frustration

[Dmoney]

Im trying to write an LP for my band.
so far we have 1 whole song and bunch of riffs.
im working nights at the moment and i brough my LTD and laptop and pod UX1 into work to jam.

Im getting more bummed out on writing than ever!

the POD sounds SO bad i just don't want to listen to my guitar while i play it.

I have massive writers block. no idea what to do. been listening to all kinds of stuff to try and get over it.

now im massively wound up!

[Lew]

1) Have a wank

2) Throw the Pod in the bin and get an Axefx

3) Take a couple of days rest from musically torturing yourself

All the best 8)

[Dmoney]

haha. yo i really don't have time to rest. thats the main problem.
im trying to aim for 2 or 3 songs getting more or less together per month, and right now even asking for that seems hard.

[FernandoDuarte]

Think at least the 3rd of Mr Lew's suggestion is good, 2nd probably is right but I don't know AxeFX and number 1 can be changed by a lovely lady for best results :)

[murraymurray]

number 1 can be changed by a lovely lady for best results :)

I always find ladies to be the most distracting thing from writing songs. Im trying to keep my girlfriend away to give me some spare time to write stuff lately.
When i lose inspiration playing through my toneport i usually go down to the gear room and crank my stack for half hour or so, generally just the volume makes a few riffs you thought were just average sound 1000000x better. then from there just see what else comes out, but still try to avoid lews 1st suggestion, a bit awkward when your flatmates roll in

[38thBeatle]

One method of getting ideas to flow is to give myself a target of "X" number of ideas by a given day but with the proviso that there is no pressure to write something good or that I am serious about. So there is pressure but there isn't if you see what I mean. I then start and almost inevitably out of the "X" something worthwhile evolves. It is a stupid little game I play but it nearly always works for me. Plus you can always take a song you like and play the chords backwards and see if that generates an idea.

[AndyR]

^ All what he says :D

Set the "pressure" of "I must create x ideas", but remove the inherent "quality" factor we're all slaves to. Pretend no-one's ever going to hear any of these ideas... usually at least one of them's a go-er :D

[Dmoney]

^ All what he says :D

Set the "pressure" of "I must create x ideas", but remove the inherent "quality" factor we're all slaves to. Pretend no-one's ever going to hear any of these ideas... usually at least one of them's a go-er :D

i thought this.
i have a bunch of ideas to elaborate on which is what m struggling with mainly.
but yeah, i need a few more ideas.
hmmmm.
i need a project timeline!

[FernandoDuarte]

number 1 can be changed by a lovely lady for best results :)

I always find ladies to be the most distracting thing from writing songs. Im trying to keep my girlfriend away to give me some spare time to write stuff lately.

Remember, it's on the 2 day away from music :) The idea (at least mine) is to BE distracted and when come back see the riffs and songs in another point of view... It always worked with me in everything (never quite composed a song, but on drawings, etc....)

[HTH AMPS]

Lew's 1st suggestion now has the best ever excuse for when you get caught in the act - "just trying to cure my writers block", priceless  :lol:

I would say that you can't force writing and when you try the results are inevitably shitee.  When I was in my last band writing original material, I found that I'd have spells where the riffs and songs would just flow without any effort, then there would be months where I couldn't come up with anything.

The best thing to create some spark is change... a new pedal, amp, guitar or just learn a few songs that are outside of what you'd normally play.  For me, getting a new guitar or amp was THE way to come up with a new riff as they force you to play differently - not very good for the wallet though.

[MDV]

I do three things to write

1. Bash a guitar, with my fingers in different places at different times until I like the sound, then try to remember and reproduce where I put my fingers. Zero logic, zero premeditation, I make a point of trying to forget any theory I know.

2. Bash a guitar and try to reproduce things that resemble sound that happen in my head when I dont happen to have a guitar in my hands to bash. These, for some reason, are often the best.

2.5. Think about parts of the song that I already have and what might happen next when I'm not actually playing. Play it in your head, Write down ideas, play on guitar later.

3. To make a song feel contigious and flow well, when I have a thing resembling a riff, I play it over and over, mutating it by little bits and/or when it feels right to change it, do so and if I like what happens next, thats the next bit of the song, if I dont, back to the riff I have settled on and try again.

3.5 dont stop playing. Breaks can be good, but little fits and starts mean you never really get into it. When you pick up the guitar, sound from it should be as continuous and fluid as possible (imo).

[bucketshred]

Just have a fag or a joint.

When I jam with the band (we all write together rather than seperatley, our influences are all very different and we bounce off one another quite well) we'll generally dick around with things until we cant think of anything else. We'll then nip out and have a fag (and a sneaky joint) and by the time we get back one of us will have something new to add. Jam some more, arrange, throw in a few cheeky bits. DONE.

Paddy

[Roobubba]

I'm going to offer some advice based on my experience writing my D. Phil. thesis several years ago. I was given a deadline by my supervisor which at first seemed pretty unattainable. The very first thing I did, though:

Take a break.


Proper break. For example, I went to Egypt for a week (frankly it could have been anywhere, it was a cheap hotel holiday as all I wanted to do was sit by a pool in the sun reading books for a week). In your case, I'm suggesting NOT playing, NOT listening to music and NOT thinking about music. A couple of days is probably sufficient, but make sure it's LONG ENOUGH!! You have to give your mind a proper rest before embarking on a mammoth task of any type.

When I got back, I wrote my entire thesis, from start to finish (including printing and binding) in 9 weeks to the day. It was around 300 pages.
I am in absolutely no doubt whatsoever that had I NOT had that break, I simply wouldn't have got everything done that I did. I even managed to put together a CD of extra data and fancy stuff to stick in the inside of the front cover!

My point here is that by resting in the knowledge that, when you're back into it, you will have a deadline to work to, you'll be able to get back into it afterwards with renewed enthusiasm and a much more purposeful mindset - it helps to cement the deadline into your thinking, rather than making the deadline fill up your thoughts and allowing stress to make y ou less effective!
I worked like an absolute bar-steward (10am to 3am every day, and I commuted from Bicester to Oxford every day, too) to get that thesis written, but I was very pleased with the result, and the break before-hand was instrumental in allowing me to do that task in the very tight time-frame I had.

Hope this helps.

Roo

[tomjackson]

Just have a fag or a joint.

When I jam with the band (we all write together rather than seperatley, our influences are all very different and we bounce off one another quite well) we'll generally dick around with things until we cant think of anything else. We'll then nip out and have a fag (and a sneaky joint) and by the time we get back one of us will have something new to add. Jam some more, arrange, throw in a few cheeky bits. DONE.

Paddy

+1, A few joints and a week off work.

If you don't have time for some time away from work/commitments then it will be hard, life is about priorities so if your writing is important, prioritise it.

Set the target down to 2 songs and see how you go, it's all about managable targets

And don't wast energy and time wanking.....

[gwEm]

a sansamp pedal will be much more portable and sound nicer than the pod