How do I get out of my song writing rut and compose something new and fresh for a change?
I have been writing melodies for my original lyrics since 2008 and have written quite a few songs in that time. But the more songs I write, the more difficult it becomes to write melodies that don't sound like one of my other songs.
Sometimes I don't even realize I copied my own melody until a friend says - "I like the lyrics but the melody sounds a lot like your song .....". Then I go back and listen to the older song and I see that they were correct.
My issue is that I write on guitar and seem to be stuck with the tired old - tried and true, popular chord progressions (ie. I, V, IV - or some variation) and the melodies seem to manifest withing predictable parameters within those "standard" progressions.
I have thought about trying to write in alternate tunings on guitar or writing on piano instead of guitar.
What are some effective devices I might use to get myself to "think outside the box" so to speak and become more diverse with my compositions? I could conceivably use several at once so any and all ideas are welcome.
I am sure many songwriters and composers might appreciate some ideas about how to approach their composing from a different angle that might inspire some unique new music.
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Find a collaborator. Even if it's just temporary. They will have a different perspective.
Work in a different genre.
Listen to really different music from what you're used to (such as
music from the Middle East, folk music from Bulgaria or Finland,
Indian music - stuff that doesn't use the 12-tone scale or 4/4 rythms)
First thing you need to understand is that composing is a very hard thing, while making up silly tunes with regularly used chord progressions is in no good composer's interest. Second thing is never frame yourself by just one or two instruments, one time signature and two-three key signatures, think wider, work your head! And third - any composer is an inventor. I recommend every composer to sing, hum, speak melodies, experiment a lot.
The way I do it:
Sometimes I have an idea about what I want to play or sing. Sometimes I have no idea and just sing or play. I create various melodies on instrument or in my head or by singing. Often I go out of a 4/4 time signature though it's my favorite. Often I try to make some really strange melodies that start with a short lick, then triplets, then dotted notes out of time signature and often out of key signature too and sometimes I just have one note 3-5 bars long. I like to use every possible way available. Most people have a verse 4 bars long suppose we have a tempo of 120. Why not add another bar or subtract one or even do two lines of lyrics then have a 2/4 or a 5/4 bar then start another line or go for chorus. I often do strange things that allow me to create different songs every time. I just experiment. Has somebody done something like this? How good and beautiful is it? Why not try it?
I try starting a song with vocals, bass, drums, guitar, keyboard, effects, sax, violin, flute - any instrument i can imagine. I start with different note duration, different rhythms, effects like sea, sea gulls, wind, church bells, aircraft lift-off, car engine starting, forest, hammers whatever. I can start say in Cm 4/4 then on the third bar change the signature to 7/4 go to C and by the 10th bar end up in F# in a 15/8 time signature with a decreased tempo if I want. I could change bass or guitar lines whenever I want, however I want. I know the rules but to hell with them, any great music band I've known did anything they wanted and it worked in most cases. You could always start a new. Listen to Yes, Peter Gabriel, Phil Collins, Queen, Pink Floyd, Dire Straits, Deep Purple look at how they do music.
Try not to be afraid of making up an odd melody or rhythm and don't think that if you think it's bad then everyone else will too - no, probably you'll be the only person not liking it.
Try an absolutely new chord progression and make a song. Try Gm C Dm/Bb A F Fm Ab and back to Gm. Try playing an C Csus2, Csus4 - 4 bars long. Try everything!
I have a piece where I play D in bass on piano in left hand for almost 16 bars in 100 tempo in Dm and over that D in my right hand I first play A,C,F and then go to G,B,D. All this is delayed and chorused!
I often do strange things on keyboard. One day I was playing in a band when we were playing a C7+9 chord and I hit a cluster in the 3-rd octave on piano just palm down and it sounded so terrific we decided to leave that. One day I remember our drummer from my previous band was kicking the bass drum one eighth after the start of a bar and it was so interesting. Just simple things sometimes add up to the whole piece.
