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Hop On Pop
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1/8/2013 8:23:34 AM
Not feeling very inspired
I pick up my guitar and I play the same old chords.
I try to put pen to paper and nothing comes out but clichés.
Melodies? Forget it.
People tell me to keep playing and keep writing...
The more that I do that, the worse it seems to get.
Just in a doldrums, I guess. Looking for a way out.
I think that I'll try to pick up a different guitar tonight, if I have the time and energy. Maybe that'll help.
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Stoneman
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1/8/2013 9:03:31 AM
Just a few suggestions. Sometimes the riggers of life get so loud that we cannot hear the music in our hearts. That music has to be rediscovered. Often what helps is a change of scenery. You know? Go to a beach, a park, the mountains etc. This may spark some new sounds. Or, you can try collaborating with someone else. That may motivate and inspire your creative juices to flow. External stimulation can be a great source of inspiration. Things like human interest stories, daily headlines, books and films. Fill your mind with lots of new things and maybe lots of new things may come from you. On the other hand, sometimes we just have to wait for the creative flow to come back. It always comes back. Take a vacation and forget about music until you return. That may work also! Good luck with getting your creative mojo back.
Respect,
Stoneman
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Chandra Moon
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1/8/2013 10:08:33 AM
I so sympathise - I haven't written a new song in ages. What I've been doing is recording some old ones, trying to do some gigs and open mics, play other instruments for fun and go to listen to live music and just keep in touch with music, mjsicians and creativity in general. I too am hoping for some new inspiration and trust it will come again in due course!
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Richard Scotti
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1/9/2013 9:31:00 AM
---- Updated 1/10/2013 6:41:22 AM
"I pick up my guitar and I play the same old chords."
It's never too late to learn some new chords or even new tunings.
"People tell me to keep playing and keep writing...
The more that I do that, the worse it seems to get."
Stop playing and writing for a while! (Other people don't always know what's best for you) Take a vacation from trying too hard. Creativity can't be forced, only cultivated. Sometimes you have to stand back from a picture to see it clearly. Staring too closely at it from up close can distort your vision. Try meditating for 15 minutes every morning. Clear your conscious mind. Get in touch with your subconscious, the place in the brain where most great art comes from.
To paraphrase Sting ~ If you love your music, set it free. When it comes home, you'll see it through new eyes.
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Voodoohead Productions
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1/9/2013 9:39:30 AM
I think that Chandra, Stoneman and Richard hit the nail on the head there Todd all good points and suggestions. I was in that same boat a few years back and didnt worry about it. I knew in time , the right moment of inspiration would come and it does. It resulted in a couple of good albums, one cd and one digital album and a bunch of collabs and just some fun tunes, some goofy ones and instrumentals
of course, I rely entirely on just letting it happen and my style is more instrumental anyways, not so much with lyrics, as you know, so indeed take a break, have fun just doing other things like all have indicated. certainly you will come back when the time is right with that magic
cheers
bryon
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SILVERWOODSTUDIO
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1/11/2013 2:01:53 PM
interesting---try some' major 7ths' as a meditation---?
Rob eg A AMaj7 Bm E
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Hop On Pop
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1/14/2013 6:21:01 AM
Just re-tuned my resonator to:
D A D F# A F#
or something like that.
Picked up a slide for the first time in God knows how long, too.
Nothing so far, but we'll see. Maybe I'll find another tuning, too.
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Jesse Adams
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1/14/2013 10:34:02 AM
Try open C major, that's a fun one.
C G C G C E
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Paddy Uglow
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2/9/2013 2:07:45 AM
You're in luck! I've just put up my video about Custom Capos on youtube, just for guitarists who are looking for new chords and ideas.
http://youtu.be/WwFSfPYF7hY
Good luck.
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Chandra Moon
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2/15/2013 2:25:38 AM
wow Paddy thanks for sharing your great trade "secrets" - I'm going to try some of those!
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Tom O'Brien
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2/15/2013 10:25:34 AM
Great ideas from Paddy.
Also, don't forget to occasionally go against the grain and play chords that don't come naturally. Sometimes we get so caught up in patterns we're familiar with that we forget that there are no wrong answers, just chord patterns that don't sound or feel familiar. You can also stop thinking in terms of chords and just write interersting melody lines, then see what chord patterns the line elicits.
Or try writing on bass. That'll make you think differently. Or learn a new instrument entirely.
Or study someone else's songs you admire and see what makes them work.
I also agree with Stoneman about changing up your routine - go somewhere else to write. Sometimes our surroundings need to change in order for our minds to make new associations. Get a tape recorder and take a long drive somewhere beautiful and see what happens.
You'll get out of the doldrums. Just try something new.
