Setting the mood for the perfect practice

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Derpottsie

New member
15 years of guitar in my 21 years of living on earth has taught me that I can't write a single riff thats worth a damn if Im not in the right mood or setting. So I gave it some thought, throughout the years, of what can I possibly do to get myself in the best mood for writing songs? I find myself turning the lights, putting on a cool screen saver on the computer, and turning on a big purple lava lamp.

I was wondering what you guys do. Is there a special routine or ritual you go through? Is there a special item you have to have around? How do your mood settings look when you're feeling extra creative?

And for those of you who have never given this a thought, please try it. Make your practice room look how you feel in your mind. You'll write songs so much easier and from the heart

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Re: Setting the mood for the perfect practice

Sorry man... I was the primary writer for a band that very nearly got signed to a major and I don't run into this at all. You do realize that a lot of your great rock albums were written in just a few weeks, right? Ronnie James Dio described it as a cycle: write, record, tour, repeat. There are deadlines, and you can't wait for the muse to be upon you. You just sit down and you do it.
 
Re: Setting the mood for the perfect practice

It's called WORK for a reason.
You sit down, you do it.
You'll get better at it.

All this Kumbayah crap is messed up, same as the lie about tortured "artistes" suffering for their art.
It's FRICKING WORK, people - so get busy!
 
Re: Setting the mood for the perfect practice

Not sure where these responses came from seeing how its unrelated to what I asked

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Re: Setting the mood for the perfect practice

ICTGoober said:
It's called WORK for a reason.
You sit down, you do it.
You'll get better at it.

All this Kumbayah crap is messed up, same as the lie about tortured "artistes" suffering for their art.
It's FRICKING WORK, people - so get busy!
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A lot of people are shocked to discover that songwriting is about 90% craft and 10% art. The compulsive songwriter who just keeps pounding out tune after tune because the muse calls to him is a rare bird, and in general such people are too friggin weird to work with. I haven't written a song in years because it's been forever since I've been involved in an original project and if there's not a project to write for then what the hell's the point? I think a lot of famous recording artists are the same way... look how many guys you see who have gone a long time between recordings talking about sitting down to write songs for the new one. What that tells you, reading between the lines, is they HAVEN'T been writing songs in the interim.
 
Re: Setting the mood for the perfect practice

Derpottsie said:
Not sure where these responses came from seeing how its unrelated to what I asked

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What we're trying to tell you is you're in the wrong mindset. If you stop thinking about art and focus on the craft, you won't need the props. Think of it as a job.
 
Re: Setting the mood for the perfect practice

Maybe thats why there are thousand of bands out there that are just trash. They dont have any original concept behind any song they write. Follow the path of a hip and popular genre of the time and become another name on a long list of groups under the same category. Its an art form not a job. Nobody should ever write music to make money its a terrible business

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Re: Setting the mood for the perfect practice

If I needed to be inspired to write, I'd never write anything. Inspiration is the myth of the artist. The rest of us get dressed and sit down and get to work like any other profession. Don't sit down with the goal of writing a song Write a pattern, a riff, make a cool sound...just a sketch. Do this every day.
 
Re: Setting the mood for the perfect practice

Derpottsie said:
Maybe thats why there are thousand of bands out there that are just trash. They dont have any original concept behind any song they write. Follow the path of a hip and popular genre of the time and become another name on a long list of groups under the same category. Its an art form not a job. Nobody should ever write music to make money its a terrible business

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I agree to an extent, but given that we all need money to survive it's kind of the nature of the beast. Who has time to work eight hours and then spend the next four writing songs that nobody is ever going to hear? Do your kids ever see you? It's simply too much work if you're not getting paid. I play in cover bands and mix live sound because that's where the money is and I'd rather shoot myself than punch a clock.
 
Re: Setting the mood for the perfect practice

Mincer said:
If I needed to be inspired to write, I'd never write anything. Inspiration is the myth of the artist. The rest of us get dressed and sit down and get to work like any other profession. Don't sit down with the goal of writing a song Write a pattern, a riff, make a cool sound...just a sketch. Do this every day.
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I think you find that the more you do this the more you can work with real inspiration when it strikes, plus it seems to strike more often when you are working at it.

Still it isn't a bad idea to set up a space where you are comfortable working or a space that creates a certain mood for you if it helps you get to work.
 
Re: Setting the mood for the perfect practice

Nobody should ever write music to make money its a terrible business
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OH, PUHLEEZE!

Anyone remember the days of Tin Pan Alley when all the songwriters churned out several tunes a day for the music industry? Leiber and Stoller? The Gershwin brothers? Hoagie Carmichael, and Oscar Hammerstein? Some of them wrote up to 20 songs a day for singers at record companies, Broadway shows, and the movies. IT'S WORK, folks - it's an artform, yes - but you WORK AT IT..... for money.

Michelangelo, Auguste Rodin, Salvador Dali, and Pablo Picasso didn't sit around waiting to get in the mood. They went to their studios or workplaces and GOT BUSY.
 
Re: Setting the mood for the perfect practice

Thank God I don't have to play for a living, if music was work for me I'd have stopped a decade ago. I play to release and escape. If there was a schedule and expectations of time, style, marketability, it's still work. You're trading time and things you'd rather being doing for a $ and I'd rather not hate my guitar. I have buddies that hate to play but it pays the bills, eff that!
 
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Re: Setting the mood for the perfect practice

Thundermtn said:
Thank God I don't have to play for a living, if music was work for me I'd have stopped a decade ago. I play to release and escape. If there was a schedule and expectations of time, style, marketability, it's still work. You're trading time and things you'd rather being doing for a $ and I'd rather not hate my guitar. I have buddies that hate to play but it pays the bills, eff that!
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I see it the other way... I love to play my guitar so if I can get paid to do that... even if I'm not crazy about the music... it still beats the living hell out of anything else I could be doing.
 
Re: Setting the mood for the perfect practice

Best comment I ever read about practice and song writing.... "You don't pay me for the 2 hours I'm on stage. I live for that. You are paying me for the other 22 hours of the day that I worked endlessly on my technique, and practiced my music until I knew it backwards and forwards".
 
Re: Setting the mood for the perfect practice

ICTGoober said:
Best comment I ever read about practice and song writing.... "You don't pay me for the 2 hours I'm on stage. I live for that. You are paying me for the other 22 hours of the day that I worked endlessly on my technique, and practiced my music until I knew it backwards and forwards".
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Great point right there Ive never looked at it like that

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Re: Setting the mood for the perfect practice

ICTGoober said:
Best comment I ever read about practice and song writing.... "You don't pay me for the 2 hours I'm on stage. I live for that. You are paying me for the other 22 hours of the day that I worked endlessly on my technique, and practiced my music until I knew it backwards and forwards".
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That's pretty much where it's at. Once I'm onstage I don't give a single **** what we're playing. I live in the upper midwest and I like money so I play a lot of country. Now I hate country as a listener, but when I'm out there playing the music in front of an audience it bothers me not at all. I'd rather play music I don't like to a packed house than play my favorite music to my kids and my dog.
 
Re: Setting the mood for the perfect practice

Lampy H said:
Music is a hobby for me, but it doesn't take much for me to write new material. Every time I pick upy guitar, a new riff comes out. Most of the time, I have a pretty solid idea of what I want a song to be, and when I'm grooving with my buddies, the songs just naturally take shape.
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That whole jamming it out with the guys thing never worked for me. Songwriting by committee. I never showed the band anything till I had a complete arrangement in demo form.
 
Re: Setting the mood for the perfect practice

2ndhandband said:
That whole jamming it out with the guys thing never worked for me. Songwriting by committee. I never showed the band anything till I had a complete arrangement in demo form.
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Thats the best way to do it. I have a hardrive slammed full of audio clips arranged into song formats that Ive been making over the years. Just haven't turned them into any real songs with an actual band since I cant seem to quit my day job. Maybe one day

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