PlainFlavored
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It's kind of surprising that nobody has posted this thread before, so I'm going for it, I suppose.
Lately I've been having an extremely hard time writing music I feel personally satisfied with, and in many ways I've felt like I've hit a creative dead end. Maybe it's due to an entire summer of writing music all day every single day, or perhaps it is due to some sort of existential crunch, or my standards are too high... Regardless, I'm a bit tired of not having new ideas or motivation to continue on musical projects, some of which have been going for years. I've tried everything from taking a break to working on other projects to working with other people, but to no avail.

Basically what I'm asking is:

1. Am I the only one here who has experienced this?
2. If not, how did you overcome it?

OwenMcGarry
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Wellington, NZ

When I get a writers block I try to play with a new scale.  Started messing with the Egyptian scale in a recent song (C D E♭ F♯ G A♭ B C).

Lazerbeat
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Tokyo, Japan

Lazerscale

10k
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nɐ˙ɯoɔ˙ʎǝupʎs

A1) Most people get it. Only the stupidly prolific (little-scale) don't. Thought they probably do and just deal with it better.

A2) Not write when it isn't coming to you/Write in spite of it not coming to you.

egr
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Abandoned on Fire

Try to make a ridiculously ambitions cover knowing that you won't finish it.  Then use the bits and pieces you generate to make something new (finish it even if it blows).

Possible suggestions:  Paranoid Android, Faeries Wear Boots, or Number of the Beast.  smile

Crystal Labs
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San Luis Obispo, CA

I'm sure everyone who creates anything has experienced this, and am interested in hearing people's remedy to this sort of problem. Creative blocks can be so draining... especially when feeling both internal and external pressure to do whatever it is you do.

I don't really make music, but if I'm feeling stuck on a project (a game, a design project, etc), I like to work on something else creative for a bit, regardless of how different it might be so that I can still feel accomplishment in a task.

PS.: Listening to Hexadecimator right now. So good.

Decktonic
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Westfield, NJ

Well one thing you could try: listen to some new music and find something that you like, rather than listening to the stuff you already have in your library. Better if it's outside of the genres you usually listen to. See if this new music inspires you in some way.

likeluke
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brooklyn!

i've had so much of this it's crazy. as 10k perfectly put it, there are two ways to approach it that work for me: you can either sit down and try new stuff until you end up with something you're excited about, or you can just step back and leave music alone for a little bit. i love the feeling of re-approaching something you left unfinished a couple days/weeks/months/years later and having a new perspective on it, however slight your change of perspective may be.
also, listening to a lot of music you haven't heard before can be a big bolster for creativity. i know that i've often picked up new records and thought about how i could translate something similar to an awesome concept i hear, sending me on some crazy all-night tracking sesh.
excited for new output, schackart. heart

likeluke
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brooklyn!
Decktonic wrote:

Well one thing you could try: listen to some new music and find something that you like, rather than listening to the stuff you already have in your library. Better if it's outside of the genres you usually listen to. See if this new music inspires you in some way.

posted also at 10:52. try it, yo.

@decktonic nice jam at 8static open mic last night.

PlainFlavored
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Yo! Thanks for the unexpected love/compliments, you guys are too kind. Glad to see that this thread really resonated with some people. I also think that part of this has to do with the apprehension and doubt involved with packaging and sending out demos to commercial labels, which is something that I think is unique to only me (when compared with the rest of the people in this thread).

I do have a massive vault of sketches and riffs, and some little-used trackers to try them out in.

Battle Lava
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Often when I have a block I just wish I could look at so many .lsdsng's until I find what I'm looking for, whatever that may be at the time.  Which is what makes LSDSNG SWAP so cool, but not enough people use it sad

Though I treasure the one little-scale .sav I have...

kineticturtle
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Matthew Joseph Payne

I've been writing something, ANYTHING every day as a practice regimen. Most of it will never see the light of day. As time goes on, I'm finding myself more able to write reliably and to make the ideas that float through my head stick.

Decktonic
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Westfield, NJ
likeluke wrote:

posted also at 10:52. try it, yo.

Cool bros think alike?

likeluke wrote:

@decktonic nice jam at 8static open mic last night.

Thanks! I'll be posting an mp3 in the music section soon...

Rad_Gravity
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Missouri

If i'm feeling super dry. I go for a walk at night and start work on a remix. Usually NIN, Daft Punk or Gary Numan. Something crazy.

The Silph Scope
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Riverside, CA

sex.

freezedream
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Adelaide, Australia

I have the 'start new track and don't finish old track' problem at the moment and it's a killer too. I've had it for months now and am not exactly sure how best to overcome it apart from just trying to finish old tracks and not starting new ones. I get to a point where I don't know where the track ought to go next and there it sits, unfinished. Maybe my attention span (or spare time) is just too short at the moment. I don't know.