When the muse strikes
So, creating originals has long been an issue of how and when to begin. Often we are inspired and that is the initial drive force to begin. But what if you have a handful of great ideas that have never been finished…….or you just haven’t been blessed with that hot lyric or riff to get you going. Here are some tips to starting ideas and most importantly, finishing them.
Choose a key &/or scale to consider your playground. If a scale, maybe play around with it, on your respective instrument, and come up with or ’stumble upon’ a nice melodic phrase or cool riff. Build off either of those ideas. If you devise a memorable melody, utilize chordal options against it and try multiple combinations. Always seek good counsel as to how to recognize the chords related to a key, mode or scale. If you stumble upon a wicked riff that can be repeated, then record it and try some melodies against it. Sing random words with varying rhythms to help find an appropriate melody.
DON’T FORCE IT! If you have to ‘talk yourself into believing’ an idea you created is working, it probably doesn’t. I use the ‘if it don’t sound good the next day or week dump it’ rule. You can fool yourself if you push too hard in a sitting. Let ideas sit, but not too long. Come back another day. It’ll wait and you may have a fresh take that helps develop the idea into a full blown song.
I recently finished all the music to a song I had started over 3 years ago. I finally completed an intro. The rest had been written over time. It needed the perfect introduction to what I consider to be a brilliant song, if I may be so bold. All it needs now is words. Melody, harmony, format, solo section and now intro are completed. I tend to get songs to that point and then modify arrangement if necessary upon word completion. You must find your way. Hey, Elton John wrote all the music and had Bernie Taupin write all his words in his heyday. Maybe that’s your answer. But never stop writing……..or at least trying.