For the Love of All Things VG Music; If you have a request, PM me! I'll check it out and get back to you! Thanks for all your support! <3
Age 35, Other
Singer
Sierra College
Joined on 6/7/05
Posted by VGSongbird - May 21st, 2011
I think the title of this one pretty much explains itself.
PEOPLE... I'm creatively drained.
I haven't been able to complete a single project in a month. And forget starting any new ones. It's like my mind has been warped and I just can't arrange anything I like right now!
Tell me how you guys get out of these ruts; I'm losing my mind over here.
</3
Here's what you do, just listen to music. Have a pen in your hand.
And just doodle whatever comes to your feeling in the hand or in your mind.
Don't worry about mistakes, just draw draw draw.
Well, I won't draw (I'm NO visual artist), but I have been giving the "just sit and write out whatever comes to mind" theory a try.
Well, if you're in that big a creative slump, you likely won't get out easily. I wish I had some good advice, but I've been in and out of a creative slump for years. Or to be more specific, a writer's block. If you have any big personal issues that have come into you life recently, the slump might go away if those issues get resolved. That's what always seemed to be the driving force for me as to whether I was in a slump or not. I've tried different things, but if there's an underlying problem, I've never been able to just get out of the slump without first taking care of the problem. That said, if there's nothing going on in your life that you think might be connected and this is just some out of the blue random creative slump from nowhere, then I have no idea what to tell you. Sorry. Still, don't worry too much about it. We'll miss your music, but you can't help the slump. Whatever's causing it, it'll get better in time. I wish you luck overcoming this slump!
Well, I don't know a single soul out in the universe that doesn't have a problem looming over their head; me, I've got quite a few. Big ones too. But I guess if I can't solve them right away, I'll just have to keep trying until I succeed.
Me, I just write down ideas as they come to me, which is rarely, and just focus on one idea at a time, even if I think of something for another project. I suggest you organize your ideas on writing and focus all or most of your energy on just one project. before I started doing this (I am a musician (here), a filmmaker (YouTube), and an artist (DeviantART)), I couldn't keep one idea for very long, and my hobbies didn't help when I was juggling a dual major in Traditional Art and Biology, as well as a minor in Music. I then bought 3 notebooks, wrote down ideas as they popped into my head, and work on them one at a time. Because of that, I am able to keep track of my works, put a lot of detail into my projects without fear of losing anything as it came to me, and have plenty of backups if the present one didn't seem so good to me. Since then, I have created tons of pictures, music, and movies, all with a decent quality better than my old ones.
I also draw inspiration for my works from my interests, like my videos are all comedies me and my friends think of when we are doing stupid things, my music are all remixes of Mario and Zelda music, and my art is a combination of Flash series here on NG, or Nintendo themed. I suggest you take some time off and write down some things you think would be cool to make into music (also, just as a stupid fan suggestion, an A capella version of Ballad of the Windfish would be very nice to hear, but if you don't want to do it, no problem or complaint from me.)
WHOA. Hold up. Let me read this whole thing :D
First of all, congrats on working the dual majors, the minor, and the free hobby time. That's intense.
Secondly, yeah I really should just try to focus on one idea at a time, but I am SOOOO bad at that. I have like 20 projects going right now, and what ends up happening is I start an idea, lose focus/concentration/inspiration in the middle, take a break, and then can't come back to it. And I almost never scrap anything that I work that hard on. So they're all just sitting on the metaphorical "dusty shelf" of my hardrive.
Creative thought cannot be forced. just take a break from it. Inspiration has a tendency to sneak up on you and bite you in the ass when you least expect it.
I have done that. I've been working on pieces before, and thrown down my headphones, screaming "I NEED A BREAK!" :D
I won't ever force anything. That's how BAD music is made.
I don't know if you remember me, but I used to go by the name of Mike-Hedgedog.
When I'm in a slump, I usually wait for something to hit me. I go on youtube and listen to other songs until I'm inspired. I try not to finish a project until I'm sure that I have something, otherwise, I'll just end up discouraged when I can't think of anything. I guess you could say I just relax and listen to other artist's music.
I hope I've been of some help to one of MY inspirations.
I remember you ^_^
I love listening around the portal, youtube, and just to the radio/iPod to just relax and wait for ideas... I just have been coming up with crappy ones recently. But I agree, it is a helpful technique.
Videogames.
Videogames like your life depends on it!
I've been playing so much Twilight Princess lately, it's almost ridiculous.
But it really motivates me! :O
LOL I love your use of the words "Video games" as a verb. Fantastic :D
Yeah, I've been playing Twilight Princess too. But I don't want to put too much television into my head... that would just hurt the process.
I'm currently trying to climb out of one of those myself. What I try to do is try listening to other genres of music, pieces that might be a little outside of your comfort zone for inspiration. If you have little melodies stuck in your head, write 'em down or record them before you forget. Build on whatever you heard around you.
I always try to do that--write them down before I forget them; but I always seem to go back and delete them afterward. Maybe I just need to work on my confidence instead of my conscious...
Ice cream always helps me.
Lol Girl + Summer = Diet; sorry ;)
If i get into a slump of any kind, I either start to day dream all of the time to come up with ideas or i take a week(end) off to pump many many types of music into my ears to completely forget the slump entirely. Then try to work with my new ideas.
I'm completely without responsibility right now (medical leave from work), so in theory I should be able to just listen to music and go for it. We'll see how it works out.
usually when I'm on a project and I'm at a cross roads i turn to the thing that inspire in the first place like a song a story or a event and it starts to roll again and don't fuss over it all you got to do is let it flow if this doesn't help I'm sorry
p.s.
i'm a really a big fan and i was sad to hear about your slump (big tear)
Aww well thank you for supporting me, Mr. Big Fan :D
And I appreciate the input on this problem I'm having. It just KILLS me as an artist to get into a slump.
just listen to the song you are working on until inspiration comes to you
Lol I have done that. It usually works; not for this one. This is a serious road block in my train of thought.
hardriver
well im not much of a music "maker" but i rely on imagination to keep me entertained most of my life....mostly involving my surroundings.
so maybe all you really need to do is go outside sit back and dream....
your mind can overcome any obstacle.
hope this helps :/
VGSongbird
Lol I do tons of dreaming these ways; but I agree that stressin' it isn't going to make the music come out faster :)