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Hop On Pop
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2/15/2013 2:19:13 PM
---- Updated 2/15/2013 2:19:35 PM
Well... it's not great, but at least I wrote something yesterday. I was sitting on these lyrics for a month or so before deciding that they were a blues. Then, I started singing them and they became more of a Woody Gutherie folk song.
"Slave to Freedom"
Like I said, not great, but at least it's a start. Maybe I can make something out of it.
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Tom O'Brien
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2/16/2013 9:31:52 PM
Don't forget that you can also write in 3/4 or 6/8 or even 5/4.
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Chandra Moon
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2/17/2013 3:31:47 AM
Sounds like a good start to me Todd! Well done for getting something down - the song will now have a life of its own - who knows where it might take itself but it's definitely on its way!!
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Hop On Pop
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3/14/2013 2:09:48 PM
feeling less like a songwriter every day.
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Hop On Pop
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3/14/2013 2:25:21 PM
Just came up with a cool new chord progression.
But it was "Bigmouth Strikes Again" by The Smiths.
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Richard Scotti
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3/14/2013 3:53:19 PM
Cheer up, Todd! Things will get better soon. Find some old songs that didn't work and try to make 'em work. Find a writing partner. Even John Lennon needed one!
It's painful to see such a talented person as yourself being so down. Maybe you're being overly self critical. That can be a good thing sometimes but sometimes it's unrealistic. Don't try to reinvent the wheel with every song. Write some words that
express strong emotions and let them inspire some emotional music. Of course,
I'm no expert but these are just one man's opinion. I hope it helps a little.
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Steve Ison
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3/17/2013 5:02:43 PM
Its trying to find a way you can ENJOY your creative space again Todd
Maybe you're blocking yourself because you're so desperate to come up with a good idea - and maybe being overly judgemental n critical with any ideas you do get..
Its all psychological - and its all about being open..
Its like the judgemental mind'll hear a chord progression /melody/lyric and say 'thats crap -You can't write you idiot' or something but the creative mind is constantly pliable,experimental and looking for solutions..It'd say 'thats not quite working how i want it -but i can go there -or there -or try this
Hope things get better for you anyways
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Hop On Pop
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3/18/2013 6:01:00 AM
Thanks. I think that I agree.
It's time for me to give myself a bit of a break, just put down the guitar, and stop worrying about writing for a while.
Maybe a little distance will help.
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Bob Elliott
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3/22/2013 3:45:25 PM
Listened to he tune. I always like your voice as a sort of countrified thing.
I don't see the problem, actually. Seems pretty likely you have songs already written that never got a fair recording, and so there you go.
Maybe your day job is not sucking enough of your time away from you? My day job puts me in a position that I pretty much always have music I gotta do because i don't get enough time to do it. I always have something that didn't get recorded, tons of it, and I always have new textures I want to try because I haven't had the time to try them yet.
Anyway, you have a cool low range hat I sort of get the feeling you don't value much, but that's a musical mistake because your low range has nice character, I find you believable.
For the record, I liked your voice on you wrote his song. Sounds right.
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John Pippus
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3/27/2013 11:53:19 PM
I've had good success with this tuning. I learned it from watching Peter Case (Plimsouls). He's made a career out of this tuning alone.
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Hop On Pop
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4/5/2013 5:54:10 AM
Actually listening to The Plimsouls' first album as I type. Very cool.
But that's not what I came here to say.
I ACTUALLY WROTE A NEW SONG!
And I think that I like it, too.
It's in standard tuning, but I'm using that kind of oddball fingerpicking style that I used in "Past Tense". (More a hybrid of that style and traditional fingerpicking, actually.)
But the music part hasn't been so much the problem, really; it's been more an issue of coming up with decent lyrics to go along with the music. I think that I have something here that I really like. Not recorded yet. The lyrics still need a little tweaking, but I think they're going to stick.
Pleased.
Hopefully this will start a spurt of creativity. Fingers crossed.
Thanks for the encouragement, all.
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Chandra Moon
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4/5/2013 2:26:18 PM
Great news!
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Hop On Pop
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4/17/2013 6:03:41 AM
Second rehearsal with my friend Dave, who will play keys and drums on the recording.
Finally got the lyrics nailed down to a place where I wouldn't mind releasing it. And the arrangement is shaping up nicely, too. I'm loving the flow of the chord changes, major to minor, to minor 7s and all that. Some nice harmonics and descending patterns.
Looking forward to recording it. Probably in a couple of months or so.
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Stoneman
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4/17/2013 10:31:36 AM
Looking forward to hearing the new recording. Keep writing!
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Hop On Pop
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5/30/2013 6:18:39 AM
It's happening again. Not picking up the guitar very often, and when I do my playing is more uninspired than ever.
Damn.
Hopefully the new guitar I am picking up in a week or so will light something in me.
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