the antidote to writer's block is...

[heinsite]

nice thread H.A.L. actually, as simple as it may sound, i find that the antidote to writer's block is to let it be blocked. we're not talking about constipation or some kind of formulaic YOU MUST WRITE OR DIE thing here (not to me anyway...)i believe that if you have the music in your soul--or just "music in you", the love and desire will peep out of the corner, and it will come.exercises are very good, and to each his/her own on that, and of course practice makes perfect, etc. but by now we all should know when it's the time to write...i personally believe in the feel and trust of the moment and desire, and yep, that is a tricky thing, but only if we let it be...we are each the "boss" of our creativity, and we all come in different shades of each color of the rainbow--and that depends on the day and the hour, sometimes the minute, or WHOOSH--the rainbow is gone.the best,warren

[Mark Kaufman]

Writing a good song takes effort. No matter how inspired the moment may be, you are still making choices and decisions as you write the song. I strongly believe, no matter who you are or what your style, that if you focus your energy properly, you can write your best work without having to wait for those magic moments to arrive.Those "magic moment" songs that appear out of thin air are like gifts. Bolts from the blue. They're easy. But they're not always our best stuff.It's hard not to admire the songs of the Beatles. Guess what? They churned out those songs with deliberation and intent. Occasionally a song would just come to them (the music for "Yesterday" was in Paul's head when he woke up one morning, and he thought at first that it was an already existing melody). But the vast majority of their songs were the result of straight-up work. "Boys," they were once told, "these are all great songs, but don't you think we need a song with the same title as the film?" Hmmm, yes, they did. That very night, Lennon wrote "A Hard Day's Night" and they recorded it the next day...a 24-hour turnaround. A pretty darned good song, too. Talk about writing to a deadline.Okay, so we're not all going to sit sown and write a classic Beatles song tonight. We all have different levels of ability. But beware of declaring "I can only write good stuff when the inspiration is there". The more you convince yourself that's true, the further away you get from improving your ability to write great songs on demand. I truly believe it is an ability, not a bolt from the blue. You develop it, one lousy song at a time, until they get better.

[ciskokidd]

Mar 16, 2009, 7:53am, lyle wrote:Writing a good song takes effort. No matter how inspired the moment may be, you are still making choices and decisions as you write the song. I strongly believe, no matter who you are or what your style, that if you focus your energy properly, you can write your best work without having to wait for those magic moments to arrive.Those "magic moment" songs that appear out of thin air are like gifts. Bolts from the blue. They're easy. But they're not always our best stuff.It's hard not to admire the songs of the Beatles. Guess what? They churned out those songs with deliberation and intent. Occasionally a song would just come to them (the music for "Yesterday" was in Paul's head when he woke up one morning, and he thought at first that it was an already existing melody). But the vast majority of their songs were the result of straight-up work. "Boys," they were once told, "these are all great songs, but don't you think we need a song with the same title as the film?" Hmmm, yes, they did. That very night, Lennon wrote "A Hard Day's Night" and they recorded it the next day...a 24-hour turnaround. A pretty darned good song, too. Talk about writing to a deadline.Okay, so we're not all going to sit sown and write a classic Beatles song tonight. We all have different levels of ability. But beware of declaring "I can only write good stuff when the inspiration is there". The more you convince yourself that's true, the further away you get from improving your ability to write great songs on demand. I truly believe it is an ability, not a bolt from the blue. You develop it, one lousy song at a time, until they get better.Great post Mark. I agree wholeheartedly. Behind every good-great songwriter is lots of hard work and determination. The muse must be coaxed and seduced into those inspirational moments. Otherwise, you can wait months or years for it to come around.Even then, the muse only gives you the inspirational bits of magic. It still takes work to make that diamond in the rough sparkle and shine.Best,Cisko

[heinsite]

