Jun 21, 2005 08:52 am I go to sleep. I have a lot of problems right now, and I cant sleep well. This is the time I usually start thinking about all the BS in my life, so I keep a pad and pen by my bed to write ideas and thoughts down.
What do you do to 'get in the mood'? :-p
Posted on Jun 21, 2005 12:29 am
[ins]anarchist
Master of the Obvious?
Member Since: Jun 29, 2004
All questionable taste in metaphors aside, I was just wondering if anybody has any helpful tips in regards to how to get into creative songwriting moods? I've found that waiting until around 2AM (assuming I've passed the 'tired' stage) gets my creative juices flowing pretty well, but it is hard to find time to do this when I have work in the morning! Anyone else have any weird quirks or hints?
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Jun 21, 2005 08:52 am I go to sleep. I have a lot of problems right now, and I cant sleep well. This is the time I usually start thinking about all the BS in my life, so I keep a pad and pen by my bed to write ideas and thoughts down.
Jun 21, 2005 09:14 am I typically do best when I am pissed off...or used to, lately I have been pissed off all the time so I think the emotional tie is wearing off.
Jun 21, 2005 10:45 am I do best when I'm not really trying to write. It's when I try to force it that everything breaks down and falls apart. I have to be in a writing phase of my life in order to relax enough to let the ideas flow. I have to be writing every day. That way, no one day feels like "I have to write a keeper!". I can just relax, write down my feelings, and a lot of times it'll end up reformatted into verses of a song.
I haven't written a single thing in over a year now, and it's starting to get to me. I just haven't been in the mood at all.
Jun 21, 2005 10:49 am Yeah, I'm in the same boat as you TadPui, it's been a long time since I have written anything. I just don't have the time, energy, or really care much at this point in my life, just have way more important things tugging at me.
Jun 21, 2005 10:55 am Its just kinda depressing to look back at years past and see how many songs, song fragments, random ideas, etc. my notebook is crammed with...then I think of the past year and like you say its been so full of personal and financial issues that writing hasn't seemed all that important. It sucks because the emotions, etc. stemming from the last year would make the best music!
Jun 21, 2005 11:01 am Quote:
It's when I try to force it that everything breaks down and falls apart
AND HOW!!!!! i'm very much the same way, i've found that i've got two different moods, my 'composing mood' kept me up until 5am this mourning and is usually THC enhanced....late night and in the dark with a single red light bulb and my glowing computer monitor keep my eyes happy, and it feels like i'm dooin' photography! definately gets the creative juices flowin.
my 'mixing mood' is best in the early evening right after work (cuz i can crank up my monitors) and i do better work sober. i'm in the habbit of taking notes now, cuz i can't listen to the whole song through in Sonar, so i gotta bounce it, and listen to it for a day. then i bust out the notes, and adress them and cross them out as i go....i get a new (and hopfully improved) mix pretty quickly.
good topic
wyd
Jun 21, 2005 12:36 pm For lyrics, I rarely write them down. I find that I write the majority of my lyrics while walking or waiting for the bus, or on the bus, or in general outside of the house.
For music, I just sit at the computer and start sequencing. Either something good comes out, or I write some garbage. Basically, I like to force it on myself. It's not always there, but sometime it might not be there for 45 minutes or an hour, but then finally I'll make a breakthrough and come up with something beautiful. Othertimes, things just come to me randomly. I'm constantly scatting and humming to myself as I do menial tasks or walk around the house.
Jun 21, 2005 12:52 pm Before I start dubbing out tunes, I'll turn off all my lights except on small one, get a beer, turn up the speakers, and close my eyes. No better way to feel a mix.
Jun 21, 2005 12:58 pm I can't force it either. I think I just finished writing a keeper this morning. Probably my second or third song in the last six months. It just came to me while I was sitting there watching my kids play. One of my students told me that today was his last day because he's "Goin' to Oklahoma". If that isn't a great title for a country song, I don't know what is.
Do you ever look back on some of the good things you've written and say, "Wow...how did I ever write that? I could never write something like that agian! " But then it just hits you...and when it does you better be there to write it down!
Jim
Jun 21, 2005 01:29 pm Its apparent that when you are dealing with...and documenting raw life situations is when the true art speaks.