Another good thing to try is to switch your head and hands off, close your eyes, shut your ears and play and record all that you play. This way you have no clue what you get in result... It may be fun, because you end up with something unnaturally chaotic and demonic or something absobloodylutely unimaginably crazy material.
Analyze what you do.
Write it down. What tempos are you used to? What rhythmic patterns do you use the most?
Do you tend to repeat the same intervals?
Take those melodies that made you feel repetitive. Why are they similar?
You will find out exactly what your clichés are. They probably come from your influences. These similar lines come out of you musical mind naturally as you improvise melodies. You obey that musical instincts as a set of rules. This is key.
What you can do:
Once you find out your rules, break them. Do you use a lot of ascending 3rds? Try a descending 6th for a change. Do you use a short-short-long rhythmic pattern too much? Try long-long-short-long-short.
Don't just improvise. Write your material. Think of the melody as an entity not entirely dependent of your musical vocabulary.
Music can always use some math. Particularly when you sing, you can make great use of simple scales and arpeggio study to achieve distinct vocal melodies. That's because singing in small intervals and few notes is so common. Internalize those scales by practicing. With that and some ear training, you will, eventually, internalize more interesting interval, with bigger leaps and a sense of harmony.
Just remember to let your ears be the judge.
Whenever a neat (and hopefully original) melody pops into my head, I quickly record it (no matter how sloppily), just to get it down. I keep a "library" of these melodies, and when writing, I refer to them and use whichever ones seem to go with the song.
Oftentimes (when composing on the guitar, that is), I will take whichever scale/key I'm working in, and record my improvising in it for a minimum of five minutes. Usually I will be able to pick something out of that five minute recording to use as at least an idea for a good melody.
Other ideas include changing the key, adding a random sharp/flat, or changing the tempo/rhythm. The guitar is pretty versatile (especially electric), so there are also a lot of "tricks" you could try to vary up your melodies, such as tapping, hammer-ons, harmonics, whammy bar stuff, and the list could go on.
One more idea I use concerning chord progressions. Usually my chords end up being rather standard ones: major, minor, major 7ths, etc. Once I have that idea formed, I may change one or two of those chords to maybe a minor 7th or a diminished or a 6th.
Play with everything. Something will come to you eventually. Overall, don't "force" the creativity; let it flow!
Like they said - write a piece for different kind of event. Suppose you mostly write "gangsta", then:
Write a wedding song (or a new-baby song);
Do a description of the sunrise, and how it made you feel;
A lullabye
Or, if country love-songs have been your style:
How about a boast (a la Jumpin' Jack Flash);
Maybe a bunch of sexy puns and double-entendres?
Put the guitar down for a start. Use a piano if you like, try to start from a melody or a rhythm rather than a chord sequence. Next, write a bass line that fits. Maybe a counter-melody for another instrument. Don't worry about the chord sequence yet. Maybe don't worry about it at all. Not every song has to include a rhythm guitar strumming along.
Also, write LOTS of songs. One every day. And FINISH one every day. It won't be perfect, but wrap it up and write out a lead sheet/record a rough demo - whichever way you work. You can come back and re-use ideas later of course. But get used to wrapping a song up in one session. When you've done 100, one will be good!
Typical Hints or the Effective Writing of Melodies:
Realise that melodies are often just small rhytmical idea with slight variations or elaborations on the main theme. Choose a theme and make this theme part of the whole structure of the song. (See Ravels Bolero to see how one rhythm can be elaborated on with great effect.)
Know your chord progressions. This includes passing 6/4 and Cadential 6/4.
Secondary chord usage is often the sign of a good melody.
Use the seventh chords and know how they resolves.
Know your cadences
Keep the cadences that end on the tonic for the end of your melody. The tonic is unique in the way it indicates finality. You dont want that in the middle of a piece.
Think about the form or structure of the piece. Is this a song with 2 main verses then maybe this should be written in binary form. Do I have a modulation to a relative key? Maybe this song should be in Tertiary form then.
