Everyone gets blocked sometimes. Nothing emo about it.

If you have questions about theory or scales or chords, ask.

http://diymusician.cdbaby.com/2010/10/w … od-enough/

rape music.
abort theory

Thank you all for chiming in on this discussion. for the record this was not an emo or self pity thread. just a lot of inter duologue i put on the internet to see what you all would consider to be a unique creative mind state and work flow .

Linde: when i say  "by ear": I mean literally sitting with an instrument and discovering what notes and chords work well with each other. This is a time consuming task that knowing theory would eliminate.

No, do both.

it depends on how hard on yourself you want to be when making music.  An idea for a song can help you get started, but i dont think it helps you finish a song, in some cases no matter what, an idea can make you dislike the end product based off of how far you deviated from the original thought process.

Fuck theory
Shape sound

agreed with boomlinde, i can name very very few musicians in school for music theory right now who actually make good music on their own. years of theory definitely changes the way you think, i'm guilty of this as well a little bit, but whenever i hear someone with theory knowledge solo, they always go for modulations and key changes and just generally think of what to play in the most technical way possible to show off 'how good they are'
it's so cold and robotic whateva, rant over

they just don't want you here friend.

Yes, I think most beautiful works of art come from a combination of experience and intuition, and not so often deliberate explorations of technical theory.

I doubt anyone does (although I recommend trying!). You will always build up a set of concepts, ideas and patterns from just making music (you probably do it intuitively and subconsciously) that you will come back to when you're composing the next time. If you are a human, you will analyze and theorize about most everything you do whether you want to or not.

Take some time to realize that nothing is perfect. What makes a song perfect for you? Also keep in mind that imperfections can highlight beauty.

EDIT: I think we need to define what "purely from ear" means. Literally speaking, it makes no sense of course, but I think that InactiveX and I are a few steps apart in our definitions. What I meant to say is that there's always some knowledge you build upon when creating music (or kicking balls), whether you read it in some book, heard it, found out by practice or were inspired by something else. I don't really believe in ultimate originality, and there's no such thing as making something up out of the blue, which I'm sure InactiveX will agree with. Just so that's clear

I guess that InactiveX interpreted the question more like "how many of you guys create music purely by intuition?" while my own interpretation was really too literal to be of any use at all.

Agreeing with what PlainFlavored just said. Getting away from the computer seems to do wonders for me.

Also, take risks and try stuff you aren't comfortable with. Many of my 'creative breakthroughs' have come when I pushed myself into unfamiliar territory. For example: two years ago I started sampling vinyl. At first it was daunting because I had no real idea what the heck to do to make the samples sound good in a song, but now I can't imagine working without them. Most of the brass parts in the album I'm working on are nothing more than reprocessed bits from old jazz records. They practically know me at the thrift stores now.

This one is very important. So much distraction.

oh i using hardware. that's an awesome tune.

go write a song about it