Inspiration and motivation - where did it go?

[lemonstar]

Is it an age thing - does it just dry up and never return? I'm 62 - my ability to create anything - string a few chords together and write some lyrics has evaporated since lockdown - ~May 2020 and I'm not a person who has the "writers block" or "muse" mindset - I know (or the way I've always looked at it) is that it's application - keep shaking the tree and  see what falls down - I just don't seems to have much mental energy or mental agility to conjure something up and keep working on, feeding in new ideas, it until I've fashioned it into something - I don't expect to do all of that in a day or a week or a month but I'm about 4 years down the line nad have one half finished song I no longer have the passion for and no other ideas. I've got my guitar tuned to DADGAD for a change - desperate times, desperate measures - how does this pan out? What can you do? Did this happen to you? What did you? I'm not someone who buys gear thinking it will push me along - that's never a route I go down. I prefer to sit with my guitar - which admittedly I'm not doing as much - because I have no new ideas - and sit with a pad... I'm going nowhere. I read a lot - upped my reading since lockdown and listen to a lot of podcast - not much of a TV watcher - Uni Challenge that's it generally. I listen back to songs I have completed and feel quite amazed at some of the creativity - I find it hard to understand how I did it in the past and don't seem to be able to do it now. Maybe it's just an age thing. I'm just talking out loud. My enthusiasm for discovering new music is as strong as ever but sometimes I think it's all a distraction - looking for inspiration - listening to music, reading. I have some money saved and was going to buy another guitar but given the way I'm going ATM I've put that off - there seems to be no point. 

 

 

[Dad3353]

16 minutes ago, lemonstar said:

Is it an age thing...

 

Welcome to my world.  It may be age-related (74 next birthday...), compounded by a radical change in domestic relations (my muse passed away...). I really wish I knew the way back, and I've not given up completely, but it's so much harder these days to pick up the guitar, bass, or sit at the drums and just play for pleasure. I'm sedentary, with limited energy, but that's not new. It's just a mental state, a lethargy, a black dog that needs shaking off, but no drive to make that effort. I shan't continue with the wallowing in self-pity; I'd only suggest that inspiration could come from contact with others, so opening up the social stimuli, interaction with other folk, old or new, may be a way back..? I'm out of the loop for this, really, but it may help others to try this route..? Good luck with it; it's great when it all 'clicks'.

There's always our monthly Composition Challenge to provoke thought; worth having a go..? 

[BigRedX]

To the OP. What is your writing/composing for. Simply personal enjoyment or for your band or musicians to play?

 

If I don't have something I actually need to compose for I can find the motivation to write quite low. Luckily right now I'm in a very active band and I actually have the opposite problem where I don't have enough time to work on all the song ideas I have going on.

 

For me the biggest motivator for composition is playing with other musicians (see above). IME there's nothing that gets a song finished quicker than having other people to bounce ideas off and collaborate with.

 

If that's not possible then here are a couple of other things to try:

 

Revisit one of your old songs. I'm sure that there are things that could be updated or improved. Right now for me about half of my "new" song ideas come from things I originally wrote when I was in my 20s (I'm now in my 60s). In every case I've been able to make massive improvements, or even produce something so far removed from the original inspiration that it sounds like a brand new song. Even just trying an old song in a different key may open up new compositional possibilities. 

 

Alternatively try playing along with other people's songs, and then removing to original inspiration and seeing where it takes you. One of my most successful songs in the past was composed like this. Because I pushed the harmonic structure of my "new part" quite hard, once the original song had been removed it was impossible to hear where my "inspiration" had come from.

 

HTH.

[sammybee]

9 hours ago, BigRedX said:

For me the biggest motivator for composition is playing with other musicians (see above). IME there's nothing that gets a song finished quicker than having other people to bounce ideas off and collaborate with.

 

This is what 'unblocks' me - just bouncing ideas off another musician, or failing that just someone who might be remotely interested in music. Often it doesn't take much - sometimes a 20 min chat/suggestions is enough to get the creativity flowing

[RAY AGAINST THE MACHINE]

I'm in a strange situation regarding recording and inspiration . 
The funny thing in this topic , 3 of you have helped me and given me advice when I was trying to understand Midi 🙂

 

Back when I was in cover bands , I was working in not well paid manual office jobs always getting up at 5am , combining that with " socialising " etc . Yes, I know I wasn't the only one in this situation 🙂. Basically , I was a Bass Player , who plugged and play with an occasional basic effects pedal . Most of this was pre internet. 