Hope that helps!
The rhythm of the instrument and lyrics is as important as the melody, try unusual patterns
Listen to less familiar music / genres / timings more regularly
You cannot schedule creativity, let it come in its own time
Restrict yourself (e.g. no standard major or minor chords / loose 2 strings)
Try different gear / effects / instruments
Don't write music for an audience, write it for yourself, be unconventional
I am surprised this hasn't been a response yet... STOP
Put your instrument down and take a break. Go for a walk and collect yourself. How a musician spends his time away from his instrument is equally as important as how he does with it in front of him.
Sometimes you can listen to too much music. A couple days without playing or listening to music can be good for your head. Doing is regularly can revitalize your creativity and give you that jolt you knew you had inside of you all along.
Playing music should be alchemy - finding the proper mixture that can turn copper into gold takes ages to get right.
try avoiding using the tonic (if you're writing a melody in the key
of G, stay off of the note G as much as possible
try using non-standard chord shapes/inversions (if you're instrument is a
guitar, capo higher than normal - 6th or 9th fret)
avoid standard chord progressions (I-IV-V, I-iii-IV-V, etc...)
get lots of rest
stay up until you're exhausted
read something that fascinates you
go to a museum or gallery
exercise
cook
volunteer
journal
do a puzzle/sodoku
play a board game or an RPG
listen to music you've never heard before
turn off your "No" voice
good luck!
I'm late to the party and I'm not sure why this popped up in the queue today, but I thought I would share a bit about my creative process. Once, I saw a show featuring Billy Joel, and his songwriting process starts with the chords, and he finds melody and lyrics that express what the music is trying to say. Since I saw that, that has generally been my creative process. I start on the guitar by finding a chord progression that inspires me. Then I try to find a melody by singing nonsense. For me, this is a way for my subconscious to write the lyrics -- much more emotional (I hope) than letting my over-analytical brain write a topical poem.
Now, it seems from your original post that you start with the lyrics. I have had ideas in the past, and written songs from lyrics first. That meant I was singing the melody before the chords were formed. So what that did was...let me interject here by saying that every songwriter has a favorite phrase, or hook, or transition, or what have you. For me, starting with the lyrics meant I was singing what was familiar and comfortable and most favored, and forming the chords around it. If I wrote every song like that, I would almost expect the songs to start sounding similar to each other.
So my advice, if you care to hear it:
Write in a minor key instead of major (I love writing in minor keys, you have twice as many chords to choose from!).
Write an instrumental on the instrument of your choice. Stretch yourself in finding a melody without hanging it on words.
Try writing in different orders: chords first, lyrics first, or melody first. Mixing up the old pattern can break walls that have contained you so far.
And of course, listen to other songwriters to see where they broke rules to make the song interesting (See: The Beatles and unexpected chords). You might try a creative genius in a genre you never listen to (if you're a fan of the Beatles, listen to Nirvana; if you're a fan of grunge, listen to Billy Joel; etc.).
Sorry it's so long, but since there is no one right way to write a song, experimentation is what we should all practice!
Use a random number generator to come up with new chord progressions.
If you play guitar, put your fingers at random spots on the fretboard and see what happens.
If you play piano, put your fingers on random keys and see what happens.
Listen to your favorite song backwards.
Listen to your least favorite song backwards.
Write out the sheet music for one of your songs and turn it 180 degrees, or flip it over vertically.
Give yourself a constraint. Write a song using an unfamiliar piece of software or an instrument you don't know how to play. Write a chiptune. Limit yourself to only black keys. Limit yourself to only white keys but your song has to be in a key other than C or A minor. Or it has to be in a bizarre time signature like 11/16 (except every seventh measure is in 3/4).
Take a walk in the forest and listen to the nothing.
Your profile:
"My main goal as a player and composer is to create something that you weren't expecting but love and have to listen over and over again to take in as it is something you haven't quite heard before."
