Please help me overcome this writer's block! (Or:- How Andrew got his groove back...!)

Hi all,
 
As of late I've had a bit more time to sit in front of the DAW, which can only be a good thing.  However, despite my hard drive being full of 'starts, riffs and loose ideas', I'm really struggling to come up with a coherent, well put together song.
 
This may sound daft, but I often seem to be rejecting ideas because they are 'too simple', in that the melody is too obvious or the chord changes leave little by way of surprises.  I know this is daft, a good song is a good song regardless!  Its as if deep down in my subconscious I have something to prove, but I have no idea what that 'something' is.
 
I really think that by not giving my ideas a chance to develop I'm losing out on a good many opportunities to write good stuff, but I just can't shake the feeling in the back of my mind that the music is not up to par.   I would love to post some of my stuff on these forums for critique, but this inferiority complex prevents me from doing so, and so the downward spiral continues.
 
Has anybody else here been in this position, and more importantly how can I lift myself out of this rut?  I want to start writing music, dammit!
 
Many thanks in advance,
 
Andrew

buy something new.....

....or have a near death experience!

Just pick any page in a chord book, close your eyes and SLAM!  There's the new chord to liven up your blandness.

Jeffry Steele.... big time Nashville writer says he writes about 8 to 10 songs a day on average.... he uses the "write anything and everything that comes to mind" theory...... he's not looking to write the epic country hit.... just writing songs about life and it's situations.... most never get heard..... but his process is that by writing and "sifting" though the songs that he writes.... he will eventually write something good. We never get to hear the  silly stupid stuff he writes.... but we have heard the other gems on the radio. (24 #1 country hits and counting) Out of several months of writing like this..... he ends up with one song that ends up on the radio...... in his own words.... he said.... you have to wade through all that crap to get to that one good song..... so start wading.

So write everything..... keep the best... hide the rest.

Try this .... set down with 30 to 60 minutes of free time... no disturbances..... and just write....even if it's a goofy little ditty..... start small.... aim for one song in one session not to exceed 60 minutes.  Don't worry about the quality.... just write.  Then repeat it tomorrow.  See what happens.

Just flesh the song out.  There is always time to rewrite, rearrange, re-record, and reinvent.  There are many good souls here to give you feedback along the way.  A house is built one brick at a time....

timidi


The problem with writing a good song nowadays is that the computer is right there.

If you want a great song, stay away from the computer  till it's at least 88.48% finished.
Just write the friggin song without technological distractions. 

That's why your  hard drive is full of 'starts, riffs and loose ideas',
cause there's no commitment to them.

IMO

And if I could add to this comment, I would also suggest writing without an instrument as well. Whenever I get stuck in a rut, I take my dog for a long walk with ipod in tow and listen to a lot of music, whether it's relevant to what I'm trying to write or not. Then I come home and walk around the house planning in my head what I'm going to do. Maybe not so much the actual notes (though it's not uncommon for me to have a chord/melody thing lurking in my brain) as much as the structure, instrumentation, and style. Often the result is way different then what I had planned, but at least there's just that, a result.
 
I often find the guitar (my main instrument) stiffling as can't help but play the same thing I always do on it. This is why most of the music I write is on piano where I'm a novice, and as a result, cannot be as easily contrived as on guitar.
 
As for writing simple music and feeling that you have something to prove, I had to laugh at that as I often feel that way. I listen to a lot of film score music. Someone like Thomas Newman comes up with a motif and sticks with it for three minutes plus. But it never gets boring as it's what he adds on top of it that keeps it interesting. Anyway, hope that helps a little.

+1 to all opinions:

Some 0.0000000000002 cents:
 
Sketch and record thousands of samples, ASAP!  If you're emotive, get strong passion samples/grooves recorded ... to sift through and/or perfect.
 
You probably have written the song in part already.  Strengthen your hooks repeatedly ... your way.  Use any/all song phrases and chord progressions your way and get out of the genre-ruts.

My fav songs come from a soul attuned to great personal heart aches ... to be sure.  There are no exceptions (for me).  Commercials are utter vanity, vexation, and deceipt.  These are not songs, to me, just hype.  No commercial song I know of has ever withstood the test of time.

Also, my sketches are rarely better than commercials (IMHO) ... they must be developed with honesty, patience, passion, and compulsion before they become eternal-hooks in my ears.

... building a quality-repeat-listen song is the same as building a home: a simple tent, a room, a house, a luxurious house with many rooms, a mansion, etc.  
 
Sketch and record on paper, the cell phone, the DAW; record your vox and guitar samples sporadically and start sifting the wheat from the tares.
 
Methinks, you/I get what you pay for.  Sure there are beauties of holiness and/or love, but they require soul-searching, love, and/or other diligent virtues.  When I find love, I won't let her go (let alone divorce her)! 
 
OTOH, a country home with a lot of heart is loved ... big or small.  'Simple country songs' hit home when the vox-groanings are felt.  (Much country sounds fake as hell to me)
 
... I never expect a 'labor of love' to find an accidental lodging for folks.  Quality houses come at a cost, consideration to your audience, heart-break and/or long hours.  That said, somebody shall utterly cherish your 'labor of love'.

You have a story-song to commence ... otherwise another song-house to finish.  For me, it helps to 'almost finish a song' before commencing/continuing another.   Finishing one song-house gives me strong confidence to construct another song-house. 
 
Though, I ponder that the works were already finished already, in an omnipresent God's eyes.

After many months, I just 'started' another song-house today and expect it 'ultimately-near-finished' in months.  It feels like I'm starting life all over again ... from the ground up.
 
And did I mention, sketch and record thousands of samples?

When I need inspiration, I go back to my roots.

If you are wasting time thinking, might as well polish up your skills. When I'm stumped I'll do a cover or two. Go though what music got you into playing, and record the songs with your spin on it. It's very enlightening...also helps evolve your songwriting.

Relatively new to this scene I can say that.... sitting in front of the computer I think is detrimental conjuring up creativity from nothing. 

I've definitely had more success coming up with ideas playing my guitar as opposed to staring at this screen