Getting over the hump.

It seems as if I've hit a plateau in my music making. After so many years, my guitar playing is starting to sound stale to my ears (not technically wise, mostly just chord progression wise). And after not so much time, my home producing setup is yielding less and less imaginative ideas.... it seems perhaps I've hit a creative hump, and everything just sounds the same to me.

Do you guys have any particular techniques you use to get over this hump/refresh your ears/brain?

Try collaborating with some people!

take more risks in life, go out and do something for the first time, something you've never done before, and come back changed

Get wasted and make grindcore

Take a long break until you forgot about music making then rediscover it.

Buy a new synth.

Play in whichever key you're least familiar with. Right now.

Write a letter to Yoko Ono.

I'm still humping that hump, every time I fire up my studip setup, which is getting very very infrequently.

Change your studio setup. If you're using a multitracking setup or a daw, switch to something like renoise or numerology. That's what I'm doing right now. :) Deep in the learning curve again.

  On 4/13/2012 at 5:16 AM, The Face Culler said:

Try collaborating with some people!

Yeah, just try something new. There no real science behind it.

Try a different genre! If you usually write idm stuff, try shoegaze or post-rock, it's an easy jump from idm. or yeah, like Ivan Ooze said, grindcore. It's fun!

Maybe start a new drug habit too. That always helps. I switched to Heroin last time I got stuck, and now I don't even care!

lol

Basically, what we're all saying is if you're bored and uninspired, learn something new and work outside of your comfort zone. Never stop learning new things and pushing yourself further. Ideally, push the whole state of the art further.

Have a nice cup of tea.

When stuck, I try to look out for fresh new music for inspiration; go outside your usual music genres, dissect different production styles before you start your tracks. Also, like everybody else is suggesting, changing some of your gear might be good - try doing something radical, move away from your usual workflow.

mess with hardware step sequencers

numerology!

Enter some remix competitions.

Thanks all for the great responses - it seemed that the most sound advice of it all was stepping out for some fresh air. And picking up my guitar and tastelessly shredding for about an hour....

The creative process won't ever end, you just have to rediscover it for yourself. Someone suggested taking a break, or collabing. Maybe just find something different to do. Maybe try a new instrument.

Just give it time.

watching other people being creative really helps, see some documentaries about any kind of artists, musicians or not.

  On 4/16/2012 at 5:09 AM, sergeantk said:

Thanks all for the great responses - it seemed that the most sound advice of it all was stepping out for some fresh air. And picking up my guitar and tastelessly shredding for about an hour....

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=7MJPhXDqhtE&list=PLAAE6F7625311BCC8

*hint*