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I ran out of creativity

I really wanna make music. I actually love doing music when the inspiration kicks in. But what to do when theres no inspiration?

Hello!

Inspiration is simply your desire for your music to be a certain way.

Amazingly enough, this desire is completely involuntary and inevitable. It is as inevitable as whether you like chocolate or not. You put it in your mouth, and what follows you either like or don't. And you don't get to chose what you like, it just happens.

In the same way, you inevitably and unstoppably want your music to be a certain way, and not another.

What is happening when you think you have no inspiration (or no "desire" for your music to be a certain way), is that THOUGHT is eclipsing your desire. It is still there (because your desires are in fact involuntary and unstoppable), but it is trapped underneath thought.

Notice that desires for music do not happen in language. They happen in imagined sound, or imagined emotion.

You desire your music to have this or that pitch/chord, followed by another. Or this or that emotion, followed by another. Again: all these desires are inevitable -- there is no stopping them.

But they can be eclipsed by thinking (which appears in language).

So thoughts such as: "I should really use some brass" or "I suck!" or "I need new samples" or "I should use the V chord here" or "the theme should come back here" or "I can't think of anything" or "I have no inspiration today"...

...are eclipsing your actual inspiration (which does not appear to you in language, but in fact appears to you in imagined sound or imagined emotion).

If you pay NO attention to the language-type thoughts, and pay attention to the sound/emotion type thoughts, you will discover that you have an unstoppable and completely involuntary inspiration machine with you all the time.

Look closely. Mistrust language-based thoughts. Be curious about sound or emotion-based inner arisings. Follow those ones. When language-based ones come back, notice and remember to ignore them.
 
I sometimes like to learn a new bit of theory or study the music of a composer I don't know well. If I don't have access to scores I'll just listen to a bunch of their music, read about their characteristics online or in books, and then find some ideas that might be interesting to explore for me. I would suggest just making this a regular part of continuing education.

This is so right on -- try to learn something new. I'm working on a piece of bouncy chamber music right now after watching this fun YouTube series on "light" classical of the 50s and 60s:

 
Loads of really interesting points on here.

My favourite way to get inspired is to search for various pieces of artwork, often of the digital or 3D nature, as they tend to have some pretty epic ones. The last one I came across actually completely inspired me to write my latest single "Resurrection", and now following some tweaks from the artist, has now ended up becoming the actual album artwork.

I also find that listening to as much music as I can really helps, particularly if its the genre you're struggling for inspiration in. It sounds daft, but I used to be tentative about listening to other people's music, in case I started thinking that I would never become as good as them. But it really does help!

What's that old quote.. "the cleverest people are the ones who read the most books..." or something along those lines!
 
My suggestion might be seen as going back to what some others are saying... but I thought I would contribute this next part anyway.

Art is the expression of something that has ignited within. Like how a fire needs both oxygen and material to burn, so does that artistic, creative spark. So if you find that your is fire simmering down inside, find a muse. To me, it can be a smile a girl gives me at a coffee shop. It can be something I see in nature. It can be how a mother and daughter walk hand in hand. Every person is unique. Observing all of these unique parts of life can serve as that muse. Personally, I find that an intriguing interaction with a beautiful woman (not to sound sexist... this is just my personal inspiration) can be all of the oxygen and fuel I need for that next creative spark. The more intense and unique that experience is, the more it fuels the flame.

So in short, get out and interact with the world. Do something you've never done. Force yourself to smile and look at your cashier's name before telling her, "Thank you _____." Just the acknowledgement of a person's name is often enough to see a surprise expression return to their face. It reminds them they are more than a cog in the wheel - that they are human... if only for a moment in how they were recognized by you. And, you will likely find the universe will return that effort back to you in kind.
 
Experiment with sound. Find a sound that you adore. Instant inspiration to play.

And read Maya Angelou who says "You can't use up creativity. The more you use, the more you have."

Trust your instincts.
 
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My favourite way to get inspired is to pick up your favourite instrument and just play... or do the same and jam with friends. You can jam in any style. Don’t get too structured with it. Ideas flow for me this way.

Another thing I do is sit with my acoustic guitar and watch a movie. Without thinking I play to the moving pictures, or along with the score. I usually can come up with some original (albeit inspired) material by this relaxed method.
 
