jbow
I don't know but it sounds like perhaps you and I are a bit alike. I have a strong tendancy to take something simple and make it much more difficult and complex than it ever should be. Like Spacey, I tried for years to get software and hardware to do things it was not capable of doing and that I did not understand how to do if it was capable. Software and hardware are SO much better these days, you no longer have to mortgage your home to be able to afford something that works... still, I have to make a concious effort to keep it simple. Most of the time I think it is really true that "less is more"... first takes usually have the most passion and I don't need all the effects and extra tracks etc that I think I do. Sometimes just a vocal and an acoustic guitar or piano track do it all.I used to get so frustrated that I would stop, do something else for a while, forget everything I learned, then do it all over again... always frustrated.My greatest joy in music has always been playing and singing or just playing along with some song or track. I go through times when many songs seem to come, other times the well is dry. My recording began as a way to try and capture my songs and I know exactly what you mean... it can take all the joy away from what you love.My advice, FWIW, would be to keep it simple and stay in your comfort zone. Collaborate if you think you need to add an instrument or need help with mixing or mastering or whatever is frustrating you. Just take a deep breath, step back and take a look at the big picture again. J 

Spot on jbow, spot on.
Comfort zone - I did exactly what your last sentence said just yesterday. Was sitting in the hot tub and reflecting what is all different now than from days gone by when is WAS fun.
One of the things I realized is that I am trying too had to make my old songs (80's and 90's) sound to 'modern'.
A buddy's Son said to me one day when he heard one of my songs 'yeah that was good. It was real retro, real 80's).'
And here I was trying to modernize my sound. Man that statement just blew my mind.
So yesterday the lesson I was given from the hot tub was, your comfort zone is NOT a bad place to be.
Now that of course doesn't mean we shouldn't venture outside that now and again.
Good things can happen out there. But venturing out of and deliberately avoiding are two quite different things.

As Paul Gilbert said "You can take the man out of the 80's, but you can't take the 80's out of the man!"

craigb
As Paul Gilbert said "You can take the man out of the 80's, but you can't take the 80's out of the man!"

And 'as it should be...'
The 80's. music was awesome. Had the band together back then...
We recorded at Sweetwater back when Sweetwater was a one room studio in Chuck's house!
2" tape. Groupies. More alcohol than brains. More weed than money.

God I miss those times!

Just be glad you can still remember them!

In my world, I have to wait for the creativity no matter how long it takes or I will drive myself crazy trying to create something by force.  This has led to a lot of time off from music and spending that time instead to learning a new DAW, reading and experimenting with new techniques, and catching up on popular songs and videos.  
 
Then, something hits me.  The last thing was listening to Mumford & Sons.  They really inspired me to write a folksy rock song which I am just finishing up.  I tried new concepts in recording my acoustic and bass which I got from this forum.  I had a blast and am happy with the song and production.  I will share it when it is done.  
 
In the meantime, don't worry if you need to break for a while.  Read some books, talk some walks.  Enjoy your life.  Best time to create is when you have something to say - no matter what it is.  My last song was a latin thingy about a bumble bee and a flower that I wrote after watching Ry Cooder's Buena Vista Social Club movie.  I just try not to have any constraints at all.  Just go with it and dont' take any of it seriously.  Something good might happen.
 
That's IMO anyway.
 
All the best, 
 
Rimshot
 

Interesting commentary.
 
When I get to the point of not enjoying it.... I stop doing it. But since music is a part of me and not just something I do, but something I MUST DO, the break from it is a recharging of the batteries while I listen to music other have made and at some point...I never try to force it ( yeah sometimes I do) because I know it will always return on it's own, fully recharged and ready to write, and record again.
 
Set down with the simple goal to write a song. any song. start to finish in a day or two. it will surprise you what can happen.
 
Lots of things can steal your joy and fun. I look at the things that MAKE it joyful and fun filled. All the software and FX and VST's I have plus the things filled with artificial intelligence that do much of the heavy lifting for me, actually make this more fun. I can do most everything in my humble studio.
 
On the other hand, having the internet, and this forum site to meet other musicians and work on tunes together, writing, collaborating on music, playing on other's songs, them playing on mine, that, my friend, is fun. Even mixing music that I had no hand in recording.....such as the various sites that hold mixing contests.... that is fun.
 
