Bedroom Guitarist: How to be creative...?

V8 · Oct 23, 2019

Firstly....this. Don't be put off by the length (37m), all the good stuff is in the first 7 or so minutes. Sadly, you'll have to goto to youtube to watch it, it doesn't play when embedded (grrrr!).

Three things that work for me - Captain Obvious stuff for many, but hey - sometime the obvious is worth repeating:

Record your idea's. Literally THE golden rule. When inspiration strikes, grab a recording device and get that idea recorded. Guitar/drum beat/vocal melody whatever it is - record it. There's a hint of magic in the original idea that WILL haunt you if you don't get it down asap - because once it's gone, it's long gone.
- Nope, you won't remember it tomorrow. You might remember the notes, but not the groove/feel - trust me.
- I used to use the voice recorder (mp3 player) and then the smartphone as a voice recorder - but now I'm taking video's of the fretboard while playing. It's made a difference, why I can't really say - maybe it's a bit more 'in the moment' when I can also see what I'm doing.
Sparking creativity - at times you might feel uninspired (stuck in a rut). My goto is -> learn something new. Re-learning something old in a fresh manner also works really well for me (E.g. Learn a bassline from a song you know on guitar). Jamming with mates can be a great help and don't forget a good sleep, healthy diet and exercise plus taking a break from music could also be missing pieces in your creativity puzzle.
Work your idea's - this is a iterative step. 5% inspiration, 95% perspiration. A truer cliche' there might not be. Once you got a recording, check it out - give it a good few listens. Keep on jamming and re-recording it.
- Sometimes what I played originally I can't replicate easy (or it was technically beyond me). So I gotta learn how to do it. I'll break it down into little technique things. Sometimes I just need to jam the idea until it's coming out easily from my fingers.
- I'm constantly coming back to the feel/rhythm of the riff. Either foot tapping or running drum loops and feeling where the riff 1's (kick) and 2's & 4's (snare) are falling on the drums - they don't have to, I just like to feel where the idea fits around a rhythm or experimenting with what rhythm it fits around.
Asking "what's next?' or 'where does this go? or "what am I trying to express?" - extremely effective thoughts to have to direct the process or when you're feeling lost/stuck. Asking the question helps kick off experimentation and/or narrowing down experiments to something that you reckon works.
- For the Anthem Challenge it took me three weeks to polish a idea into one working, recordable verse riff - I made at least 8 cellphone recordings of this one riff as it went from rough idea, to idea with drums, to expanded idea, to more expanded idea, to something I was ready to record 'properly'. The chorus and 'middle 8' both took under a hour once the main riff was finally recorded. Sometimes things work like that!

guidothepimmp · Oct 23, 2019

For me, doing the Challenge on this ere forum definitely helped.

For a change, i am exploring my own ideas and taking them to a level of finality. In my head, its a big shift chasing my own ideas vs chasing someone elses iterations. Frustrating sometimes? For sure.. especially when you picture an epic shred over a piece of music and cannot pull it off. But thats part of the learning.

Listening to ones playing also pushes you to tighten up the ol chops. The playbacks dont lie. ?

Finally.. the challenges also opened my mind to embracing other instruments and sounds. Things i wouldnt have used in the past. Just in the last 2 challenges i used cello vsts, harmonica, tambourine and shakers.
Also been spending a whole lot more time on bass. Turns out it doesnt end up there on its own ?

All of these factors have certainly pushed me out of my comfort zones and got the ol creativity going. Not mention.. trying different genres and playing styles ?

Curiously, i find my 1st takes are the better ones.. and then i usually fix one or three things on that initial take for my final versions

V8 · Oct 24, 2019

guidothepimmp The playbacks dont lie

They don't - though tracking that djent album made me appreciate how much I did learn with my (very) amateur recording attempts.

guidothepimmp Also been spending a whole lot more time on bass. Turns out it doesnt end up there on its own ?

? I went back and listened to a bunch of my old GFSA entries (prior to taking bass seriously) - I mix bass VERY differently now that I can use the word bassist ?

guidothepimmp Curiously, i find my 1st takes are the better ones..

Same here - though everytime I say I'm lazy and am avoiding creating a click track and converting the sketch into a photo. Usually I live with mistakes and keep the feel of the first take over 'perfection' - though...I have tracked perfect takes on a handful of occasions. Incredibly rare occurrence though.