Re: Stuck in songwriting posted by posted by

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Stuck in songwriting on January 25, 2012 @ 3:16 pm
by anonymous  
Sometimes I get stuck in my songwriting. I think all of us do. Here are some things I do to get unstuck:

1) Listen to Music I haven't heard before.
2) Go to a "word a day" website to grab a random word/idea.
3) Read some poems for a paraphrase/sideways leap for a particularly pretty phrase.
4) Pick a random word. Find a thesaurus - do a random five-step jump through the thesaurus. Find an alliterative word for the one you've ended up with.
5) Use a list of quotes.
6) Look in Sheila Davis' "Songwriter's Idea Book" for ideas.
7) Follow the other Musician.

Favorite techniques:
1) Write obliquely - write the song directly and then write in metaphor about what's happening in the song.

That's a quick list off the top of my head. Anyone got others?

Now if there were only some way to make melodies/underlying chord changes easier to generate...