As far as getting better at the technical, production, mixing aspect.... post everything you do over in the songs forum to get critiques and ask for detailed crits not just the pats on the back and the atta-boys. There are folks here who will tell you what's wrong....and more importantly, how to fix it. I credit the folks in the songs forum here for really helping me grow as a mixer and producer of music.
 
When I really get brick walled..... it's time to go back to the basics. I grab my acoustic and work on scales and new chords. I grab my mandolin and do the same. Inspiration will come back... it always does. Be patient, but while waiting, learn something new..... musically or other....
 
Or... you could simply grab a beer and watch TV for a time.

It's been a while since I've written any new songs - but for me they have to just come along.
 
I can't force them out. They don't come along all that often, but I like what does when it happens.
 
I'll never forget the night I wrote 2 really cool, meaningful songs, 1 right after the other.
 
Just bam! - out of nowhere - in the space of about 45 minutes.
 
Had the acoustic guitar in hand, [and I'm a piano player], and there they were. 
 
Gotta be 30 some odd years now since they popped out - but I've kept them to this day.
 
Speaking of collaborating, my new Mrs. has some excellent poetry, so we have just discussed me putting tunes to some of them, and her writing new ones.
 
Up 'til now I've always done the lyrics.
 
Wouldn't that be cool.  That should spark some flames.

Guitarhacker
 
When I really get brick walled..... it's time to go back to the basics. I grab my acoustic and work on scales and new chords. I grab my mandolin and do the same. Inspiration will come back... it always does. Be patient, but while waiting, learn something new..... musically or other....
 

I did exactly this yesterday. Took my Ovation out on the deck and started re-aquainting myself. It was frustrating initially as the chops were rusty and didn't flow.
But I did hit a groove finally that brought satisfaction.
I'm going to venture into some jazz learning.
You are correct Herb in that when you learn new chords inspiration tends to follow.
At least that is my hope here.
 
@ jimusic -  that collaboration with your wife could go either way... LOL
is very cool though if you two can share that. good luck.
I have done something similar in the past using stuff my Son has written.
Poems, ramblings etc.  Has lent itself well in several cases.
 
 
 

Keep in mind that the people who are writing the hits you hear on the radio, generally speaking, are writing a song every day. They do have to force it sometimes.
 
I heard Jeffrey Steele  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jeffrey_Steele  in LA a few years back as a speaker at a songwriters convention. He said he writes a minimum of one song a day and spends 8 hrs or so in his studio doing it. Every day. He also said he averages about 1 in 100 getting cut. The other 99 were part of the process to get to that one. He also had, at that time, 24 #1 country hits under his belt.
 
I realize that we all don't have that kind of time to devote to writing, but the point still remains valid..... you have to write a lot, and sometimes you simply have to push through the barriers to get where you want to go. If you stop at the barrier, because you don't feel inspired, you will remain there for a very long time. The only way to get good at what you do is to do it every day whether you feel like it or not.
 
It's said, to become an expert at something, you must invest 10,000 hours into it. Do the math.

Hi,
 
Any time I have been "stuck", all it meant was that I wanted to do things left handed and my inner perception wanted to do something else ... which my mind had set as ... something else.
 
You have to find a way to resolve this.
 
For me, I'm too intuitive, for a mind to be able to control/dictate what the writing and doing of it is all about. Thus, in that moment I would put aisde what you are doing, and go play the banjo in the bathtub ... literally ... so you can have a good laugh, find a different sound, and tell that confusion to get fuggged!
 
Writer's block of any kind, is an "adjustment" ... and the faster you learn to play with it the better. You either stop being repetitive and boring, or learn something new! Of course, for all the mechanical, daw-minded and dominated folks here, how can you create music when you are stuck in that one box? ... eventually you will bore yourself!
 
Now you know why I "prize" experiments, and fooling around, so much ... it is not to take you away from your focus, because in the end, you know what it does? ... it focus' you even better ... and you did not know that ... to the point where quality is inversely proportional to quantity ... and you learn to enjoy what you do better.
 
Think of it as sex with your significant other ... a writer's block in that area ... will create some bad issues ... now tell me you don't know what to do about that ... sure .... liar! I'm telling yohhh momma! You have to go do something else ... stop fighting the lazyness! Go outside, record and play with the crickets!