottom 3 strings etc..
If you like the melody of a song but it doesn't quite feel "there" for you yet then try mixing things up, double the tempo, change the personality, do chord inversions, add contrary motion between the bass and guitar, you dig.
Look man I'm about to crash but I want to help out, if you want it heres my sound cloud I'll be happy to give more feedback just message me. https://m.soundcloud.com/delphino-1
>>63383941
FACT
>>63384870
I don't like Kevin Parker so maybe you won't care about my opinion, but I listened to a couple of tracks on your Soundcloud. You have a nice voice and can obviously put things together in a way that sounds convincing enough, but the melodies and arrangements are much too polite, pleasant, clean for my tastes. Here's my honest suggestion:
>mute the multi-fx guitar completely
>put the slick bass through a harsh hi-pass filter and cheap reverb plugin, pan hard left
>low-pass on the drum track, slight fuzz, pan hard right
>insert field recording of slaughterhouse/mall/chat show etc.
>3edgy5everyoneexceptme
>>63384249
yeah, when somebody says they like one of my songs, I assume they're idiots who don't know shit about music
>>63385195
meet a guy who knows a lot about music. I'm currently that guy to a really great songwriter and we have a great relationship. I play bass for him. and saxophone and whatever else he might need
>>63383941
Listen to an artist that sounds almost nothing like your musical project but gets your creative juices flowing.
My usual flow of productivity goes something like
> Listen to Ahab, or some other heavy ambient funeral doom
>zone out while I set up mic, drums, etc.
> record some fast to mid tempo acoustic metal
There's tons of ways to come up with a new song but for me, if I hit on a good melody or rhythm, then the rest of the song will kind of build around it naturally, including lyrics as long as I have some lyric ideas already in my head recently. If it fits, it'll come to mind. Like on of my favorite songs I actually wrote and recorded the first draft in about 2 hours and my band plays the exact same version to this day.
Like I said, just listen to something unrelated that makes you feel creative, then feel your songs out.
>>63384194
Are you a decent singer? If you are, next time record yourself singing the riff on your phone, so you can have it for later.
>>63383941
I find the more that I read, the more I write. and not articles on the internet
>>63383941
Mine's fucking cheesy,but here goes. I write black metal.
>turn off all lights, close all windows
>light candles for light
>burn nature-scented incense like pine trees or something
>put classic black metal album on my turntable at a very low volume, just to provide background noise
>Live In Leipzig is a favorite
>Bathory and Darkthrone also work
.>sit down with acoustic guitar
>write everything acoustically first, then record with electric guitar
I'm very ritualistic about my music.
>>63383941
family, it's a bad process for me but it's gotten me over 600 + pages of music and im still only satisfied with pieces I wrote when I was around 14-16 for some reason (I guess since the emotional appeal was more astounding than it is now).
>one-liners r great, write it down, learn quick word rhyme associations like what rhymes with beach (sneak, peach, rhythm creek, etc). A horrible way of learning how to construct lyrics is via rap and poetry. The two are similarly akin but only one will withstand time.
>do this for a good two-four lines, maybe 10 if ur a post-rock-goth-death metal song or somethumpin'
>the chorus is the hardest part
>if ur into pop
>PLEB MUSIC
>if not, just repeat, but with less words?
>repeat process until you've got two or three pages
>you can change the last sentence of the chorus or add on something everytime or just keep it the same
>never ever throw away a bad lyric or an edit
>keep that shit
>you need it so when you look back on how cringe-y you can get, you realize you're improving in some way
-
What I usually do to get over writer's block is read a shit ton of books. Love me some Herbert and Jonson. Milton and Dante here and there.
books and, well, beatboxing.
Also, having a lot of friends that are dipshits help
>tfw write a song and some people think it's fucking amazing and others think it's utter trash
I don't know what to feel
I deleted it out of sheer fucking anxiety I didn't know what to do
This music thing is hard
i feel so inspired just from reading this thread. /mu/ should have a general /mu/sician thread where we talk about stuff like this and cheer each other on. i feel like that would be so helpful for us
>>63387525
I second this as I am a depressed, unmotivated sack of dirt.
groove on my instrument until something good happens and then show it to my mate and he adds other impotant shit and so on
This is how it works for me:
>spend months trying to write something
>finally come up with a riff
>get really excited and pumped
>feel good about myself
>next day
>play riff again
>hate it, confused as to why i liked it in the first place
>don't play it for a while
>come back to it
>enjoy it slightly, kinda remember why i liked it
>play it until i get sick of it
>repeat
I just want to write music I can enjoy consistently. How to do?
Usually i just change tunings or something
>violently rip half a dozen bongs
>start my phone voice recorder
>come up with half decent riff/chord progression on gtr
>loop it on my looper pedal
>add a melody or bassline, or both, add to loop
>jump on drums and find a beat that fits
>set up microphone so i can sing while i play drums
>one man band it til i stumble across something that i don't totally hate
>>63385195
I legit loled at this, mainly because it's exactly what I tend to do too.
