SketchMan3 wrote:

Learn music composition

constructive

edit:

also filters

To expound... Even just the basics of classical composing techniquez can help.

Or you can just throw in a cmshot and magically a whole new world of tonal exploration is open to yewww

I shift the bass around when I'm stuck, which works especially well for differentiating new sections and melodies tend to write themselves over an interesting bassline, or progression in the least (ex: I always try to start on a new note from the previous section).

Yeah I didn't think of it, but I do tend to let the bass do the walking. which is usual the *root note, or wherever, in my songs. The bass note is just dancing around the root of the chords usually.

I can go either way on the "leave it alone for a while" thing. Sometimes I just power through, and write anything, with the knowledge that I can always reload the song.

Learn music composition

constructive

edit:

also filters

So make a simple loop with not too many stuff, go to the next one, the next one, again and again. Then try to solve moving previous to the next. There will be trash loop, and you will not use them, no problem.
Stop working only on "one loop", you overthink...

Prog advice: Smash cut to a completely different key, time signature, tempo, or all of the above. Even to something that sounds like it should be a totally different song. Then, figure out how you would go about getting back to the original loop, or a variation thereof. I do this all the time in my prog stuff and it helps me every time.

Other: Eno's Oblique Strategies are good for times like this:
http://stoney.sb.org/eno/oblique.html
Often it gives seemingly unrelated advice but I've always been able to take something from it.

This is also good advice!

Make up a few verses of goofy lyrics, add a new tune to the second verse and then forget all the lyrics. Maybe that will mix it up a bit.

That's pretty creative!