Hi im been doing music for about a 2 years now and have progressed pretty far but lately i having been struggling for Inspiration (Sit at computer and my mind goes blank..)so my question is how do you get Inspired to write a track?

 

Personally, for me it's just a thing of the moment.
I'll sit on the computer and play around till i find something to start with. If after 30 minutes, it sounds like crap or it's not getting anywhere, I close the program and give up. That's because I will just waste my time making crap. So I guess my advice would be: try and compose at different times during the day, you never know when inspiration's gonna hit and most importantly learn to recognize when you're not inspired so you can give up (on the short run) and not waste your time.
Also I don't personally do it but a few puffs of Weed never hurts if you're looking for inspiration

 

• Try to conceptualize a story beforehand of anything, and try to portray them emotions of the story with your sounds.
• Listen to lots of different types of music, and try to mimic or reinvent the riffs and ideas present in a new genre.
• Go outside! It sounds weird but some fresh air can really help clear the mind.
• Jam with some real instruments (if you got any).
• I agree with other people with the heat of the moment stuff :D
  
  

 

Read the news and obituaries. Many times it's all the same. Get into some kind of activism. Great source of inspiration.

Travel somewhere you haven't been before and meet new people. Get drunk or smoke pot with them, or both. You'll be surprised at how inspiring that can be.

Cheat on your gf, make her leave you and then try to make up with her. Great source of inspiration, too.

If making up didn't work, find a new gf and spend a few mad days with her. Very inspiring.

I think you get the gist... emotional trauma and new experiences, good or bad [but mostly bad] of real life is excellent for inspiration. However, if you have good imagination you can imagine all that and get inspired anyway. Maybe reading some good book can do the trick, too.

 

Listen to lots of different types of music, and try to mimic or reinvent the riffs and ideas present in a new genre.???
Big Distraction, Highly Disagree, !! Read Some Obituarys, listen to some Depressed people talk,or help a friend who's been in a bad relationship, thats where the real emotions and Words come from
with real life experiences, it hits home with every one and becomes a Smash hit....

 

yeah so take a rock/ metal sound riff and try changing it or use a different time signature, or any genre specific sound and try appying it to a different genre of music

 

Most people hit the nail on the head: get out there and live.

 

I kinda disagree when you say that "if it sounds like crap after 30 minutes... i close the program and give up", well.. you seem like a easly defeatable person. Why don't you take that failure song/project/whatever as a challange and try to fight to turn it from crap to gold? I always faced this kind of situations and i was telling myself "what the hell is this crap? It seems i got a new challange, let's clean the things up here and vitalize this baby into something really good" then i was started messing everything till i get something good in the end and it really worked .
The more you challange yourself to fight for your song, (like you would have a sick brother and you fight to make sure he will get healed), the better you become when it comes about fixing a raw crap and turning it in something great. I hate to give up... when i realize that i started composing a crap, i just stop for a few seconds and think... then i react accordingly and adjust everything till i win the battle of the "crap-evolution"
I always thought that even the crap have something to say. *yes*

My inspiration comes kinda random.. I shuffle random melodies in my head according my memories and my mood in that moment... As Sinewave said, emotions has a big role when it comes about inspiration. Sometimes you can even act silly or stupid playing the keyboard like a child and from all that randomness, there is always something popping up. Sometimes you can imagine like you would be left in the middle of the desert trying to get back to the closest City/Village to save yourself. Just try to express yourself musically what would you do to try to escape from that wildness. Maybe my words makes no sense, but actually that's the point, because if you take seriously even a cup of coffee imagining that the appearance of that black liquid have to say something, try to describe what it says in a musical way, even the nature-related stuff, it's more than inspiring.
Just inspire yourself with the expressiveness of the things around you because inspiration and imagination are more than friends, they're really fit well together. Even the most intelligent big names of the history had a bit of insanity and craziness, which it always played an important role for their progress.

 

Thanks to every one for the reply's they were very helpful

 

Oh and by the way Groove3 has a video called Creativity Kickstart, perhaps it could help.

 

Chocolate chip cookies are inspirational to me.

 

That's a damn good idea You made me starving for some sweeties.

Look for another source of inspiration:
http://www.worldstarhiphop.com/videos/video.php?v=wshh6U4V0s9Pyrq3do90

( i'm a bit off topic but i just saw this in the morning and i was pretty amused and "inspired" "bang bang homie" )
P.S.: They don't even care about how to hold that choppa' gun... i guess they were shooting the border patrol .

 

"How do you get inspiration?" Not at all. The inspiration gets me.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -- - - - - - - -- - -- - - - - -- - -

Edit: Here are two different quotes to think/meditate about.... Both musicians were masters in her musical genre.
One came from the East, the other one was from the West:

“What is inspired comes already arranged beforehand and there is very little to be done by the brain and by the mind.”
Hazrat Inayat Khan

"Music is 10% Inspiration and 90% Perspiration." (variation of a quote by Thomas Edison, who used the word "success" instead of "music").
Paco de Lucia

 

Does this not sound like me?

This one too. Actually all of them I have thought about at one time or other. Thanks for sharing X, great quotes.

 

The answer for me is 100% here --->

WHen I live in a house with a white picket fence, a wife, a kid a 9-5 job and a dog name spot... My creativity hits the sh!tter... however.. if I can not find a way to pay the next electric bill I imagine it would also suffer..

But...

Leaving that boring mundane life allows you to WAKE UP ! and gather experiences that you can record !


It does not have to be drugs... flings work VERY well... dating... texting, sexting all give you new things to record...

If its not about the Psycho you met (or did not) you can write about the one YOU wanted but but could not have because she was hellbent on screwing your sister... etc...

ya... SHE

SO much to write about even if you do not spend cash... but do not sit in 1 bar and expect songs to land in your lap !

GO many MANY places... see many things... do many things... hell... when you are bored... just do the first thing that comes to mind ! No matter how crazy.... if it does not land you in jail it WILL give you something to write about.... EVENTUALLY !

 

Wow man thanks, that's awesome of you to say. Yeah you're absolutely right, a lot of people think they will find themselves being social but the times that we make our greatest breakthroughs we're usually all alone. As usual you've found a way to express that which is difficult to put into words.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L1cHSoARzS0​

 

Did you do your Homework?
What do you know about Song structure?
Does your Song even need a Chorus?
What is a middle 8?
Are you Honest?

Playing a Instrument helps a lot, to understand.....
Bob Marley said "let the Music guide you"...
if you do not know what she is talking about,
you get lost in the Forest...
Learn her Language...

For me...making Music..is like a relationship
with a Women...
I do everything to get Her Attraction...
I try to seduce Her.....
I have to find out what makes her....Wet...
You have to be Honest,otherwise she will
not react..she will not give you love back...
You get what you give....

 

Well said, I feel the same way and that's why I undertook my often painful journey into theory. I forgot who it was but this producer said that in all his years making music what has he gained: control. True indeed.

 

Yeah Cat.....
Joy and Pain...
I like Sunshine...
I like Rain...

 

I watch pron, and reality show. Then I go to my favorite cafe. it usually works.