Is it just me...?

[Greeny]

Does anyone else get periods when they doubt themselves musically?

I'm in a real rut with my songs. It's not a writing block, because I'm working at the same prolific rate. But everything sounds wrong to my ears. It's almost like I'm bored with myself and the way I play and sing. I wonder if some kind of musical 'holiday' would do the trick - i.e. just take a break from songwriting. I'd be interested to hear of anyone else has periods like this. Maybe it's not the music even... maybe it's just everything else hanging like a dark cloud over the songs.

I'm even thinking about exploring the murky depths of alternate tunings to spark some life into me!

[Oldrottenhead]

away and bile yer heid tim. lmao.
i think we are all our own worst critics. i have never been enamoured by my musical abilities, which is no surprise cos i dont really have any to speak of. i just hit things and they make sounds.
but when i get stuck, i find hitting something new gets me inspired. you know every time you get a new piece of kit, or learn a new chord  or technique,  stuff comes out. thats why i love my juno. its gonna take me years to work through all the patches.

and another things how many times have you sent me a mike stuff saying "i think this is shit" and we end up with a great song. at least 50% of the time lol.

i find doing stuff on my own a labour and tiresome but, when you bounce ideas of others, sometimes magical things happen.

[Kevin Mammoth]

Cheer up Greeny - do something non-musical for a while - then you will realise how much you are missing your recording and it will seem like fun again.  (That's what I find anyway - a bit of a change to recharge the batteries...) - Kev

[Flash Harry]

My periods of doubt start at about 6:15 when the alarm goes off til about 22:30 when I shut my eyes.

You have nothing to worry about. Actually, you need to get together with Jim and me in a studio for a few days..... 

[Oldrottenhead]

deffo

[Ferryman]

Yeah, take a break. Part of your issue is that you are so prolific that it must be hard to be "original" each time. Mind you, for me some of your recent solo work has been some of my fave, so the skill can't be leaving you, but you do make life very hard for yourself.

Why not reduce your solo output for a while, spend some time cruising other sites like Soundclick to see what other folks are up to, or perhaps spend time finding out about another aspect of music creation. I'm reading a lot about mastering at present which is very interesting and I'm contemplating geeting some mastering software. I may end up doing nothing about it but it's still interesting to read about it. Or go buy a new toy that will encourage you to try a diferent musical style - I have a Boss Slicer pedal sat waiting to be used and I'm sure it will encourage me to do something different once I get the time to play with it.

I don't have an issue with sounding the same because I produce so little stuff but I do have distinct musical styles that I am pursuing, general solo stuff which is pop/punk, my prog-sih concept album and I also plan to do more modern sounding electronica stuff with the K-Pro and Slicer. And I'm also jamming with my ol dband occasioanlly. So I tend to spend more time on one area when I get a bit "tired" of the others.

Cheers,

Nigel

[Vanncad]

I'm like Flash. I swim in doubt every day. I think it is part of being a "Type A" personality (I assume there are probably lots of us on this site).

I've shared a number of my songs with many people who haven't given me the slightest inclination that they have even listened to them.
I find this site is great for support and inspiration, but sometimes there is a human element missing. I think sometimes you need to "hear" somebody clap or sing along to one of your songs. Playing live fills that void if you can find the time to do it.

Just knowing that there are people all over the world with my songs on their IPods is an amazing feeling for me and justification for what I do. I wish I could play just one gig in everyone's town.

Tim - you are so prolific that maybe subconsciously you feel that you have to always meet a certain bar. You definitely have a high degree of professionalism attached with your music - and that's good. I think we need to push ourselves to get better at our craft. Maybe it's time to try and promote your music professionally. Have you ever tried to sell one of your songs, or have an industry person give you feedback?

I agree with Nigel. a new piece of equipment might spark some interest. I find that simply switching between the Strat and the Les Paul gives me inspiration.

Whatever you need – I hope you find it, because you are a fantastic musician and songwriter.

[AndyR]

I have a fairly sanguine approach to this:

If you didn't have self-doubts you wouldn't be quite so good at it...

(So one's friends, relatives, pets, and so on are just going to have to put up with the whinging... it's part of the packaging )

And:

Try and keep it all in perspective...

Especially these two:

• Omigod, I'm utterly useless... how on earth did I write all those songs last week/month/year/century?
• Omigod, I'm a flipping genius... just wait til folks start hearing this one...

I am constantly prey to these two emotions.

And finally:

Don't become a slave to your own creations...

You're the boss, not them.

Play with other stuff, do some painting/drawing, get some quality sofa-time in... (I'm particularly fond of that last one )

EDIT: Vanncad posted his while I was typing - he's got a good point about "maybe subconsciously you feel that you have to always meet a certain bar" ... I have this a lot - and the bar is always the last song for me... I kinda feel everything has to be better than the last thing... But it doesn't, it can't be, not everytime...

