How Do You Get Inspired?

[josht]

Hey I'm new here... josh from SoundEchoSound.com ...

Wanted to say hi... also I thought it would be nice since we are all musicians here to introduce yourself and answer this 1 question...

WHAT TRULY INSPIRES YOU?!!

No offense to other threads but I can't answer 100 questions and I definitely know people won't read all of them so I figured this was a good way to get people to chat and also give a good piece of information that others can benefit from.

Please if you have material, poems, art, books, or any other literature that inspires you to write post that information!

Edited August 2, 2012 by josht

[timewave]

To answer you, I would say its the gtr I play and the mood Im in that brings my songs to life!

I offten dont mean to write(dont sit down w/Im writting a song ) in mind, it just happens when everything gtr., mood, chords and sound comes together

Sometimes a bad mood works better than a good one! I think its all about feeling a song,you know when its right!

Steve

[rippinlyricist]

I say I've written several songs - one intentionally. I don't try to write songs. But for inspiration, it's hard to beat a bad breakup (lol).

[ChasingCars]

What inspires me?

Artists, singers and the people on this website.

I wanted to get into songwriting mostly to get my feelings out and express myself. I thought writing about my own feelings would be the easiest way because it is what Ifeel and the stronger Ifeel about certain things and issues, then I can put across some meaningful lyrics. However, I haven't got around to writting my own song yet.

[SergeOfArniVillage]

I think for me ... I'm often inspired by my own imagination. I don't have a particularly active or interesting life, due to certain circumstances, so I find that creating music helps me to add a little bit of excitement in my life. Telling a deep and meaningful story in music is, for me, very rewarding.

[nickamandote]

for me inspiration comes from nowehere. for the song I've entered last year at the UK songwriting contest inspiration came while I was walking on the street - the chorus just came into my mind -easy as that. i don't struggle very hard to write a song. it should be a natural and easy process. when it comes, it comes. quality is more important to me than quantity.

Edited August 19, 2012 by nickamandote

[Theellarking]

Anything, and everything.

[Todd S]

Sometimes it's another song or something I see when I'm driving. Sometimes I get an idea from a movie that would make a great song. I usually have an idea and work around it. Whatever comes first, sometimes I write and it just leads to the chorus all by itself

[alwaystheself]

Whatever is happening in my life, good bad or otherwise inspires me.

[MikeRobinson]

Sometimes, I think that the thing which really inspires me is the surprise that happens ... when you've been fooling around with a lyric trying to put a tune to it, or fooling around with a tune trying to put a lyric to it, or more-commonly both at the same time ... and then you're taking some of the ideas that you first came up with and working a little more with them, and ... "all of the sudden, hey!" Now, it might not be an angelic epiphany and in fact it almost-certainly isn't, but you realize that something "better" is there in front of you that wasn't there a minute before.

The teacher (probably ...) who said that "writing is rewriting" unfortunately was correct. Inspiration might bring you the germ of an idea but it won't hand you the whole thing on a silver platter. Still, it's inspiring when it hands you anything at all. The difficulty, and I suppose the craft, comes from learning how to develop those snatches of originality into a product.

Edited October 22, 2012 by MikeRobinson

[thepopeofpop]

Sometimes I get inspired by listening to a song that I think is promising but unsatisfying. I think "boy, if only they'd done 'C' after doing 'A' and 'B'." Then I think, "Well if they're not going to do it, then I will." This sort of inspiration could be melodic, harmonic or lyrical. So I might hear a chord sequence and think it's going to go somewhere really interesting (but then it doesn't). Or the song might have an interesting lyrical theme that doesn't really get developed properly (to my mind).

I tend to be less directly inspired by music that truly impresses me, because I usually feel that it sets a standard that's hard to equal (without blatant imitation). So, often it's the (to me) "interesting failures" that do it.

On the other hand, sometimes inspiration comes from completely non-musical sources. You have to keep your eyes open at all times, I think. Stay in a "songwriting frame of mind" and all sorts of possibilities might start jumping out at you.

[Olaf Stando]

You can get inspiration from absolutely anywhere - I wrote my recent song while I was in a crowded carriage of the London Underground.

I think that a good way to inspire a song is based on your own observations - this makes it genuine and yours, not artificially fabricated.

Musically, it's good to have a decent jam before you write, try out different keys, picking, chord progressions, tunings etc.

I listen to a lot of music, so this also definitely inspires.

Oh, and welcome to the forum! I'm even newer than you, but this looks like a cool place, no?

[ShawkCityBeats]

Just however I'm feeling at that moment. It always tends to color the work I do whether it is a rock song or a hip hop beat. There are those who say the best music comes out the sadness but I've written some nice stuff when I was feeling just fine!

------

http://www.shawkcity.com

[BentaBones]

Basically any strong emotion, happy or sad, can produce a song for me. Also, sometimes a great melody will just pop into my head and then I build on it from there.

[neil p]

music, and art. sometimes being around others helps too. also just spontaneously when im out and about something will hit me, so i guess environment is a factor.

great thread! cant always be inspired, but good to ponder what can get the gears oild.

[LayneGreene]

I'm always inspired by random things, it comes and goes as it pleases. That said, any time I listen to Bartok, or Allan Holdsworth I get inspired to work on stuff.

[The Methodical Songwriter]

A good story. I can always draw from a good story and my own emotional draw.

[Wil]

More often than not it comes to me in the shower, which I think has proved to be songwriting's most useful tool.

[Pablo]

I find inspiration in many ways: the gigs I attend, new albums that I buy (I recently bought Lana Del Rey and went on to write a song that is similar in style to hers even though it's quite different to my usual writing style), personal events in my own life but also it's easy to find inspiration jamming along to a drum loop. Before you know it, you have a strong chord progression that suggests a particular mood and lyrical ideas start to flow from there. It's kind of like you inspire yourself. Something can start out sounding quite ordinary and then it suddenly springs to life. I often find this when I'm writing in the Logic environment. :-)

Edited January 2, 2013 by Pablo

[DogmaticRock]

Fame inspires me, but also a want to become a part of history.