 

Back in the year 2000, I purchased my first computer ..a lime green iMac . Trouble is , it was way too hard to get a grip of anything .

This was because OS9 went to OSX . Anyway leaving that there for a moment, I got a Mac mini in 2007 . Unfortunately , I couldn't afford to buy one with much ram/ memory and GarageBand wouldn't run smoothly . A good friend of mine gave me a copy of Reason at the time , but that just looked like advance maths to me . I got a line6 audio interface ( toneport  ux1) which I still have . 

 

I think the iPad has been an amazing leap forward . No extension crashes , buy apps as and when if wanted and much less hassle than what I've experienced above . This takes me to my present issues and annoyances ....

 

1. Soundcloud  :  have many " efforts " recorded on there . However , paying £10 isn't enough for them ! Everytime I log in, they keep hassling me to go pro+ . I am thinking of looking for an alternative , but don't know where to look . I do have a few artists I follow and vice versa. It would be sad to lose them . Plus of course , I have many followers who are just promoting theirselves . 😄

 

2. Using the 2017 iMac in general : Takes a long time to warm up . I have clean my Mac which is ok . 
    Plus the software updates ! 
    Plus when purchasing 3rd party Moogerfooger plugins, they disappear - then I have to try and get them back through Moog  website . A complete pita .

 

3. GarageBand doesn't do midi !

 

4. I have Reason 12 which I hardly use if at all . In the past software updates have stopped me being able to use Reason 11 .

    I hate software updates !  

I have thought about getting rid of my iMac and recording on iPad solely . Even then , Launchpad for example keep bombarding me to join their subscription services .

 I have thought about purchasing Logic Pro for Mac . Having said that , it's now on iPad ( subscription also ) 
 

All of these things put me off , and spoil the moment and make me not bother at all .

 

I have progressed I suppose , with a  small collection of synths . I think it's more of a software v hardware thing . I want simplicity and not open university . Having said that, although hardware is my preference ( for now) , it takes up a lot of room in my small flat .

I don't mind using headphones . 
 

Anyway, I'm going on . Just to say that I hope that anyone can advise on my musical mood swings and I hope things improve in your situations. I have a feeling you'll  get your inspiration back 🙂

[Linus27]

To the OP, I think you are thinking about it too much and over processing it which is in some ways putting too much pressure on yourself to come up with something new. Your head is not clear as you are thinking you need to write something new. If there's nothing there then there's nothing there. I suggest, walk away from it for a bit, lose yourself in other activities be it travelling, reading, house stuff or focus on something else and just keep absorbing the music you hear in your day to day existence. At some point, inspiration will hit and you'll start coming up with song ideas and you'll be back on track. You just need to wait for that trigger moment. Its not uncommon for this to happen to a lot of musicians, songwriters and those who are creative.

[RAY AGAINST THE MACHINE]

Sometimes it's just best to take a break .

[WinterMute]

I struggled for a while after having 6 months of extensive house remodelling, where the studio was just a store room, after that I didn't even go in there for the rest of the year.

 

Then my guitarist turned up a load of old ideas we'd written for the last album, and i found I could get into the studio every day to play and work on things. You just need a catalyst sometimes, I think.

 

Or some willpower...

 

Don't play video games.

[Rumple]

Sometimes I find starting work on a cover version helps, I can't sing so they are usually done as an instrumental, ideas often start to flow and the piece eventually migrates so far from the original tune it becomes effectively a new song.

[lemonstar]

I'll be back on this soon - I didn't mean to leave this dangling - been away, got ill, life-crap etc. Thanks for the responses and ideas - I'm going to reply. 

[meterman]

On 29/05/2024 at 12:14, lemonstar said:

Is it an age thing - does it just dry up and never return? I'm 62 - my ability to create anything - string a few chords together and write some lyrics has evaporated since lockdown 

 

 

In terms of age I'm not too far behind you (55) and have had a few lean periods but sometimes you just need to take a break and refocus on what you want to achieve.

 

Last year I got a commission to write some instrumental music for a documentary on climate change. And I'm not kidding, it absolutely stumped me. But I recorded 14 pieces of music and they used five so it worked out alright but talk about leaving your comfort zone!

 

Do you ever write away from an instrument and then later refine what you've written once you're sat down with a guitar or at a piano or something? That's a good way of shaking up old habits and can put you in a different headspace. Or write on an unfamiliar instrument? That's another good way of breaking out of a routine way of doing things. 
 

Put your feet up for a couple of weeks. It'll come back, you'll see. 👍