Its when you try to fabricate a hybrid of real life crossed with synthetic clever creativity, that you run into common cases of writers block...
I have struggled with this also. I like to write lyrics even tho I cannot sing.
Jun 21, 2005 02:47 pm a full day where i can clear out my head and not deal with anything except what i choose. i listen to music on a day like that, and inspire myself.
a low humidity, cool day. like fall in the northeast. reminds me of college and walking to guitar lesssons, and it's this refreshing creative, clear-out-yr insides feeling.
getting pissed off. having something in your life you just cant deal with. deciding to deal with it with a new song.
stay up till after midnight--i'm less judgmental at night. use beer. maybe start toying with theory instead of really trying to write a song. eventually something interesting comes along.
i dunno. there are ways to get inspired but you have to go in search of the mood. that seems to require the luxury of free time, but maybe not. i always think of henry rollins and how extreeeeeemely busy he is, and how he comes up with new material for spoken word shows constantly. i read an article where he described his very busy typical day. the photo was him folding laundry with a notebook beside him, in an apartment full of unpacked boxes.
if some part of you stays receptive, i believe you can be pretty busy and still crank out ideas--ideas which can be evaluated and reworked later. you just have to decide that that is something you are going to invest your idle brain cycles in. and have to be more interested in being really active than in coasting, i guess. which is something i have to work on.
Jun 21, 2005 02:50 pm I hate it when so many of these types of threads end up saying things like "drink", "smoke dope" and crap like that...
Jun 21, 2005 03:05 pm I just sit down and start playing, sometimes a good song comes along, sometimes it doesn't. :)
The last month or so 3 new ones have come along, so I'm working on those at the moment.
Dan
Jun 21, 2005 03:57 pm Well, altered states of consciousness have been used for creativity and learning for tens of thousands of years.
Personally, I can't keep it together when I'm under the influence of drugs or alcohol. I tend to write better with a clear head. But I've also written stuff under the influence of various substances...although I can't really say that it's any better or worse than the stuff that I've come up with while under the influence of a cup of coffee.
But I understand where you're coming from. It's no good to come off as condoning intoxication as a means for creativity. But you have to agree that for some people, it works.
Jun 21, 2005 04:19 pm usually I have found more people think it works for them, but really doesn't. But yes, there are a few...
Jun 21, 2005 04:42 pm If you are serious about writing/playing, then you have to stay "real" IMO.
Jun 21, 2005 05:27 pm haha, good thing I only play for fun :) otherwise I guess I would have to change my alias to near_beerhunter
Jun 23, 2005 09:45 am I pray first then grab the guitar and go!!!!
Jun 23, 2005 09:48 am I think God has much more important things to worry about than whether or not my song turns out OK...I'd feel selfish bugging him about that when there are wars, tyranny and starvation going on all over the world...somehow my music seems petty in comparison...
Jun 23, 2005 10:33 am Yes, but somewhere deep inside you there is a song that can - in some small way - help deal with or bring attention to those things that you mention. Not to go all religious on you, but God must have made you a talented songwriter for a reason...
Jun 23, 2005 10:45 am Well, I don't have a problem of "going all religious" since I am a religious person, I just disagree with how some people use it.
I get annoyed with people that, for example since it was a new trend a while ago, try to loose weight by praying for "the strength to watch what they eat" or very selfish things like that...cuz really, I think it's wasting God's time, and people should have some accountability and stand up on their own at certain points.
At a certain point I have seen this kind of behavior be so counter productive in ones life it's actually really made people less happy, less productive members of society and just generally lousy people.
I have had friends that will not even associate with people that aren't Christians, even though these people may be fine people, just not Christians, won't listen to any music that isn't Christian, acting as if it's not "Christian" music means it's evil and horrible stuff, and such other things is so limiting and so childish it just bugs me...
And besides, nobody said I was a talented songwriter...God didn't make me one, I am an engineer that got lucky with a few tunes...
And why does everybody praise God for the good things and blame themselves for the bad things? Isn't there a statute of equal accountability somewhere?
OK, sorry, rant is over...it just annoys me that some people feel anything that does not have the "Christian approved" sticker on it is bad and will send them to hell.
