Constantly Running Out Of Ideas

Johnny Fab

Johnny Fab

IV Jetsz
well i been makin beats for awhile and this year i feel like i just keep running out of ideas ill come out and make 4 or 5 tracks and then my imagination is just i guess dry you can say

is there anyway i can just stop running out of ideas all the time this is getting very fustrating any help is VERY appreciated

Much Respect
Johnny Fab
 
change your usual tempo range like if you do 90.. gotto 100 or if you do 96 make an rnb and do 64.. and use instruments you usually dont use.. you'd be surprised when you come up with results.
 
the reason i get like that is because i try to hard. when u try to hard you might as well not try at all. there are two ways to deal with it. either you can stop making beats for a while or do what i do and open up your mind and just do it. Its really all in your brain there is really no such thing as dry spells. as long as your brain works you cant run out of ideas you dig.
 
Jay Dash said:
the reason i get like that is because i try to hard. when u try to hard you might as well not try at all. there are two ways to deal with it. either you can stop making beats for a while or do what i do and open up your mind and just do it. Its really all in your brain there is really no such thing as dry spells. as long as your brain works you cant run out of ideas you dig.
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Yo i think you hit the nail on the head or whatever the ****ing saying is i think i am trying to hard its like i wanna get more like techical when i make songs like idk i was watching too many ryan leslie videos haha
 
Yeah Im having the same trouble. What I like to do is try sampling songs for a little bit. That way you can have a melody or a catchy sample already and it can give you ideas about other beats you want to compose.
 
Mess around with new sounds...drums synths samples whatever...or take a one or two week hiatus...always works for me.
 
There comes a time where you are trying to come up with new ideas 24/7...when that happens you start to feel like you're not getting anywhere because you just devoted so much time to creating and you're not accomplishing nearly as much as you feel like you should be.

Well in actuallity, you might be coming up with just as many ideas or maybe even more because you're thinking about music so much, but the fact that so many of them aren't that great has a negative effect on you.

For example...Lets say you usually come up with 10 ideas for every hour you think about music. Only one of them is good enough to put into action. For every 10 that are good enough to put into action, only 1 of them are ideal to release to the public. Well if that's the case then every 10 hours you completely dedicate to coming up with ideas you might get 1 concepts that you end up putting into action and releasing to shop to whoever.

In actuallity your odds could be better or worse...i don't know you haha.

But what I do know is that whenever you try to devote 40 hours a week to music like it's a job...it becomes exactly that. 40 hours a week might mean you'll get 4 decent tracks that you want to put into action and shop around...but it also means you had to trash 36 other tracks before you found those for decent ones.

So I guess the moral of the story is...don't over do your creativity. Unless you're a 5 year old, it's really difficult to consistently be overly creative and not beat yourself up over the ideas that didn't turn out so well.

ALSO...there does come a time where you can't even get and idea out of your head.

I find the easiest way to remedy that is by excersing your creative muscles in your head. I did this a lot for writing...

Critique other peoples music...professional music or random songs you hear online. Pick out a couple that you feel you could improve. Go ahead and turn it into a mini project. You'll feel refreshed that you completed something musically and it actually turned out the way you wanted since you picked something you knew/had faith you could make better.

Do that a few times and you'll find that you'll eventually end up creating whole new songs and sounds that seemingly have nothing to do with the original song you heard. You might have the same chord progression but new melody and tempo. You might have the same drum pattern but with shakers and snare instead of claps and hi hats.

Overall, it's just your mind telling you that it either needs rest because you are putting it into overtime or it's just a little rusty and you just need to run some exercises to get it back into shape. Ya feel me?
 
get away from making songs for a while, learn synthesis & start programming some new sounds. maybe youll make a certain sound that will spark off your ideas again. happens to me sometimes
 
New Sounds. Emulate diiferent styles. Listen to music you hate. Music you never listen to. Go out and chill. Soon you start to get melodies popping in your head out of no where. Go Download a bunch if vst's and go through presets, learn how they made them, I promise with that alone you get tons of ideas from presets and patches you make yourself. Great stuff this vst ish. But I usually play another instrument, drums guitar or keys. I'll go pop in a cd and play along until I learn it. Then I replay it by myself ande I can usually make A new song out of the chords, Interpolation. You gotta keep at it my man keeo at it.
 
Johnny Fab said:
Yo i think you hit the nail on the head or whatever the ****ing saying is i think i am trying to hard its like i wanna get more like techical when i make songs like idk i was watching too many ryan leslie videos haha
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Dont try and get techical that will always kill creativity. Being musicly creative has nothing at all to do with being techical. You got some real tech heads out there that no everything about everything techical and cant make beats to save their life. Learn to use what you have to be creative dont follow that stupid saying that floats around here to read manuals and master what you use. Mastering what you use is to use it to get the results you want thats it. Unless you are interested in being a tech head that cant make beats for shyt.
 
Jay Dash said:
the reason i get like that is because i try to hard. when u try to hard you might as well not try at all. there are two ways to deal with it. either you can stop making beats for a while or do what i do and open up your mind and just do it. Its really all in your brain there is really no such thing as dry spells. as long as your brain works you cant run out of ideas you dig.
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Maybe you should ask the creator to assist you. (no im not joking :) )
 
This may sound stupid, but try a creative hobby on the side. Get away from the keys/pads for a bit. When I can't think of anything to write musically, I go out and work on my photography, and vice versa. It gets different parts of my/your brain working, and I often find that I come up with melodies and beats when I'm walking around taking pictures. I really need to get a memo recorder so I can capture those ideas on the spot, though.
 
Well.. when i used to play in a rock band having sex with a chick might help too!! i mean crank one out real quick right after you clean up.. get to your lab.. that could work too!!! lol i aint joking either!
 
I didn't read all responses, but the two things that have inspired me most and keeps my creativity active is learning basic music theory (ongoing process--I realize) and sampling...Sampling gives me a idea...then I can figure the key and add my own twist...

I the sampling keeps me thinking outside the box b/c I listen to many genres...so your songs are less prone to sound the same, unless you sample similar source material...Once you build your own foundation, you can take the sample out, replay it, or leave it in...depending on your moral standings on sampling....try it...it's fun too and you combine two ways of approaching music

Edit: now that I read the responses--I didn't really offer much new...they gave good answers...new sounds is key i think...ya know...keep yourself inspired; however, you need to do that
 
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perhaps listen to many genres of music to give you an inspiration, or play a drum pattern & just start humming different melodies to start off with something.
 
i was actually at a hookah bar last night and i was just hearing some dope ass indian music it really inspired me i guess i just need to get out more
 
is it bad when you can't use any sharps or flats in your beats? hahaha

i'm kidding...but i was there for a while......
 
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