This is just the trap you're caught in for writing similar things, but on the other hand it is the reason that listeners love your music. open the doors and step out:
play Bela Bartok or Stravinsky.
Listen to something like this:
you may download the midi files of the allegro Barbaro of Bela Bartok
or Firebird of Stravinsky and an analyze it: www.midiworld.com/bartok.htm
One thing I have heard that makes a lot of sense to me is; record absolutely everything you do. You never know when the muse will appear. Capture the moment on tape. And listen to it. You will discover things that you missed while you were concentrating on playing.
TLDR; Listen to new music, play in new keys, try to emulate other styles/genres, choose new chord progressions and approach your writing from a different perspective, ie, which instrument you write on, both for accompaniment and melody.
What you are experiencing is entirely normal. As humans we have managed to survive and evolve due to our recognition of patterns and creating habits that will ensure our safety and health. Our brain is basically wired to recognize and work with patterns. Part of the way we learn to play music is through pattern recognition. You seem to understand this to some extent or another but I find it important to mention that it is not only normal but natural. Now onto breaking habits/finding new ways to creatively express your musical self!
One way patterns are formed is through the music we listen to. Every genre has certain characteristics that define it. So when we listen to one genre more than others, those characteristics tend to find a home in our musical minds. The tendencies of different genres can be those of melodic choice, harmonic choice, rhythmic choice, etc. One way to pull yourself out of relatively repetitive composition choices is to expose yourself to new music. Most people don't really listen to just one genre but often have one or two that are the most prevalent in their library. The idea would be to listen to those genres less (for a time) and to listen to some new music for you, allowing you to focus your ears on different characteristics and tendencies. I've always enjoyed Jazz but Smooth Jazz always seemed so cheesy to me that I never appreciated it. I started listening to the Smooth Jazz station in my area and started to enjoy a lot of it (and not just because of the slap bass and lead bass). A while later, I listened back on a track that I had been writing and realized that the melody was much different than my usual style and that it was rather reminiscent of Smooth Jazz. I wasn't trying to write a song within that genre but my extended exposure allowed it to seep into my brain and influence my melodic choices.
When listening to the different music, try to focus on all the aspects of what makes that genre work. How do the drums and bass work with the melody? How do the harmonies support that melody. A great exercise is to try to rebuild a song or imitate it. You can even do this from a pseudo-parody standpoint. Imitate the music that you don't really enjoy and try to make fun of it. You won't be able to put together a good parody of a genre if you don't fully understand its structure, which very much includes the melody. A lot of Frank Zappa's music was parody based. He was pretty much making fun of all the DooWop/RnB of his time and actually ended up writing better (IMO) songs than most of what the artists he was making fun of were. He did an entire album making fun of Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band.
Lots of modern music tends to focus less on melody. A lot of Rock music will kind of hover on one note and use different pitches more to express what the lyrics are saying. Essentially this music would not be considered melodic in nature. Classical and Jazz tend to put most of the focus on a melody and everything else just supports that melody. So listening to melodically driven music will help a lot.
Chord progressions are another thing that tend to be fairly standardized within genres and that leads to my next point. The chords that are chosen will often lead someone in a melodic direction because of genre tendencies. If you play a blues progression a lot, you're probably going to write a bluesy melody. So one way to break compositional tendencies within yourself is to try new chord progressions. Certain chord progressions, specifically non-diatonic progressions, basically demand notes that would not usually occur, or provide the landscape for different notes to fit. I would try messing around with some Modal Mixture/Borrowing to start. If that is something you already do, try to make it more drastic, such as every other chord being borrowed. This may not yield your favorite music but it will likely force you to sing/play different melodic notes, opening up your vocabulary. You can also try modulations but place them differently than you may otherwise, such as a mid-verse modulation, so that half of a verse is in one key and the other half is in another. That could potentially make a repeat melody sound less like the other song.
