Trouble with coming up with ideas in my own head.

another idea that has always worked for me is reading. read books.

read about what interests you, read about the opposite of what interests you. read some Shakespeare, fantasy, poetry, horror, sci-fi, older classics...etc. read autobiographies, biographies...

anything not on a computer screen.
if it doesnt help you, then i owe you as many beers as you can drink in one sitting.:cheers:
 
Thanks for the advice guys, I'm sorry I haven't been able to respond, my AP Classes have been killing me and mid-year testing is coming up. However, I did want to clarify what I meant by coming up with Ideas in my own head. What I meant was is that I never really hear any original chords, melodies, or drum patterns with a specific timbre, or any of those for that matter. I have been getting a few ideas by getting to work but I would like to increase how frequently I hear original music in my head. Any advice as far as that goes?
 
I usually do something to clear my mind then when I'm thinking about music an idea comes to me. I record it with my phone and go back to it as soon as i can on a keyboard
 
It's probably not an universal thing, as every musician/producer is an individual, but for me what works the best is having these little projects, kinda like a game, where I set myself a time limit and a specific goal. If I just mess about with synths, samplers and drum machines I'm more or less just repeating the same old mistakes, with almost zero progress.

As an example, earlier this year I had a goal which stated that I must learn the skills involved with the production of house music and the end goal was for my favorite house musician/DJ play my track on his DJ gig here in Finland. I worked my ass off for that to happen and it actually happened too. Had I spent those 4 months just making what are basically just simple variations of my old tracks I would've never progressed as much as I did.

Currently my project is to make a g-funk influenced hip hop EP which must come by the end of August 2017 and since I started the project, I've been making beats, writing lyrics, learning how to rap, listening to all kinds of hip hop music to steal their tricks and studied the subject by reading and watching tutorials like 10 hours a day.

It might not work for you, but maybe take it into consideration. Set a goal, set a time limit, then work hard to reach that goal in that time.

IMO, once you've learned the basics of production, it's EXTREMELY easy to stagnate, basically make hundreds of beats/tracks/songs that are all more or less the same. Once you're past the rookie stage, you have to start taking things seriosly if you want to progress.

Sports ain't music, but it's still kinda like doing pushups. If you want to make a 100 pushups, you have to work on it, consciously try to improve and set the bar higher every day, doing 20 pushups a day just won't get you there.
 
Two ways that work for many of my friends:
1. Find new music you will like: ask friends to send you something fresh, listen to a radio, search on recommendations on youtube, etc..
The most important thing is to get your brain thinking "That was nice, I could do it better". In 3 hours you got a new track ;)
2. Try to extract rhythms from rap vocals and use them on drums and melodies. After you got the first inspiration looping the waterfall is on ;)

All the best for you
 
Thanks for the suggestions guys :). Although, I've been looking and I've found a few books and I've been wondering if they'd be worth checking out. I'll list them down below (Authors are underlined).

The Producers Guide to Workflow & Creativity - Sam Matla
Unlocking Creativity: A Producers Guide to Making Music and Art - Michael Beinhorn
The Music Producer's Survival Guide: Chaos, Creativity, and Career in Independent and Electronic Music - Brian M. Jackson
The Art of Music Production: The Theory and Practice - Richard James Burges
Music Habbits: The Mental Game of Electronic Music Production, Finish Songs Fast, Beat Procrastination and Find Your Creative Flow - Jason Timothy
 
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Artemiswillow808 said:
The Mental Game of Electronic Music Production

I'm assuming you're trying to make edm type music? I sometimes find that just messing around with sound design can give some unexpected ideas. I wonder if anyone just wakes up with a super awesome complex melody in their heads...would be an awesome gift to have!
You have a soundcloud profile? Link it so we can check out your stuff.
Click to expand...
 
Artemiswillow808 said:
Yeah. Here's my soundcloud. https://soundcloud.com/artemiswillow
Click to expand...

I see now what you mean by having trouble with chord progression. I've noticed alot of the replies one gets on here are: "do shit in the most complicated way possible". I say screw that. What good is it if a song has the perfect amount of limiting/mixing/frequencies/compression/EQ-ing do if it isn't any FUN to listen too? No one wants to be bored while listening to music. So one thing I started doing is I'll create a 1 minute loop, the main chorus if you will, and then try to make it stand out and as interesting as I can. Like adding different sounds, changing them, and then changing it some more while adding/changing bits here and there to the melody. Usually you'll get ideas for an intro/outro/break or whatever from there. Anyways, hope this helps a bit. I haven't been doing this long myself but I'm willing to share any info I can! :)
 
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