Writers Block!!-How long/and how you defeted it

oh man.... i can tell you the joy i have....for a solid 2 years i had writers block i couldnt compose a simple 3 note melody... after i wrote my epic ninja/metal album... i had nothing. i felt seriously lost. i could think about music i couldnt even play my stupid guitar.. all the compositions i did during the writing of the album were in one way or another lame and needed tons of work. so burned out i gave up writing...then One day i was noodling with a tune in my head... and i relized it was a Final Fantasy theme from the super nintendo game FF2 so i had to get a midi of it...i work on it till i re arranged it for guitar and rock ensamble... and wouldnt you know my block was gone. I have been playing my guitar everyday and i and discovering things all over again that make me wanna write my brains out..

so long story short. from a ninjas perspective..if you are down in the dumps and cant compose your way out of a paper bag. try something new

--re-arrange someone elses music for a different ensamble then originaly writen

--write a melody and arrange it as many different ways you can and still remain true to the original theme/idea:)

--use an already established theme..and warp it till you get something entirley different..

alot of the stuff i been trying i get from this one book called

Frustrated Songwriters. its geared tward mass writing and iggying the critic inside us all who will defeat you before you even pic up a pen..

no matter what!. try something, anything, walk, run, do some sudoko, think about butterflys, what ever. them put a pen in your hand, open up a new score file, or a fresh synth patch, and create.....

Ninja

who are you, and how long did you have writers block, and what did it for you to break it.

This may sounds very stubborn, but I don't believe writers block exists. You can never not have anything to write, you can always write! It might take a while to get something good, but you can still play around and write few bars of something new.

I don't think I described it very well, but I stick to my opinion.

This may sounds very stubborn, but I don't believe writers block exists. You can never not have anything to write, you can always write! It might take a while to get something good, but you can still play around and write few bars of something new.

I don't think I described it very well, but I stick to my opinion.

But isn

Yah, I guess you're right.

well i feel it exist for me... i was in a funk for a long time.....long time.. and even though i could randomly pick notes...( a tactic i implore regularly).. the spark of real mojo.. come almost never for me... so when i figured out why and how to beat it.. and tackled it with all the skill i had... i am now...in a creative free flowing world again...its hard to shut up the inner critic..but learn how to do that and craft of writting is easy.

when I'm too interested in writing classical I can't write anything on electric guitar/modern alt rock synthy stuff. And when I'm too interested in writing new stuff with my band I can't write any classical. It goes in cycles of about 3 months at a time, but it's good cos it means I can vary it a bit.

I usually have a lot of writer's block when I've gotten an antecedent or phrase but can't come up with a suitable consequent or second phrase, or when I'm trying to come up with a good contrasting middle part for a piece in simple A-B-A form.

What works for me in these cases is to go out and take a walk, or something that requires physical activity. I read it in some compostion book that it helps because it gives you a better blood flow to your brain, making you think better. I don't know if it's scientifically proved or anything but at least it works.

Secondly, try to get away from your instrument! When you are playing your instrument your fingers always move in predictable patterns, derived from what you usually play on it, or stuff you've learned for it. Going for a walk automatically does this of course (provided you don't take your instrument with you heh), but it's a good thing to do at home if you got writer's block. Try to come up with something in your head and then write it down on paper. Most of the time when I do this the ideas are crap, but a lot of them have at least something (it can two notes or just a simple rhythm) I can use to come up with something else.

I guess the single best way to get out of it is to keep trying.