The types of chords you use will also impact this. If you use strictly triads, then your consonant notes are a bit different than if you are using Maj/Min 7 chords and the landscape changes even more if you are adding extensions and alterations to your chords, where nearly any of the chord tones and extensions can have a consonant feel to them.
Similarly, chord voicings can impact which notes sound/feel more consonant. By varying the types of chords you use and the voicings of any chords that you choose, you will be pulling the music in another direction, opening up new melodic choices. One thing that is very commonly considered on piano/keyboard that seems to be less of a consideration on guitar is that the top note of your chord voicings tend to poke out as a melody and many try to write their keyboard parts to have the top note follow the melody or sit below it. This can be applied to any chordal instrument, so simply changing your voicings may bring new melodies in itself.
Approaching your music from another angle is always helpful as well, like you mention in the question. Starting with a fully written chord progression, one that is written without considering what the melody will be, may help your process. You mention using another instrument to write with and that will likely be helpful because the usual tendencies you may have on a guitar would not directly translate to a keyboard. But one important thing to try is writing the melody itself on the instrument. Our voices tend to be best at executing familiar patterns, as our voice is something we use all the time; it is innate to us. It tends to be rather difficult to sing brand new ideas, such as certain notes that are less consonant or certain melodic passages, so we end up not singing them. By writing a melody on your guitar, you can access the consistency of an instrument you understand well but not fall into the vocal tendencies. Different instruments will give you different rhythmic patterns and melodic patterns.
You can also try a relatively random approach. Randomly pick a handful of notes and find a way to create a melody out of them, even if they seem to have no harmonic relationship or tonal center. This is more of an exercise to expand your palette, so you might not get ideas that you want to turn into a song, but you never know.
Your choice of key is also very important in this conversation. As I mentioned before, the voice has tendencies and places of comfort that can be somewhat hard to break. Lots of songwriters end up writing most of their tunes in just a handful of keys, often dictated by the instrument they write on. Guitars tend to write in "sharp" keys (keys with sharps in the key signature), such as E, A, G, D. Guitarists tend not to write in Eb very much because it is harder on that instrument and you can't get that satisfying low tonic. So our voices tend to sing best or feel best in certain ranges and some people may choose to write in certain keys for how they fit into their vocal range. By writing in new keys, you will either need to stretch your voice to have your melodic concepts be able to take flight within that key, or you need take a different approach. Basically if you are in a different key and you want to sing in your comfortable range, you will be forced to make different melodic choices, such as which chord tones you tend to choose, how you move between notes, etc.
You can also try picking different notes as your "climax". People tend to hit certain notes very strongly and use those to create the climax of the piece. By choosing a different note than usual, you will change the character of your climax.
And I have now written another wall of text answer... The important thing to remember here is that you have tendencies in your writing for a reason, be it the brain's natural response, or the music that you choose to listen to. Changing how you write and what you listen to will definitely change what you write. You can try any number of things but you should be able to find ways to force yourself into a new direction when you find yourself stuck in certain patterns by either exposing yourself to different influences, or by forcing yourself to write a melody with different notes than usual. Don't stick yourself in a spot where every song you write has to be perfect and something you want to perform; give yourself some exercises and practice your writing, just like you would practice your playing.
You mentioned you are tired of the same old chord progressions in your post. Those chord progressions are tools to create direction, so that's why they are used so much. If you want to write pop, country, etc that will relate to everyday listeners, listen to how these chord progressions work in other songs. The key is the melody and lyrics. I believe you will not get away from the common progressions unless you are going for some other style. That is a lot to discover in the same old chords and it could be a hook that is really catchy. Now this is my assumption if you are writing commercial music.
Writing on a different instrument like you mentioned has helped me a lot. I got really good ideas and hooks, but they still follow a I IV V or many other common progressions. It is fun for me to try to put something different over the common progressions then what sounds cliche. Melodies are limitless but you are limited in chord progressions in my opinion.
I'm reminded of how the sci-fi author, Lois McMaster Bujold, keeps her books moving along: "What's the worst thing that can happen to the protagonist now?"
