Stuck in a creative musical rut

[shinobidice]

I'm really having problems coming up with my own stuff, and I realize its because I don't know where to start. I have been playing bits and pieces of dream theater on my own, easy powerchord mainstream covers for girly birthday partys with the band, semi-interesting powerchord alternative sounding stuff with our new singer original music, but really on my own I have little to say.

My biggest problem is, I have a great capacity to learn, I'm self taught (2 years) and I pick up songs/parts easily. That is, when someone else has already played it and i can hear how it goes. I can improv stuff but I really don't have much theory knowledge other than some basics. I really need to learn some scale stuff and progressions, but with so much out there, I don't know where to start!

What are some tips on scales, progressions, theory, blah, and all that jazz? I have a lot of raw talent that i need to fine tune into music. I'd post recordings, but the lack of my own stuff while trying to record today brought me to post this thread.

Thanks in advance, if there's already a thread like this, point me that way (i didnt do much of a search for anything like this yet)

[OpIvyKills]

If you don't want to delve too deep into theory, you could just take some scales, find a few notes from the scale that sound good together and just play those notes. If you want to stick with power chords, you could make the notes you pick out the root note of a power chord.

You might know this already, but the root is the lowest pitched note of a chord. For example, the G chord's lowest note is the 3rd fret of the 6th (thickest) string, which is a G note.

If you want to learn some theory, I'd recommend the music theory section of Cyberfret.com

[shinobidice]

Alright, well I do know some theory, like minor chords have a flatted 3rd, powerchords are root-fifth-octave and the like. I understand the progressions for major scales are usually I-IV-V and that chords go major minor minor major major minor diminished etc. SO i do know a bit of theory. What I don't know is how to effectively use scales and progressions together. Or where to start with chords and a melody line. I'm taking theory in school this year so that should help a lot, but for now I'd like to work on things on my own.

What are some good scales to learn, and how can i integrate them into chord progressions? I just don't understand how 8 notes can turn into music like Dream Theater. Do you just play around in the scale til you come up with a riff/melody? Then do you apply a chord progression? DO you start off witha progression? This is where i'm stuck

[shinobidice]

I checked cyberfret, the site doesnt help me much.

[Aus_rock_god]

Learn some more covers.

Seriously.

Every new song you come up with is just a mix of ideas you've got from other people's music (most of the time you don't even know you're doing it). Just learn some new songs, and you'll become inspired.

[Trigger_003]

Yeah, that does help.

It sounds like you've got enough theory for cyberfret to be useless to you - which is great. In which case I direct you to musicthoery.net.
*hopes you can read notation* (if you don't, it'd be great to learn in the long run - makes composition SO much easier if you use theory in conjunction with it... you'll be laughin')

At least make your way up to the lessons on circle progressions. If something doesn't make sense, the lessons are all in order, so just pick a spot where you reckon you're at.

Once you know that kind of stuff (shouldn't take long - ask here if you need to) I can give you some advice on things that make up good, simple melodies and stuff like that.

But right now I really have to get onto my study.

[Jo Shoe Wah]

Also in regards to actually writing new music, Inspiration is what you need, an idea for a song which you can turn into lyrics or music. Once you get the idea work out what quality's of that idea you want to express in the music, such as a thicker texture at one point, a sadder or happier tempo/rhythm to the song and chord progression etc. Experiment with these ideas until you're happy with them and then change what you're not happy with, this really helps getting out of a creative rut or writers block.

A wider range of music theory knowledge never hurts either, knowing what scales or notes will suit your progression or which will seem sadder or happier depending on your idea or mood you want to set, there are countless possibilities for what you can do to your idea to make it music. Inspiriation is often the hardest part, once you know what you want, just keep changing it up until you're happy.

[i am the robots]

No offense, but you'd probably be best as a rhythm player then, let someone come up with something, and then just give them something nice to play over.

[Aus_rock_god]

Recording also really helps. The best songs I've written started as riffs I've made up and remembered. I then recorded the said riffs and added another guitar on top of it. Then I'd probably jam on that for a while, come up with more of a structure, turf the old recording, record the new version, and keep adding stuff until I'm happy with it.

I have a really weird way of writing music though. I can have a riff for months, and not bother to record it, because I work on the theory of "if it's good enough to remember, it's good enough to keep".

Once I get around to recording, I'll do it in spurts. ie: record, crack the ****s coz it sucks, delete it, have a smoke, play some computer games, go to sleep for a bit, become inspired to add some extra bits, try again, decide that it's a little better with the extra bits, crack the ****s again, delete it again, repeat until I no-longer crack the ****s.

A song usually takes between 2 days and a week to compose this way, but it's worth it.

[trainwreck orchestra]

do you have guitar pro?

if so, i find getting my fave toons onto guitar pro and taking out the guitars and bass and leaving in the drums then writing new guitar and bass parts onto it helps composing. then you can obviously make adjustments to the drums to suit you style/ playing. after you have done this for a while, you will have many riffs and solos and progressions etc and will be able to mix and play around with them and then hopefully find your creative style

i think you can only ever truely compose your own music from your imagination but theory and practical knowledge of music can help a lot.

[shinobidice]

I have powertab, lots of powertabs, and i can play bits and pieces of many songs. I try hard and challenge myself to music thats hard to play just to help increase my skill, speed, dexterity, and overall musical ability.

Eleventeen, that remark makes me think you're a jackass. No offense, but you have no place in telling me where to be. In the band i'm in, we're all in highschool, and none of us (except for the drummer) have more than 3 years experience. I'm probably the best musically inclined person that plays an instrument in the band, and i acknowledge that i'm not the best and i need improvement. I live in a rural area, theres 41 people in my graduating class, so its not like there's many people involved with music.

Aus Rock, I have audacity and i do record things. I find i can learn and improve on hearing what i play. Its amazing how much different and inherently worse it sounds when played back rather than played.

Jo so, you have hit what i'm looking for, the meld between progression and scales, i just don't know where to really work at it. I understand i need inspritation, and i often get it in pieces but not enough to work too much out. I also need to not expect to pump out hits, but mediocre songs to work on.

Trigger 003, thanks, i'll check that site out. I have taken piano, oboe, and alto sax when i was in middleschool, but due to a bitch of a band director, i quit. big mistake. but getting into guitar i have refreshed my sightreading skills and i can read treble and bass clefs.