[Greeny]

Thanks guys. I really appreciate all of you. And this site.

Vanncad's point about trying to meet a certain bar really resonated. That seems to be the main problem. I'm always looking for the 'big one'... that song which you know and feel is something special. Even though you know it can't be forced, you're always looking and reaching for it. And then when it turns out as an 'album track', you're disappointed.

Maybe it’s time to try and promote your music professionally. Have you ever tried to sell one of your songs, or have an industry person give you feedback?

I know that it's time for me to do this. But I have an avoidant personality. I hate conflict of any kind, and it means I end up thinking about a lot of things but never actually doing them. Songwriting is my distraction - it's what I do whilst everything else is left to fall apart. I really do want to appraoch people and submit songs to places. But it's scary. I need to get a grip of myself first. I had the same problems when I was doing illustration - the fear of rejection when you show people your work and portfolio was crippling for me.

Thanks guys! I mean it!

[T.C. Elliott]

I think most of us have been there. Everything you play or sing sounds like something you've already done. You don't feel especially inspired about anything you play. The lyric won't flow and even sounds inane. Your baby sister (or daughter) is keeping better time and has more interesting rhythms while pounding her spoons on her high chair.

But I've got a miraculous fix. It'll only cost you $20 US currency and I promise it will.....
okay I jest. But how many of us would actually pay it if there were only a slight chance it would work? Well here are a few ideas. Maybe one will help you out.

1 - Play a different instrument. Especially one you have never played. Got a friend that can loan you a mandolin? Got a four string banjo at the local pawn shop for 40 bucks? It's worth it. Oh, I can hear it now. "But I don't know how to play that thing!" Of course not. That's why you write a melody or a chord progression on it. Because you can't rely on muscle memory (or your favorite scale) anything you come up with won't be the same ol' boring same ol'. Figure out a few chords by ear.. don't go to a website to figure it out but explore the instrument on your own.

2 - Can't afford or borrow a new/unknown instrument? Use a new tuning on your guitar. Force yourself to use all 5 black keys on the piano. Use bigger intervals in your melodies if you are a singer. Try something new/different and you are more likely to get something that sounds new or different.

3 - Give yourself limitations. I have found time and time again that I am more creative when I set limitations. You can use a song challenge generator. Try this page: http://www.paulturrell.com/challenge/  or you can view all of the elements here: http://www.paulturrell.com/challenge/showchallenges.cgi and here is a list of the weekly song challenges as used on FAWM.ORG these past few years: =challenges]http://fawm.org/wiki/past_challenges?s[]=challenges

4 - Try writing a song with the bass line first. You don't have to play it on bass, but you do have to come up with a bass line. The rhythm and chords may surprise you and most certainly won't sound the same as a song in which you start with a riff.

5 - Listen to and write in a genre you normally don't listen to or write in. Don't listen to country? Find a classic and write a song in a similar vein. "Sunday Morning Coming Down" or anything by Hank Williams is a great place to start. Can't do pure country? Try Country-Punk ala Hank III. Some great stuff there. Or pick another genre. Write a song that would work as a movie theme. Write a song that incorporates elements of classical piano. Create some sound art.

6 - Write a song as if you were another band. Wanna try something new and different? Write a song that might work on an ELO album. Or a Pink Floyd album. Or a Sex Pistols album. Or whatever.

7 - Collaborate. Stuck in a rut? Find a fellow songcrafter and ask to collaborate. See if they have any unfinished ideas you can work on. Or see if you have something that is sounding same-ish that they could add something to. Or best of all start from scratch. GMail sends files up to 25 mb as attachments so you can trade files back and forth. A friend, Nancy Rost, used this method a few times. She would start with a bass line (or drum line or another musical element) and send it to the her collaborator. Then they would add an instrument and send it back. They traded back and forth until they both added 2-4 tracks. Granted those songs may  never be pop hits, but it sure does get you out of a funk. And sometimes you find something genius.

8 - Take some perspective. Usually when you listen back to a song after taking a week or a month away from it your analysis changes. You aren't as attached to the creation of the song and can listen to it critically without all the baggage of being an artist. OR literally change perspective. Write a song from a point of view you wouldn't normally use. If you are a guy, write a song from the perspective of a house wife. If you are a gal, write a song about being embarrassed about male pattern baldness.

9 - Change the arrangement. Do you always write a song for guitar/voice. Do you always record bass drums guitar and vox? Change the arrangement. Have the bass line take the melody for a bit. Add piano as the main voice. Use harmonies in your vocals. Figure out a new way of doing the same thing you always do.

10 - Purposefully use dissonance. The intro to "Purple Haze" uses a tri-tone between guitar and bass. Lots of classical music uses dissonance to build tension. Figure out a way to make something that sounds 'wrong' on first listen to sound right. You can read about it here to get you started: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Consonance_and_dissonance

Good luck!