Guitar.com - A place for guitarists to call home

Forums > Electric Guitar > Always Improving!

Jump:

Forums > Electric Guitar > Always Improving!

Code of Conduct Search

Original message:324 days 13 hours 52 minutes ago

+ 1

Member: Alski

448
WebCred

Well, Im back from wherever I was on the internet, and the internet always leads me back here.
I feel more and more serious about guitar, but there are some things that jump in my way.
CREATIVITY AND SOUNDING POLISHED

I have tried writing stuff, to some avail, (music theory wasnt a goal, but the small knowledge of it kinda just seeped into my playing), but what I write isnt EXCITING, or anything. I will be trying to post my stuff on this site, so that I can get some criticizm from the pros :P
What are some of the ways you find "inspiration" for a song, or what are some tips on being original?

My music recommendations:

myspace.com/alski0

Reply:324 days 13 hours 4 minutes ago
Member: this dying soul

+ 1

1736
WebCred

does laying a guitar on the floor in front of a cranked marshall and whacking the strings along the fretboard with the tail of a rubber aligator count as original?

I saw a guy doing this on stage once. :)

My music recommendations:

My gear recommendations:

Reply:324 days 6 hours 7 minutes ago
Member: farlow

+ 3

2773
WebCred

I don't want to sound deep, but music comes from your life. My music has been very stale for about a year and so has my life. Years ago I could break out of a slump by listening to something completely different. About 1972 I was bored with rock so I bought a Django Reinhardt album. By 1980 I was sick of electric fusion so I bought a Patsy Cline album. You don't have to follow the new direction, it just gives you a break from all the progress you're not making. I wouldn't write off the "rubber alligator" idea either.

My music recommendations:

My gear recommendations:

I have no signature

Reply:324 days 1 hours 38 minutes ago
Member: Alski

+ 1

448
WebCred

Farlow, I think I may have been doing that for some time, but havent realized it. I switch between Ska, then to Prog Rock, then Funk, then, who knows what else. I should probably say what my situation with the guitar is. I have been playing for 2 years (yeah, i know, not very long) and I really love it. Do you think that someone that has been playing for 2 years should now consider writing? And should I even worry about being creative?

My music recommendations:

myspace.com/alski0

Reply:323 days 21 hours 34 minutes ago
Member: Evil Kitty

+ 3

332
WebCred

I don't think being experienced has anything to do with writing music. I suck at writing lyrics but am pretty good at writing music. If someone hands me lyrics that will usually inspire me. Or I try to find a moment or an emotion and try to express in musically. Stay away from tired emotions like love and despair...try something like musically creating the feeling of punching someone in the face (metal) or being extremely nervous (insert any relevant situation) or embarrassment etc... Think of it like a film score, imagine yourself in a situation and if it was a movie what would the background music be?

Music is art and it is about expressing feeling through sound. Knowing music theory can help (certain chord structures have certain feelings) but you can always get a big chord book - or find a chord chart online - and play through them until you find one that fits, then find chords that go with it and put it together like a puzzle.

Thats what I do anyway, hope it helps!!

My music recommendations:

My gear recommendations:

Moslem or Christians Mullah or Pope, Preacher or poet who was it wrote Give any one species too much rope And they'll f*ck it up.

Reply:323 days 20 hours 3 minutes ago
Member: Alski

+ 1

448
WebCred

Thanks Evil Kitty, thats an interesting way of looking at it. I was watching this one Q&A with Omar Rodriguez-Lopez, and he was saying that he wants his music to sound like the situations in his favorite movies, which I think is what you are saying. One issue I have is the whole what-to-do-first thing. Do you or most people start with a chord progression, then make a melody and riffs? But what if you are going to use power chords and you are doing a rock song? Where do all of the minors and such go? When I think of something nervous, I think of certain songs, my mind doesnt just make it up. Do you hear things before you play them? Or do you mess around, and when you find something that you like, you stick with it?

My music recommendations:

myspace.com/alski0

Reply:323 days 16 hours 36 minutes ago
Member: Evil Kitty

+ 1

332
WebCred

Depends on the song. If I am fooling around and stumble across a cool riff then I build the song around that. If it is a softer song I will build around lyrics or chords.

My music recommendations:

My gear recommendations:

Moslem or Christians Mullah or Pope, Preacher or poet who was it wrote Give any one species too much rope And they'll f*ck it up.

Reply:323 days 18 hours 47 minutes ago
Member: Tobias Kriebisch

+ 1

6
WebCred

Often i just have an idea or a subject and some lines of lyrics pop into my mind. That can be just very stupid things or even just a few words. Then i take some chords from a scale and put them over the lyrics and sing what ever comes in my mind. The result was that most of the time i was singing the root note of the chord :). boring as hell. But you can get to some interesting things quiet fast.
That was the way i tried it first and it worked out. Actually i would say there is only one way pick up your guitar and play and sing no matter how awful it may sound. You will become individually over time. It's like building character.

My gear recommendations:

Reply:323 days 4 hours 42 minutes ago
Member: farlow

+ 1

2773
WebCred

Years ago I read about a technique that Bowie used when ke was stuck, called "Cut-Up" You write out a series of random sentences or phrases like "My dog likes chasing rabbits" "That green car has a flat tyre" "Sometimes I worry about growing old" "the sunset was very fiery tonight" Next you cut up all the lines into individual words, put them in a bag and draw them out at random. You don't have to sing "the flat green dog worries about fiery rabbits" but the random imagery can help to break your stale thought patterns. By the way I did much more writing at the beginning of my playing. It's the best time to write because you haven't any preconceptions about about what you're supposed to sound like or what your themes are in terms of your narrative and imagery.

My music recommendations:

My gear recommendations:

I have no signature

Reply:323 days 3 hours 4 minutes ago
Member: frumsapap

3280
WebCred

I read a lot of novels, poetry, prose, listen to a lot of different styles, but my main influence has and always will be what I'm feeling. There is nothing wrong with writing about love. I believe that is treated as a condition now a days instead of an emotion. What inspires you to play there, Alski? What makes you pick up the guitar? You're never too young or old or too newbie, or whatever to write music, lyrics, whatever. Fuck, Mozart was 3 when he conducted his first symphony. There are too many people who limit themselves to what they think they can do, these days. Maybe it has something to do with the fact that we let our electronic devices talk for us, wake us up. "Push a button, here it is." Get out and look around you man. There are plenty of things in the world to inspire. My wife inspires me, when she cooks something especially special from scratch, or when she runs by me playing guitar in the living room wearing only a towel. My daughter inspires me when she recieves an award for something she excelled at. The Guinea pig makes me laugh, and that inspires me. Hell looking at the way people react to me inspires me. I find it every where. Reading ancient text, or Zen philosophy, or getting in a debate with the guys on G.com gets me riled up and inspires me. Shit it's every where!!!

My music recommendations:

My gear recommendations:

Time is a death-lock of the mind, a corporeal, linear insurrection of the spirit.

Jump: