Making Music

[madmax1012]

well there's always the get stoned and play method

[gunslinger_burrito]

The hardest and BEST thing I've found out is that you shouldn't slip into trying too much to sound like someone else. I've taken to learning weird scales because it creates new sounds for me to work with; using weird time signatures for the same reason. Ultimately though, as soon as I try to write a "sludge" song, or a "post-rock" song, or a "mathy" song, or any "type" of song, I end up hating it. So while it's good to try those things, and see which ones you naturally jive with, it's just as important to just play whatever you're having the most fun playing, and go from there.

As far as "theory" goes, I have a buddy who's idea of "theory" is if you think a note sounds "bad," or "off" then just move it up or down one half step (fret). That seems to work pretty good.

[Bassus Sanguinis]

^chromatic scales mixed with others works because the wrong notes wakes up the listeners ear. AND by them self because of free jazz and anything goes because this kicks ass

[schrodingersgoldfish]

AND by them self because of free jazz and anything goes because this kicks ass

And I will call it Post-music.

[snipelfritz]

AND by them self because of free jazz and anything goes because this kicks ass

And I will call it Post-music.

Oh fuck yes.

[smile_man]

dont use standard tunings
it makes guitar fun again.

AND by them self because of free jazz and anything goes because this kicks ass

And I will call it Post-music.

Oh fuck yes.

I ONLY MAKE POST-SONG MUSIC YALL.

[Bassus Sanguinis]

dont use standard tunings
it makes guitar fun again.

Yep, the very point of New Standard Tuning (and many others just as fun).

[rfurtkamp]

When in doubt, randomly turn knobs, and see what happens.

Worst case is you've wasted time.

The most important thing after twenty-some years I realize is simply keeping at it and refining whatever it is you're good at. You won't find your voice as a songwriter or guitarist or whatever right away in most cases, and the way to work past the ugly is to simply, well, work past the ugly.

And you never know who you can find in the middle of nowhere, I have a couple guys I can jam with doing free jazz and truly wierd stuff in the middle of nowhere in Idaho.

I have refrained from kidnapping and chaining them to a radiator in case they want to escape.

[The Mad Owl]

ALWAYS write...

and more important than that...

ALWAYS FINISH SOMETHING.

everyone here has given you tons of awesome suggestions.

however, sometimes our greatest enemy in creativity is our own selves.

I belong to a collective and we did a 20-songs-in-one-day challenge and I managed to fully write 14 in about 12 hours.

sometimes forcing yourself to forget why an idea "sucks" will help you realize that it doesn't actually suck

[D.o.S.]

I use forgetting as a riff value test meter: once I've practiced the new cool thing enough it's time to let it be and forget about it for a week or two. If it STILL sounds good, after the break, then it's probably worth doing. If I can't remember it ...well, fuck it.

[zRobertez]

Sometimes you just need a break and stop trying. That's where I'm at now; I put my stuff away for a few days so I can get out of that frustrated, everything-sounds-the-same mind set and start anew when I feel better.

This is pretty much what I do. Then I come back and I just throw something out that I love. Like magic.

And I hate limiting or labeling something before it starts but if you get in the mindset that next time you play with friends or yourself or whoever that you're gonna be playing in a blues band (or metal or indie or anything that's not the music you actually listen to) then ideas come like never before. And then over time, the ideas you had drift back to the style you already know and love and listen to and become something of yours.

Another thing I do is even though I can't sing well enough to want it in a song, I write some lyrics, usually terrible ones and then make a song for them and ditch the lyrics.
Good luck!

[skullservant]

record absolutely everything you do. If nothing else, you can take ideas from just messing around, refine them, play to them, build on them and go from there

[karmablock]

What I did when I had a project due for an Electronic Music and felt stuck was set Live to draw mode I would just randomly click on notes in the piano roll. Sometimes it would be awesome other times not at all but it always got me started.

[GardenoftheDead]

Having a looper has helped.

Though of course the first thing I write is some weird Isis-esque sludge riff in 9/4. Totally on accident.