How To Tap Into Creativity When Inspiration Won't Strike

Guest post by Randi Zimmerman. This article originally appeared on the Symphonic Blog.

If you’ve ever sat down to get some work done and been suddenly hit with a mental roadblock, this one’s for you. We all have moments where we feel uninspired no matter how hard we concentrate, and it can be frustrating when we can’t seem to find our way past it.

Luckily, there are many ways to boost creativity in a situation like this.

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Top 5 Things To Know About Marijuana And Songwriting.

Does marijuana boost creativity and help you become a better songwriter?

A recent study showed that cannabis users have a more exceptional convergent thinking ability than non-users. As a professional songwriter, you may use cannabis on a regular basis, but you need to learn several lessons before hitting that good kush.

Not all strains are made equal in terms of creativity. One may require to spend a reasonable amount of time experimenting with different strains and write down their effects, such as how long it takes to onset, how long the effects last, and if there are any side effects. Part of the process of this experimentation may include writing a paragraph while “under the influence.”

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Nick Cave’s 9 Primary Bedevilments Of Creativity

Guest post by Will Marshall. This article originally appeared on Soundfly’s Flypaper

Over the last few decades, there have been few songwriters as enduring or influential as Nick Cave. Originally of the anarchically violent post-punk band The Birthday Party, he subsequently formed the seminal Bad Seeds and has been releasing critically acclaimed music for four decades. He’s also a poet, a novelist, a screenwriter, and a film composer, sharing as much creative DNA with authors and visual artists as his cohorts in the post-punk movement.

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How To Write A Song In A Single Day

Guest post by Sammy Hakim. This article originally appeared on Soundfly’s Flypaper.

You’re sitting down in your home studio with a cup of coffee in your hand, and your guitar on your lap, and it hits you: writer’s block. Rather than power through it, it makes more sense to take a day off and find a way to get re-inspired, right?

Wrong.

Ask any writer in Nashville and you’ll quickly find out that waiting for inspiration can be a quick death to your career as a songwriter. In fact, even in the Los Angeles and New York markets, writers can often have between one and four co-writing sessions a day — meaning that if they can’t write, they might not be paid.

So how do you train yourself to be able to write a song a day?

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How To Write A Song, 5 Unconventional Tips

Today we’re going to look at how to write a song. This won’t be your typical guide on songwriting though, there are already plenty of those floating around the internet.

Instead, I’m going to give you some unconventional songwriting tips that will help get you out of that beginner stage. Some of these ideas might sound bizarre initially, but give them a chance and I promise you your songwriting will benefit.

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How To Stay In Love With The Craft Of Songwriting

This post by Caleb J. Murphy originally appeared on the Bandzoogle Blog. 

I hate songwriting when things aren’t flowing.

Okay, that’s not totally true. I always love the craft of songwriting, but I get super frustrated when nothing is showing up even though I am. When I’ve been working on a song for months or even years and it’s not finished, I feel like giving up.

So to help you (and me) stay in love with the craft of songwriting, here are some things you can do.

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Eat, Sleep, Write: 5 Useful Apps For Every Musician/Songwriter

Smartphone apps are truly changing the world. Music apps have been used in music education for some time, but most of them only cover the basics. Instead of just teaching you the basics, there are many apps that can help you find inspiration and facilitate your entire recording process.

To help you write and records more songs, we’ve assembled this list of the 5 most useful apps that every musician needs. It might take some time to get used to utilizing apps to boost your creations, but they’re incredibly helpful in the long run. Add them to your daily writing/recording routine and you will see massive improvements.

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Could Strict Copyright Laws Stifle Creativity And Discourage Originality?

Back in March of 2015, Pharrell Williams claimed that the Blurred Lines copyright lawsuit will stifle creativity. Speaking for the first time since a jury determined that he and Robin Thicke copied Marvin Gaye’s ‘Got to give it up’. He explained: “The verdict handicaps any creator out there who is making something hat might be inspired by something else. This applies to fashion, music design…anything. If we lose our freedom to be inspired, we’re going to look up one day and the entertainment industry as we know it will be frozen in litigation. This is about protecting the intellectual rights of people who have ideas.”

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How Imagine Dragons Writes Memorable Melodies

What gets us to remember a tune?

Have you ever remembered a song well enough to sing along to it the next time you heard it? Maybe you didn’t know the words, but you could at least hum along. Or have you ever played “name that tune”? What made you win some rounds so easily and yet lose others? One answer lies in how, precisely, the melody is set up.

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Discover How To Write A Song From The Best In The Biz

1. WHERE TO START WRITING YOUR SONG 

Beginning is regularly the hardest piece of the songwriting procedure. Building up your tune’s fundamental song or focal ensemble is considered by some to be the best place to start composing your next track. Once you have your snare or key harmony movement, you can manufacture whatever remains of your melody around it. In any case, don’t stress in case you’re attempting to locate the ideal tune straight away, this technique isn’t for everybody.

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Song Generation: Where Does Inspiration For New Music Come From?

New music has been a major influence on people in society basically since the beginning of time. Nothing is changing much in that sense, either. New music approaches, however, change dramatically all of the time. Sources of inspiration change on a frequent basis as well. Musical acts get ideas in all sorts of intriguing ways.

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Music Theory: Does It Still Matter?

Guest post by Ian Temple. This article originally appearedon Soundfly’s Flypaper

Last year, Rihanna’s hit single “Work” started an argument here at Soundfly. We come from an array of different musical backgrounds, styles, training, and instruments, and the question that kicked us off was:

What key is “Work” actually in?

It’s got that super repetitive synth bass line that returns to C# every time, giving the impression we’re in C# Dorian mode, but the key signature is B major, or G# natural minor. The melody floats around a C# note a lot, but it still sounds unresolved, except in a few moments where it lands on G#. There are even a couple moments that sound a little more major and could lead one to hear the B as an unplayed tonic (or “home base”).

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Making Sense Of A Song By Richard Strauss Via Botany

Guest post by Erica Ann Sipes. This article originally appeared on Soundfly’s Flypaper

Yes, you read that correctly. In the course of this one blog post, I am going to attempt to use a brief study in botany to unravel an issue I am having in the accompaniment to a song by Richard Strauss.

Ready?

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7 Laws For Smart Songwriting

Music surrounds us every day – we hear it while driving the car, shopping in the mall, or eating in a restaurant. It has become a part of our everyday routine, and some of us can’t imagine an hour of our lifetime without a favorite song.

Music is something we aspire to. It’s something that communicates emotions rather than words. It motivates us to work, rest, cook, exercise. There’s a song for everything we do. It awakes right emotions, so that we can get more motivated.

And if you belong to that type of people, who like to sing about their emotions, you’re probably a potential songwriter. It may seem that if you have an ear for music and a poetic talent, it would be super easy for you to right a hit song.

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