There’s a big difference between the brainstorming I’ve talked about–and a song. As you’ve probably noticed. How do you get from point A to point B?
This is where the sweat and tears come in. Basically, what we’re doing is putting together a puzzle–and one with extra pieces, to boot. Oh, and no picture to go off of.
If you haven’t been struck by inspiration at this point, my advice is simple: Keep plugging away. I have to confess I’ve spent months working on an idea, without getting much beyond this point. You said you were committed, right? But here are some things you can try.
Pick out phrases that sound good to you, and try them out using different melodies or inflections. The shower’s a good place for this. Or pick up your guitar (or sit down at the piano, etc.) and mess around with different chord progressions. Or let your fingers play around the fret board, picking notes randomly. At a workshop I went to, someone said they take phone numbers and translate them into notes (for example, 3 would equate to the third note of the scale, etc.) as a way of coming up with new ideas.
Don’t be afraid to try different things.
“I thought I was writing a song,” you are saying, “not throwing mud up on a wall and looking for a pattern.” Depends on what your idea of creativity is. Do you think ideas bubble up spontaneously from your soul? That songs spring forth ready made? More importantly, do you believe that originality means doing it entirely on your own, as if you were not influenced by every song you’ve ever heard? (not to mention things you’ve read and heard your whole life) Well, I hate to break it to you, but no man’s an island, and you are not ever alone. The language you inherit from you forbears is informed by thousands of generations of humans, each once contributing a tiny bit to the meaning of each word. Those words are your building blocks. You’re just putting them together a little differently–hopefully–than they’ve been put together before.
I only say all this because I was thus diluted. I thought I had to be 100% original, and I wasted years banging my head against that wall. Once again, don’t make the same mistake I did. Steal, borrow, whatever you want to call it. The means as well as the substance of communication are at your disposal. It all belongs to you, as a member of the human race. What you create is yours because you bothered to write it down, and you put it together in just a way no one else could have.
Mind you, don’t be a blatant imitator. Don’t go out and intentionally copy someone else’s style. Leave that for tribute bands. Try to make your songs sound like “you”. You are unique, because there has never been anyone else with your genetic makeup, or who has lived through your particular set of experiences.
So you’re kind of walking a fine line. Borrow unabashedly from everyone and everything around you, but don’t borrow so much from one source that you will be branded as a carbon copy. I have no problem with artists doing covers, but I’ve never understood when they do it note for note.
So don’t be afraid to borrow ideas from other artists, and don’t be afraid to borrow from the randomness around you. Make your phone number into a melody. It will probably suck–and you’ll probably know it. But maybe something will resonate with you, perhaps just three notes in a row that sound good together. Boom, you’re off and running.