rant

Posted on

Member Since: Jan 18, 2003

i can't write a damn song. the whole time i've been here, a few years now, i haven't finished anything. what the heck is going on?

i haven't tried recently. last month i wrote two new fragments--took two days to do it--then went on vacation. when i got back, the fragments suddenly were absolutely boring and sounded like crap. (before that i hadn't attempted anything in months). i get sick of hearing myself play just...chords. it's always just barre chords, always distorted. even when i write something on piano, the default thing i do is just throw distorted barre chords over top.

but lots of bands do this. i've no idea why it bores me when i do it.

for some reason i find it hard to write a guitar riff and base a song around that, otherwise i'd do that. man, i dunno what to do. today someone who knows nothing whatsoever about music told me to go listen to her new song. her and her bf are cranking them out. this sucks! i need something, but i don't know what it is.

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Mans reach exceeds his grasp
Member
Since: Oct 23, 2007


Jan 12, 2008 03:45 am

It's writers block, and trust me, I know how you feel. A couple years ago when I started playing the guitar, I'd crank 'em out left and right, for for about the last year or so I havn't written anything up until November or so, and I'm still on training wheels so to speak. My advice, forget about writing for a little while. Live life and allow inspiration to move you to write instead of looking for reason to write. I think that's what I've been doing, and it's slowly working itself out. I've also been listening to a lot of really wired music, like Bjork and stuff. Music I've never listened to before, and it's making me feel different about music than I used to. I wish there were a switch.

Member
Since: Jan 18, 2003


Jan 12, 2008 03:50 am

i think my skills are shot, though, too. i need guitar knowledge or something. it's those constant barre chords that are driving me nuts. open chords suck too. the guitar, i think, sucks.

Dethklok, Dethklok
Member
Since: Dec 25, 2007


Jan 12, 2008 05:11 am

Try a new Tuning. That helps me usually!

Member
Since: Jan 18, 2003


Jan 12, 2008 05:32 am

i wrote a great song once in a strange tuning. i dont know how into always retuning my guitar i am, though. ideally i'd want to write songs for the stage.

but maybe i can transmute any discoveries into a normal tuning. things have a way of coming to life when you sing over them. it's hard to identify good riffs without harmonization or a backing band.

Eat Spam before it eats YOU!!!
Member
Since: May 11, 2002


Jan 12, 2008 09:23 am

I haven't written anything either... but I'm a drummer :)

Byte-Mixer
Member
Since: Dec 04, 2007


Jan 12, 2008 03:40 pm

I don't know if you're against it or not, but you could always try collaborating with someone. Either someone you know locally, or someone from here at HRC?
It might help blow around some fresh ideas and sounds. I know how you feel though. I haven't finished anything new since Lantern (which I finished around early last Novenber.) The quartet is an old piece just trying to get a good render of it. :P

I likewise have quite a few unfinished "sketches" though.

-J

Czar of Midi
Administrator
Since: Apr 04, 2002


Jan 12, 2008 08:12 pm

forty, I have been in that position so many times over the last 35 years or so it isn't even funny. I think the first time it happened was what made me open my ears and take a big leap out of my normal listening experience. Like Keith said, you would be surprised at the effect it will have on you. You start to hear things that you normally wouldn't listen for in music.

Like you and others, I have so much music started that never got finished. As stated above, we are talking many years worth. I have been hesitating to hook up my old SparQ drive which is an old 1 gig cartridge drive like the Jazz from Omega. I have about 25 gigs worth of just ideas blotted down and stowed away for the future and never looked back at them.

Recently within the last year I started to just let the kids pick the playlist for in the car. No matter what I wanted to listen to, I left it to them. They would compile a Couple CD's worth of stuff I hadn't heard and just pop it in. That usually would break any stumper I had and I would garner fresh idea's from that.

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