... i never said anything about it being easy, or not working hard. i was talking about initial inspiration, which of course is the 2% part of the rest of the perspiration. there is more than one way to skin a tomato, and we all work somewhat differently. i'm just suggesting that writing for the sake of writing, isn't MY thing. but we are all inspired, aren't we? and then when THAT hits, we work to make it the best we can...that's all.wh

[ciskokidd]

Mar 17, 2009, 9:35pm, heinsite wrote:... i never said anything about it being easy, or not working hard. i was talking about initial inspiration, which of course is the 2% part of the rest of the perspiration. there is more than one way to skin a tomato, and we all work somewhat differently. i'm just suggesting that writing for the sake of writing, isn't MY thing. but we are all inspired, aren't we? and then when THAT hits, we work to make it the best we can...that's all.whHey Warren,I used to feel the same way so I know where you are coming from. For a long time I was cool with it too, but then I realized that if I wanted to have a career in music I needed to write more songs.So with the help of some great books on the creative process I was able to turn my production around and I learned to enjoy the process of rewriting which I used to hate. I thought that if a song wasn't 100% in the pocket on first writing, there was nothing more I could do and the process of dissecting the song seemed like work (it is of course) to me. Music isn't supposed to be work right?I don't think that way anymore. I look at rewriting as a puzzle that I have to put together and it is now as enjoyable as the initial process of inspiration to me. I love it when I have resolved a line of lyric so that it melds perfectly with a melody or when I can make a good melody into a great melody by working out the different angles. Sure sometimes I still get frustrated, but I know to walk away for a few days from that particular song and I move onto the next.Whichever way you decide to go, I wish you only the best and continued love affair with this great gift of music.Best,Cisko

[partyofone]

cool thread vikki and all...good point on the beatles mark... I like pressure and deadlines and rising to the challenge... I think a great artist can follow their muse or make the muse follow them! I know we all have roadblocks sometimes... just natural I suppose. I find the work comes in on lyrics for me.

[southpaw]

yea, lyrics often take me the longest. Rewriting and rewriting to get to the heart of the matter works well for me, but taking frequent breaks is one of my best remedies for when im getting sticky on the phrasing or the melody of a line. I dont really get 'blocks' where i just cant think of anything to write or compose, i usually just get stuck on individual lines where im having trouble putting the melody and words together. I also find snags on making arrangement and melody decisions sometimes. Again, little interations to distract the mind is usually my most effective remedy.

[ernstinen]

When I was exclusively a songwriter, melodies and chords just seemed to pour out of me, whether writing on piano or guitar. Lyrics took shape, ususally from a title or chorus, but needed a little more work than the music.Now that I'm writing orchestral music, my mantra is "DON'T THINK!" Often I'll start my sequencer with a full string patch and just start playing --- anything --- in any key, changing keys, but just rolling my eyes back and just playing whatever I hear in my head! I do NOT judge anything until I run out of steam, and then stop.A bizarre parallel to this method is that wacky rock band "The B-52's." That's how they write. Get the band in a room, turn on the recorder, and play anything that comes to mind. A total free-form jam session! --- THEN, hours or days later, they'll go through all the nonsense they came up with and take section B, section H, section X, and write a song out of it!Food for thought,Ern

[t4mh]

I understand we all have our ways of doing things and I do think the FAWN idea is a good one although I haven't tried it yet. I guess I haven't had real a block yet... I wouldn't presume to tell anyone how they should or shouldn't write.I hear it in my mind before I ever play an instrument. The down side of that is that sometimes I hear quite fantastic things that I probably cannot ever realize... I agree with ern though, songs are somewhat easier for me and instrumental stuff is more of a personal challenge.Keith

[watksco]

What a great thread - thanks all for sharing some great ideas.I agree totally with the 'write all the time' idea. I regularly 'trawl' for ideas - and will record part song ideas, then move on to the next idea. I'm building up a bank of songs to work on.Like you Hummingbird, I usually have a number of songs in various states of completeness. It's good to be able to mix it up - when you run out of steam on one song, just put it down and pick up the next.Scott