Gettin Over Writers Block

Getting over Writers Block

Writer’s block is the nemesis of songwriters - and even non songwriters. There are tons of suggestions and songwriting tips out there for what might work, and various suggestions on overcoming. These are the top 5 that consistently work for me.

Mash random words togetherMany songwriters say that once they have a good song title the “song practically writes itself”. If you are one of these people, then this tip is for you. If you are not one of these people, perhaps this exercise will help spur on creativity.

90% of the time the words in the following exercise will be cheesy. But 10% of the time you will come up with really cool phrases and word pairings. Just keep at it for a bit.

For example, (1)write a list of 10 adjectives, then (2) fold the paper in half so you can’t see the words, and (3) write 10 nouns on the other half. Now (4) unfold the paper so you can see two words on each line. Perhaps you will find some song titles there?
I did an example in MS Excel, just hiding a column while I listed my nouns/adjectives. When I unhide the column - voila! - possible song titles:

Then try some sorting of the columns for even more possibilities.

Listen to other music/Listen to no musicFor me it is Tom Waits. His songs just tell me, “Relax, enjoy the vibe. Mix yourself a martini, belly up to the piano and wax poetic about life.” Other people like listening to the music their parents listened to … because takes them back to an innocent time of music and inspires them. Others like to listen to music diametrically opposite to the style they write in. Others like to listen to music that is very similar to their style. Some prefer to learn 2-3 cover songs and then write a new song based on what they learned through the cover songs. Whatever works for you.

Still others go in the opposite extreme and listen to no music at all. They don’t listen to any music until their inner songwriter begins screaming for music of some type - any type. THAT is when they pick up a guitar or scoot up to the piano and start creating. They say it creates a hunger and yearning they would not achieve otherwise. I’ve never tried it but many people swear by that method.

Read a quotes dictionary or visit a quotes websiteThere’s nothing quite like a great quote to give a song direction.

Allow yourself to write cheesy songs.Many songwriters, including myself, tend to feel that if a song isn’t going in the direction where it sounds like a worldwide top ten smash, then it’s not worth writing. True, it might not be worth “performing” live, but it is definitely worth it to finish the song out. Many songwriters say that “to write good songs you have to get the bad ones out of the way".

Go to a concert, open mic, or some other live performance eventBeing with the crowd, seeing how a performance moves people, and feeling the human electricity that comes with a live event often leaves me with a desire to get home and start creating new music as soon as possible. There’s nothing like seeing a great artist/musician living and performing their dream to give someone else inspiration to go create.

Naturally there are dozens, if not hundreds, of other ways to kill writer’s block. What are your favorites? What works for you?

Blocked? Get Help

Tricks To Beat Writer's Block

Write 10 Songs In 60 Minutes – There is no more powerful way to completely shut off your Writer's Blog problems any faster than sitting down with a stop watch and cranking out 10 songs (a verse and chorus at least). Try it. I GUARANTEE that you will beat Writer's Block and you will come out with 1 song worth keeping out of the deal.

Avoid Your Genre – I remember reading a Guitar World article on Ozzy Osbourne. All of his favorite songs had absolutely nothing to do with “metal”. Metal was a genre he helped create. In other words, he just made noise and people liked it. He didn't try to recreate his favorite music. He simply made his own. Our modern culture with all it's genres implies that you are supposed to be a “rock band” or a “country band”. I recommend writing as many songs outside of your genre as possible. (Once you write 10 R&B songs. Post on the forum. I'll help you turn them into nu-metal masterpieces).

Enjoy Writing Crappy Songs – Don't just tolerate writing bad songs. LIKE IT! I'm serious. Writing ANY song should be fun. Again, we are focusing on enjoying the process of writing and not worried about the result.

Hum Soul Songs While You Cook – I always try to do my Aretha Franklin impression when I cook. It ends up sounding more like a bad dream with Prince, but you get the idea. I should definitely keep my tape recorder in the kitchen. This is where all my best melodic ideas come.

Listen to Greatest Hits Albums – Pat Benetar and Human League are some of the best examples. Why? Because they have some great songs and they have some the most disgusting, vile sounds ever captured on their Greatest Hits. This illustrates that it's okay to write a bad song. It may end up on your greatest hits album some day!

Brainstorming - When you open your brain all the way up, it's amazing what happens. When you have no care in the world whether you are wrong or right, not dealing with ambition or ridiculous assumptions, and simply get your brain to go go go, you can do miraculous things. It's important to just open up and let loose. HAVE THE BALLS TO BE WRONG! It's okay. Write a terrible song and laugh about. Then write a funny song about how you wrote a bad song on purpose (it sounds like something that Tenacious D would )

Start the Juices Flowing

So I had a bit of writers block the other day and was talking to a good friend of mine about it. He recommended 7 “famous” chord progressions to play with. I don’t know if it was the chords or simply working within a frame work but I came up with some great new stuff which sounded really varied and separate from my usual writing.

So thought I would pass it on – let us know how you get on

1) C D/F C D/F C/E Am Dm G C

2) C A Dm G7 C

3) C F E7 Am D7 G C

4) C D7 G7 Am D7 G C

5) C Am Ab7 G C

6) C F F/A Ab7 G Am

7) C E7 A Ab7 G C

p.s – don’t forget there are only a few days left to enter our artist of the month competition – so let us know if you want a review!