Holy crap did I swing off topic there...
Jun 23, 2005 11:31 am Quote:
I think it's wasting God's time
i don't know god, but i don't think he's held back by our worldly constraints such as time.
afterall, he is omnipotent
just a thought
Jun 23, 2005 11:40 am Well, I meant "wasting his time" as more of an analogy than anything else...my point was simply that he has more important things to do. Since God has limitless "time", limitless energy and so on, it was really more to try to make a point. Perhaps I failed in that.
Jun 23, 2005 11:45 am heh nah, i'm just beein' difficult
ยง=oP
you said anal
Jun 23, 2005 12:41 pm Would it be a waste of God's time to inspire a songwriter to write a song that changes the world? (There have been some...)
Jun 23, 2005 12:48 pm OK, well, as much as I appreciate the value and importance of music, let's not get carried away...while there are some song that speak to some generations, or some groups of people, there is not, and will not ever be a song that "changes the world"...sounds like somebody has watched Bill and Ted's Excellent Adventure one to many times :-)
Like I said, I appreciate, and understand the thought, but not the reality.
Jun 23, 2005 03:33 pm where did that anti-drinking thing come from? surely, cracking open a beer can really help set the tone for an evening of guitar playing. the two go hand in hand.
Jun 23, 2005 03:37 pm I have found beer (or drinkin of any sort) actually hurts my playing, makes me sloppy (ok, sloppier) and stuff...I'd sooner go for the pipe...then I would just get stupid, but not sloppy...though I haven't reached for a pipe in many years...I only drink when I play if I am just messing around, never if I am trying to actually accomplish something.
That said, on the whole, I would never be anti-drinking...I love me a few cold beers...especially on hot summer days like today...except I have to go to NHB tonight, so no beers until after that...
Jun 23, 2005 03:57 pm "Beer is proof that God loves us and wants us to be happy." - Benjamin Franklin.
"If you resolve to give up smoking, drinking and loving, you don't actually live longer; it just seems longer." - Clement Freud.
Hmm, must be some kind of quote day.
Jun 23, 2005 04:01 pm "Beer, the cause of and answer to all of lifes problems" - Homer J. Simpson
Jun 23, 2005 05:45 pm beer seems to loosen up the part of my mind that's often in my way, thats why it seems to go with songwriting for me. the pipe sends that part of my mind into overdrive. which can be...interesting, but very seldom satisfying. the one song that i've retained over the years that was born in "that" state of mind was the John Whiskers song. john whiskers was my friend's cat when we were 18. the song is ALL hammer ons and tremolo picking and has like 10 sections that never repeat.
"well you know he's in the house, when the crowd a-screams and shouts! john whiskers in the house, come-a throw yourself about."
see, theres a reason why i prefer beer for songwriting.
Jun 23, 2005 05:52 pm So John Whiskers = Smelly Cat's biker cousin. Cool. Now that's why I drink beer, it helps me to understand lol
Jun 23, 2005 08:00 pm I don't really believe all of that crap that I was sayin'...and I've never even seen "Bill and Ted". In fact, I would tend to believe almost exactly the opposite: many songwriters take themselves too seriously. It's just words and a melody. If you're lucky, people might like it. Otherwise, it doesn't really matter...if you like it.
In order to change the world, you would have to change people's minds...and I'm not sure that a song could do that. At least not about crime and wars and starvation and AIDS and all the real problems facing our world today.
That being said, the world is a different place because Bob Dylan plugged in his Stratocaster at Newport in 1965 and played "Like a Rolling Stone". It's not necessarily a better place...but the world changed.
Jun 23, 2005 10:05 pm Just remember...
God doesn't micro-manage.
Play your music, drink your beer, relax, whatever...
do what you have to do to make good music and have a great time doing it. As long as YOU'RE happy and satisified in the end, that's all that should matter.
...it all a perception on how you look at things.
Jun 24, 2005 02:03 am You know I once read an interview with Dean Koontz and the interviewer asked him how he writes so much and his answer was "from writing" he says that even if it doesnt make sense, the act of writing can lead to inspiration. Steve Vai says that he gets a riff idea and then loops it to jam over until a melody idea comes to him. Its all in what works bet for you!
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