First of all from what I've experienced, you need to be in a good mental state of mind. Alcohol abuse and such makes you feel empty. You need to find your good self, and then get some inspiration from music, unique chords etc
 
Another book that @Farkle recommended to me was "The creative habit" by Twyla Tharp.
Also worth a look - essentially the book is about that creativity is not a magical fairy dust that gets sprinkled, but is the result of habit and training.
That book changed my life. I read it and ended up writing and recording an entire album in a matter of weeks.
 
I really wanna make music. I actually love doing music when the inspiration kicks in. But what to do when theres no inspiration?
What do I do ? I take some time off, no Music AT ALL, NOTHING, and believe me 2 weeks like that and you'll be inspired for age. I try to do that twice a year, a real BREAK !
 
Some random thoughts :
- Take a break from music, and do something else. For me, nothing more inspiring than long walks in the countryside / seaside. The pace of my footsteps often brings inspiration :)
- Buy Woodchester piano (half-joke).
- Pick some random rules (chord progression, rhythm pattern, instrument constraint, etc.), give yourself a deadline to produce something. Even if you quit the project, you'll learn something new.
- Go back to study theory, counterpoint, orchestration,...
- Open yourself to other styles : hip hop, jazz, ukulele, polka, Alps horn, whatever,...
- Go play cajon (half-joke again, fiddling with rhythm is good way to create without overthinking about melody, arrangement, keyboard, etc.). I like to hit any kind of stuff with my hands. :)

And eventually, relax, this is normal, not a sickness. Don't be so worried about it (unless it's a matter of life & death for you).
 
One thing I like to do is load up a random VI and start going through each patch, one by one. You'd be surprised at how this inspires new ideas, especially with libraries like Omnisphere (or even Alchemy if you're using Logic). I have yet to even scratch the surface with the thousands of patches!
 
I’d suggest a 90 minute appointment at a reputable Massage Therapist.
I tried to 2 therapists at once and was denied, so 2 x 90s in a row.
Inspiration is only one of the benefits.
 
Inspiration is overrated, craft is everything. I recommend taking a look at Alain’s courses on scoreclub.net, especially the motif development course. Get some compositional chops under your belt, start writing and after a while you will enter a state of flow, where ideas come fast and hard. But it starts with craft, and sitting down and working, not the other way around.
 
I read it and ended up writing and recording an entire album in a matter of weeks.

Ok, where do I get it? I've been composing a certain album for the last two years without really advancing much. :/

On topic, the "craft" part is really important. Just today I've been working with one song for a game which needed certain musical quirkyness often heard in that particular game series. The problem was that as my quick demo was (as usual) completely orchestral and lacked "fun", I knew that I need to "ruin" it with non- orchestral stuff to make it work.

Enter, craft. Ranging from slap bass (!!) to distorted guitar licks, saxophone sections and whatnot, I started to arrange and try out weird stuff on top of some simpler horneresque ideas and suddenly got the ball rolling so fast I forgot to eat my lunch and worked 6 hours non- stop doing it. At the end of the day, I was actually so enthusiastic that I had already orchestrated everything except for the strings and am probably doing it later today when the kids have fallen asleep so I can start mixing already tomorrow.

My point is that sometimes you need to find the fun to get things going on. Just last week I had to make music I didn't like for a game I didn't like and the result was...uninspiringly mediocre (yet acceptable), because I didn't even try to look for the fun. It doesn't matter what it is- put something completely fucked up on top of your unfun stuff and see where it takes you. Try out weird combinations. Steal something and put it into your song as a countermelody. Steal something completely out of context and hide it behind the brass section.

Actually, the more I think of it, steal a lot. It's fun! And fun is fuel for creativity.
 
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Read "Art and Fear" by Ted Orland.

I sometimes find it energizing to deliberately write a short piece that I know I will hate, for instance anything with a granular instrument. Having hit bottom, the only possible direction from there is up. It just works.
 
I think Aaron Copeland said, "Inspiration is for amateurs".

This is why it's really important to study music theory, study scores, know music history, and develop good compositional technique. Being in a deadline-driven career, when my inspiration fails me, I can just rely on my technique to get me through a couple days (or a whole job if need-be).
 
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