You, of course, don't want to write the worst thing, but you do want something that will a) give you a hook to work with, and b) keep the song hopping, and that means a very similar way of working. The side effect is that your songs will lose the sameness.
By this, I mean, take your melody, and figure out at each point what creates the greatest tension. An unexpected high note, maybe? A dropped beat? Starting the next phrase early, or maybe delaying it past what would be expected? An unexpected resolution to a dissonance, or perhaps a delayed resolution? Maybe a dissonant note hangs on much longer than expected. Often enough, the prosody of your lyrics will suggest what might work best.
Once you have that, your accompaniment will, naturally enough, have to reflect these sources of tension. Sometimes it might even instigate them, depending on how the ideas come to you.
Often enough, the method you use will be to stop, and say to yourself something like: "This is rather obvious... This note instead, maybe? No... This one? Aha!"
You'll find yourself having a fair number of "Aha!" moments.
Now, this is really a matter of craftsmanship, but, at a certain level, craftsmanship is indistinguishable from inspiration. If you look for areas to heighten the tension of your songs, those areas will tend to differ from song to song, because, in otherwise similar tunes, what suits and heightens the lyrics in one song could very well be "out of sync" with the lyrics of the other.
You know what used to work for me?
Take the chords off a popular song and write to those.
Or take the rhythm of a melody and see how it works with other chords - maybe in another mode.
You know the Mickey Mouse March?
Dam-dadam, dam-dadam, dam-dadam-dadam?
Nice, now find an interesting sequence of chords.
In minor, even.
Now try to come up (in your head, keep your hands in your pockets please) with a melody that has the same rhythm of the Mickey Mouse melody and lays nicely atop of those chords (as in: new notes, same rhythm).
Et voila', you basically got yourself instant Laibach :P
Or you know, write a counterpoint to a melody. Or an inversion (you ever heard the Corelli variations by Rachmaninov? The most famous variation is an inversion and it's of a completely different character).
EDIT: Oh, and if you are more of a lyrics guy, try this: write some really really sad lyrics using an upbeat, major mode song as a ghost melody, so that they fit the melody.
If you are into death metal "dig - my grave! dig - my grave! kill me 'n dig my grave!" fits the Mickey Mouse March perfectly.
Good, now try the above methods to put new chords and a new melody under that.
Satisfaction guaranteed.
Listen, listen, listen to lots of new kinds of music. Regularly. Not just your style or your favorites. Don't just listen. Marinate. Challenge yourself. It'll be tough initially, and it may not hold your attention, but the exercise does pay off. You'll start to hear things "out of the box" that you didn't before and you'll have fresher perspectives on your compositions.
Practically, this might mean:
Trying out a new "stations" on your Pandora/Spotify/Rdio, pick a genre and go deep
Tuning into your college radio station
Asking one of your friends with different musical leanings to share.
Take a free online course @ Berklee
I encountered a similar situation as you. It's hard to "think outside the box" when you are "in the box" trying to compose music at that very specific moment. What I mean is that the best music ideas/tunes come when you are not trying to force yourself to come up with a composition idea. They key thing is here is that you need to have the ability to quickly jot down your idea (and save it). So when time comes to actually compose your music, you can immediately go back to the tune and not be stuck in a rut. An analogy would be like a car designer, who doesn't just immediately come up with a good final design in one session, but draws various sketches to see what's good and what's not. I think perhaps you can take a similar approach.
Another way of going outside your box is by drawing inspirations/ideas elsewhere, even if these come from other musical sources. Franzt Liszt (a virtuoso Romantic period composer) drew inspirations for his Hungarian Rhapsodies series from Hungarian Folk Themes. Beethoven created his 6th Symphony from inspirations during his hikes in countryside of Vienna. These are older examples, but I think you will get my point.
Lastly, I agree very much with @piofusco 's answer, in that sometimes you just gotta stop, take a break, and take it easy doing other things, which might lead to my previous point about getting inspirations.
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