If you’ve been writing music for a while you’ve probably encountered writer’s block at least once by now. In fact, most of us will likely experience this well known frustration at some point in our writing career. The feeling of sitting down at a desk to write and not being inspired by anything is tough to handle, and it’s even worse when you’re under a tight deadline e.g. writing for a publisher’s brief. In this article we’ll look at 10 tips and techniques on how to overcome composer’s block.
1. Play For An Audience
At first this may not seem obvious, but give it a try and see how it can help you to resolve your writer’s block. And it doesn’t have to mean lining up an appearance for yourself at a big concert in LA. Maybe just take a small instrument and hang out with a friend. Or spend an evening messing around on your tablet, even on the most basic software you have, experimenting with melodies while watching TV with your significant other. Sure, you might eventually drive them crazy, but that’s a small price to pay for a fresh and inspiring melody, right?
2. Attend Live Music
Whether it’s a big concert or a singer songwriter open mic night, you might find that getting out and hearing music played live in person helps you beat your music writer’s block. We’re of course not suggesting you start transcribing the music you hear, but instead that you let it move you. Inspiration so often comes from feeling something, and that’s really the goal here. As well as a change of scene.
3. Take a Break
Take a break. Not just any break. A real break, where you avoid feeling guilty about not writing, and you don’t feel obligated to write either. Combining this with doing something outside the studio, or even outside the house might work best. It’s hard to force yourself through a creative block in music, so sometimes, don’t try to force it! By focusing on something totally unrelated, for example, a good book, a hobby, or by simply relaxing, your mind might have a chance to rest and come back with new ideas when you’re ready. This tip can also involve, if you have the time and resources, a trip somewhere different. “Getting out of yourself” might be a cliché, but it can work very well too.
4. Transcribe an Old Piece
Try listening to an old classical piece, e.g. Mozart, and try to transcribe it by ear. Sure, not necessarily every single part, since I’m assuming we’re not all musical geniuses, but maybe a top melody line or general theme. In fact, whether it’s a simple or complex piece it doesn’t matter, it’s for the compositional exercise. While transcribing it, and moving those MIDI notes around, you might find it sparks an idea in your mind and bam – goodbye composer’s block. At least until next time!
5. Limit Instruments and Software
Less is more, at least sometimes, and this could be one of those times. These days, software especially is so much more affordable, if not free, that we can end up with an overwhelming amount of choices. It can be surprisingly inspiring to cut away most of it and try to write with just one instrument. It could be a piano on its own. Or just one synth preset for example. Either way, try ignoring – or if you’re really desperate, uninstalling – all your other software for a time. It might just help more than you expected.
6. Try Recording Something Live
Try adding live elements, even if seemingly out of left field. You never know what might inspire you. If you don’t play an instrument, that’s fine too. You can try all kinds of things like tapping on a desk and recording it into your phone. There are almost limitless possibilities here, such as recording the sound of your pets and twisting the recordings with FX in your DAW. Even if this doesn’t fix your music writer’s block, you might learn a new technique for live recording you hadn’t thought of.
7. Watch a Movie
For those of us who like to solve problems from the couch, this leisurely tip could help to inspire you. It can just as easily be a book, or anything that captures your imagination. Check out Esquire’s list of their top 40 saddest movies of all time: https://www.esquire.com/entertainment/movies/g32308973/best-sad-movies-of-all-time. Maybe not the best if you’re trying to get inspired for an upbeat happy-go-lucky brief, but there are plenty of similar lists for you to check out.
8. Play Around With Royalty Free Loops
A tip which is very specific to overcoming writer’s block in music, this could be worth a try. Placing a few royalty free loops you’ve purchased into your DAW and chopping them up, maybe adding effects and pitch shifting can lead you to surprising results. Perhaps you’ll create an atmosphere that inspires you to write a top line melody, eventually building out a whole track. You can of course combine this with tip 6, and layer in some experimental recordings.
9. Design Your Environment
This could be considered helpful advice in general, and not just for coping with composer’s block. Design your environment so that it’s as easy as possible to get creative. If you have to unlock two doors, three cabinets, plug in five sockets and wait ten minutes to be able to hear anything come out of your MIDI keyboard, chances are you’ll feel less inclined to sit down and start making music than if you can just pick up an instrument, or open a laptop lid, and start experimenting.
10. Transpose and Resample Old Ideas
If you have some old ideas lying around which you’ve never got around to finishing, try transposing them up or down. You can even try resampling the exported ideas to transform them into a different style entirely. For example, you can render an orchestral piece left unfinished and then place it into your DAW’s sampler to play over a hip hop beat. All kinds of interesting ideas can come out of this technique and can help with how to get out of a creative block.
Conclusion
Overcoming creative blocks may not take more than one of these tips, or you might find something else that works too. It certainly doesn’t have to be as frustrating as it first seems, and we hope you find a way forward quickly. If you have any tips too, let us know in the comments below.
For a related and interesting discussion on daily routines and workflows check out: https://musiclibraryreport.com/forums/topic/daily-routines-and-the-creative-process/