Snide: Musicians / Writers Block (Workarounds?)

Snide 08.28.16	Any advice would be fantastic!
Snide 08.28.16	"Never experienced it." You've never had any troubles writing music at all?
fuzzbuzzin 08.28.16	i hope i will die happily in the end of this all
YakNips 08.28.16	learn theory
fuzzbuzzin 08.28.16	theory is for suckers yak
fuzzbuzzin 08.28.16	marginal music is where we be at
Snide 08.28.16	@Yak: Music Theory? Is it better to take classes for it in college or to learn on your own?
YakNips 08.28.16	i took a year of it in high school which was fine but you can learn everything you need to know to make stuff that's simple and tasteful on your own using the internet
Snide 08.28.16	Okay. If you think it'll help I'll start brushing up on it. Most of the stuff I read / write is based on tabs and by ear so it'll be nice to fully learn sheet music and all those intricacies.
fuzzbuzzin 08.28.16	if you learn sheet music on your own, i will surrender my soul to you dude
Snide 08.28.16	My roommate plays piano and reads a bit of it so I won't be learning it entirely on my own, I'll have help.
BallsDeep 08.28.16	Every artist experiences this to some degree at some point, I sometime's feel that my solo attempts at making music are futile when you have established bands out there with extensive discographies that are probably superior musicians and have already produced similar music to what I want to produce, but I still enjoy writting and recording and i try to put my own spin on my work though alot of it (is acoustic) ends up sounding like Agalloch B-sides. Either way dont force yourself to write if youre not enjoying the process. Btw you definitely do not need to learrn theory and that can actually hinder creativity
fuzzbuzzin 08.28.16	that's dope
fuzzbuzzin 08.28.16	not what u said balls what snide said
Snide 08.28.16	It's not that I'm not enjoying the process Balls, it's that I'm legitimately stumped. For example on one of the songs I'm working on, there's an ambient vocal spoken passage with a variety of sound effects that leads into a nifty little guitar lead, but afterwords I just have no idea where to take the song. I don't want to awkwardly transition it into another melody, but I also don't want to repeat the melody in the guitar lead too much.
pizzamachine 08.28.16	You know what they say... make it more black metal.
Snide 08.28.16	I'm very disorganized as a person, and as a musician. Would music theory help me with that at all?
Snide 08.28.16	I'm a bit more organized as a musician than as a person. I guess that's mostly because for the amount of time I've been in music any instrumentals I've made have 80% of the time been electronic.
BallsDeep 08.28.16	Im a very lazy musician. For instance 3 of my strings have snapped on my electric so I've left it collecting dust under my bed and moved to writting and recording solely on my acoustic. But I can feel the riffs stirring inside me so ill have to get new ones soon. As for your song maybe reduce everything back to a single simplistic guitar lead/synth line which builds as more elements are introduced up to a crescendo sort of thing hahah idk you're not writting post metal are you. I had untitled 8 in my head as i wrote that comment
ShinjiIkari 08.28.16	08.24.16 Did A Little Remix 08.23.16 What the fuck am I doing with my life? 08.18.16 New EP Stream (Black Malachite) 08.14.16 New Track (Electronic / Chill) 08.03.16 New Song (Electronic) 07.12.16 New EP (Black Malachite) + Thanks 07.06.16 Debut Album Stream (Black Malachite) Geez...I wonder why you're stumped for creativity
YakNips 08.28.16	"Btw you definitely do not need to learrn theory and that can actually hinder creativity" if you consider context a detriment to creativity, i certainly don't
GmemberKills 08.28.16	if you force your self to write, more than likely the track is gonna come out feeling forced. Sometimes it's necessary to make yourself create, but i find it's best to wait until you find inspiration.
Snide 08.28.16	@Shinji: That's why I'm taking my time for this one. To really flesh my ideas out. @Balls: Believe it or not there actually is Post-Metal influences on this new album of mine. I kinda completely dropped the electronic approach I had done previously. @Gmember: It's not that I'm forcing myself, it's just that I had a really solid melody idea and I just don't know where to take it. @Yak: Context is nice.
ShinjiIkari 08.28.16	BlackMalachite, you're saying you're going to take time out for this new album and release it in 2017, but you're already forcing yourself to think about ideas so early. I think you need a new hobby or something to occupy your time. Music is inspired by life, not just forcing yourself to think of resolutions for hours on end. You can also make a compilation of ideas you have, and release it under a "compilation" set onto your Bandcamp. That way you can get the basic creative ideas you want to express out their, get feedback on it, and still have even more time to delay your next full length album.
