Inspiration?

I have to shut off everything.  No stereo, TV, PC, phone, etc.  I can't listen to anything else when I'm working on a song.  I may start with a bass line or a drum part, but I'll build it out mentally until I've got every part.  If I can't finish the song, I'll file that segment away and let the subconscious work on it.  Sometimes, I'll get that kick from the nether reaches of my mind that tells me that a part I've ruminated on for months has just been finished.

I've been told my process is not normal.

Mesh

Firing up the DAW without any preconceived ideas and start from scratch?

Never this.

Noodling around with your guitar

This. I try and get the whole thing laid out in some form before I record anything, otherwise it's the kiss of overdub death.

 

Mesh

Firing up the DAW without any preconceived ideas and start from scratch? Noodling around with your guitar, keyboard...

 

For me, I'd say that's pretty much it.
In all honesty, I am relatively undesciplined. I generally noodle with a guitar or explore variuos synth sounds.
If I stumble across a riff that I really like, or something suggests itself, I'll run with it. As an idea gels, I get more focused.
As a rule, my songs are more the result of a happy accident than a preconcieved notion.
I've also noticed that I get easily distracted if I try to listen to other stuff while I am working on a project.
Hence my long absences from the Songs forum. I don't even listen to the radio in the van during the day.
When I was working out of my personal van, I could put my tracks on a thumb drive, and listen to them throughout the day. I can't do that in the company van.

doing this....



Sometimes taking pictures can inspire me as well...

Some songs come from ideas for a great lyric hook or a title that sounds really good.  Quite a few of the songs I have written were started like that. 

Sometimes I send them to my co-writer and she comes back with some good lyrics and that fuels the process. 

Messing on the guitar or keyboard doesn't really get me too many ideas. 

Listening to songs other people write will sometimes inspire me. Jimmy Gentry and a song he wrote inspired a song that Pat & I wrote called....That Ought to Count for Something...... I sent his song to my co-writer with explicit instruction not to copy anything in Jimmy's song, but to use it as a guide for whatever idea she came up with. One day later she sent me the lyrical idea and I started working it into a song with her.  

Sometimes I will fire up Band in the Box and start messing around with patterns in it and something interesting develops. Sometimes not...... but quite a few of my songs were inspired and created in this manner. 

I don't set down to write very often with just a goal of writing a song, although that has happened too.  I am a TAXI member and every now and then, looking through the listings, I see something that sparks an idea. I take the info they placed into the listing describing what the director is wanting and I will write something based on that. This has turned up some interesting songs.   Footsteps in the Hall and Just another Rainy day are examples of tunes that were written from a TAXI listing..... and both were started and completed in just a few (2-3) days max..... from  an idea then start to mastered. 

I can say truthfully that I never fire up the DAW and use it as a writing tool. When the DAW gets fired up, the song is already together and 99% finished. It might have lyrical edits left at that point.  I'm not saying that you should not use the DAW if that works for you, it's just not the way I write. 

No matter how you get the inspiration, the important thing is that you get it. And then what you do with it. 

Noodling mostly.

Ah, ya, I guess, okay, sure I suppose, about what has been posted already.

arse

bapu


arse

yes, that too

bapu

daryl1968

bapu


arse

yes, that too

Good. I was worried you had strayed.

the drugs remark was a bit irresponsible (sorry kids). Actually I don't do drugs and I don't drink anymore.
 
 
 
I don't drink any less either.

bapu

daryl1968

bapu


arse

yes, that too

Inspiration or Motivation?

you know what Bapu, joking apart, I feel like I am in a very creative place at the moment.
I am writing songs for the first time in a while and really enjoying it. How's that book going? 

Most times I just start playing the keys. If nothing comes out, I grab a fakebook or various sheet music and jack some chords from songs and play around with them. If nothing comes after that, I start messing around with sounds from Omnisphere or some other VST. If nothing comes after that, I turn on my XBox and call it a day.

daryl1968

bapu

daryl1968

bapu


arse

yes, that too

Good. I was worried you had strayed.

the drugs remark was a bit irresponsible (sorry kids). Actually I don't do drugs and I don't drink anymore.
 
 
 
I don't drink any less either.

What a sell out!  Well, at least you have a prize-winning blue peter.  
 
Personally, I have no problems admitting that halucinagens have contributed to my inspirations in the past.
 

If you normally write with a guitar..... 

try writing with a piano or bass, or drums. The difference puts you into unfamiliar territory and your brain has to think differently and that causes new possibilities to surface, and often provides the inspiration for something totally different.  

Don't you have an Am drum?