GmemberKills 08.28.16	Well writers block isn't something you just magically make disappear with some sput user's comments. If you don't know where to take a melody then you really need wait until you find inspiration to do so. There isn't a time limit on creativity. Some artists make songs in minutes, while others toy with ideas for years and years. you seem really impatient to be honest.
Snide 08.28.16	@Gmember: Honestly; when it comes to music I'm incredibly impatient, hyper picky, and very, very selective. If I can't figure out a way to continue an idea, it pisses me off to no end. It's why my previous music can sometimes sound disjointed, and it's why I'm trying to take my time with this and really flesh things out. @Shinji: It's habit dude. It's habit for me to try and find a resolution to something instantly. @OvDeath: That's what I've been doing, but I'm hopping between tracks trying to think of things to do.
BallsDeep 08.28.16	Yeah I wouldn't even set a release date even a tentative one, just keep writting and recording and release it when it's ready to be. I know its always good to have a deadline to keep you motivated but while that may work for an assignment (one of which ive got due tomorrow night and havent started) i dont think it's the best idea for something like music where you want the process to be as natural as possible. That pressure to churn out music either to remain relevant or from record labels has led (contributed) to many great artists releasing subpar material. If you're really stuck you could try having a few beers, smoke some grass or possibly even taking a bit of acid? it might spark the creativity, or it might not.
Snide 08.28.16	@OvDeath: I'm not setting a release date until the album's done. @BallsDeep: I've only given myself a basic timeline of (finish it in 2017), nothing really too tentative. So it's not that I'm rushing myself in that regard, it's just that I want to finish it quickly, I love working but I also love working quickly. I've never been someone who's particularly patient. It's something that as a person I really have to work on.
Tyler. 08.28.16	i usually drink some bleach
Snide 08.28.16	I prefer orange juice.
BlueSwan 08.28.16	"i usually drink some bleach" remember when this was funny like 10 years ago
Tyler. 08.28.16	Haha yeah I do
BallsDeep 08.28.16	gotem tyler
Tyler. 08.28.16	Haha
Snide 08.28.16	Still preferring orange juice tbh.
Futures 08.28.16	try bleach i think you would like it
Snide 08.28.16	Naw man, orange juice is the best.
ScuroFantasma 08.28.16	No advice really, I just fuck around with riffs. But Yak's advice to learn theory is a good one, if you get stuck you'll have some possibilities in the back of your mind that you can attempt. Btw those influences sound promising, can't wait to hear it dude.
Futures 08.28.16	take a fucking break and try not pumping out an album every month jesus
ScuroFantasma 08.28.16	"if you learn sheet music on your own, i will surrender my soul to you dude" Basic reading of it is easy, just takes practice, but... "Okay. If you think it'll help I'll start brushing up on it. Most of the stuff I read / write is based on tabs and by ear so it'll be nice to fully learn sheet music and all those intricacies" It's also super not necessary unless you're planning on reading it to play music (so not helpful for MAKING music), or if you're planning for some reason on writing out your own music (and why would you do that). What you'd want to focus on is chord and scale theory, modes can add flavour and give you a better understanding of how major and minor work and relate to each other so you might want to check that out too. Harmonic theory is helpful too if you're planning on doing all of this solo, which it seems you do always, so having an understanding of chord inversions, melody and harmony is pretty useful.
ScuroFantasma 08.29.16	https://www.musictheory.net During my first semester uni course we were directed to use this site as a supplement, but for the basics it's all there and could be a one stop shop. I suggest begining with intervalics and chord theory, but to understand it you'll need to be able to at least read notes on a staff. Use the whole FACE EveryGoodBoysDeservesFruit and you'll be fine.
Graveyard 08.29.16	It's starts with a concept for me. After that the music comes naturally.
iloveyouall 08.29.16	My biggest influences for this album are Sigur Ros, Opeth, Olafur Arnalds
Snide 08.29.16	@Futures: This album's not coming out till 2017. I'm taking way more than a month on it. I'm trying to take my time with it, I have a lot to say, and I want this album to be way more personal and stripped down than previous efforts. @Scuro: Thank you for the advice! I'll look into chord and scale theory, that way I hopefully can get a better idea of these kinds of things and utilize it in my writing. @Graveyard: That's how it usually starts for me, but for some reason my creative well is a little dry right now. @iloveyouall: Sigur Ros, Opeth, and Olafur Arnalds are my biggest influences for the new album though.
SlackContortion 09.02.16	Get better taste in music.