Fortifying Inspiration in the face of Songwriter’s Block

You’ve got one solid starting point, all the tools you need, you’re ready get into it and…nada. You’re stuck despite having set aside the time and mental space in order to take your initial idea into the next phase.

“Here we go again…”

Writer’s block is a very real thing. It’s something we’ve all experienced (more often than we’d care to admit) and it’s likely more complicated than simply than not having an idea at that given moment.

What if the problem is lack of inspiration?

We’ve all experienced true inspiration, at one point or another, and it’s something I would argue that’s essential to creation. You feel something inside of you that calls you to bring something into the world. When it takes hold, ideas sprout out of the ground like seedlings and then it’s a matter of how you help them grow from that point forward.

Inspiration is what gave you the idea in the first place but why has it abandoned you now, in this moment, when you’re ready to create? This is something that can make the creative process feel maddening.

So what can you do about this?

Patterns of Inspiration

It may be as simple as pattern recognition, meaning that though good ideas often seem to happen to us, they may, instead, be the result of a state we put ourselves in without realizing it.

Think about where you were, what you were doing, and how you felt the last several times you lived that inspiration. Now write it down, even if it seems inconsequential – anything you experienced in that moment may have held the key.

In all the years that I’ve been writing songs, the most consistent pattern I’ve noticed is this:
The best ideas tend to happen anywhere but the studio.

Once I started paying attention to this, it started to feel as though there was a little muse, constantly working in the shadows of my mind, and that all I needed was the flashlight to shine on it.

I can recall many moments during intense songwriting/recording sessions where I had hit a wall after several hours of work, chasing a specific idea. When I found myself in this position, I would force myself to go over to my local coffee shop to unwind for 20-30 mins and – wouldn’t you know it? – as I’m sitting, sipping and daydreaming in my car, suddenly all these exciting arrangement ideas were flooding in, as if they were being handed to me.

I would often feel so reinvigorated that I would race back to my house to expand on all these ideas. This would often result in a whole new direction for my song.

All this in a moment where I wasn’t trying to solve a problem, but rather step away from it.

Once I started to pick up on this pattern I would always make sure to capture audio notes on my phone, whenever the moment struck. I would get into the habit of humming melodies, and dictate notes that provided context for what I was thinking in that moment; how it may relate to the overall direction of the song; and even make recommendations (to my future self) on how to integrate these ideas so that I wouldn’t forget.

But this is just one example of many, and not all of them happened in the same way. The takeaway is that inspired ideas can happen at any time and that your best option is to be ready to capture them when they do happen.

If we linger on this anecdote for a minute…was it the fact that I needed a break, the sudden jolt of caffeine, or the fact that I successfully took the pressure and expectation off of myself? Possibly all three. But there’s no denying that some part of my brain was working on my behalf – and it wasn’t magic.

It turns out there’s some well-documented research around this phenomenon of how our brains handle creative ideas when shifting away from a given problem-oriented hard task.

ECN vs. DMN

The hypothesis is that when you’re toiling away on your task (for our purposes, we’ll consider this songwriting, arranging), actively trying to shape and refine your ideas, your brain is making use the Executive Control Network (ECN). This is the part of you that’s taking the idea and trying to iterate on something specific with a goal attached.

There’s nothing wrong with this – it’s what you’re supposed to call on in this situation – but for those of us who double-down and get persistent when we get stuck, this can often devolve into a vicious loop, where we try to make one thing work that doesn’t, much like shoving the proverbial square peg in the the round hole.

On the flip-side, when you find yourself in a relaxed state, or doing something enjoyable that doesn’t require any problem solving nor are you working towards anything in particular, you’re dealing with the Default Mode Network (DMN).

When switching from an intensive task, governed by the ECN, to something unrelated (going for a walk, showering, etc.) the DMN slowly takes over. Freeing up the stagnant state you found yourself in and your subconscious starts to feed you some new ideas and options towards your song.

It’s still you, but it’s the “you” that decided to place a Post-it on this singular issue and lock itself in a hidden room to work on on the problem, while the “actual” you grabs a sandwich and calls your mom.

Simply put, there’s a natural hand-off in your brain between these two networks during the course of a day. So if this is how our brains are functioning on average, it also means that creative work is not strictly limited to the time we set aside to write our songs. It’s something that is ongoing.

Artist Anecdotes

Legendary artist, songwriter, and producer Todd Rundgren talks about this very phenomenon in his interview with Rick Beato, mentioning how his subconscious is working in the background for him, after having laid down an initial idea and letting it rest.

In an another interview with AXS TV, Gregg Allman talks about the sometimes inconvenient presence of inspiration saying, “It’ll hit you at the most inopportune time… like when you’re so tired that you’re technically you’re asleep before your head hits the pillow… bam it’ll hit you.”

These are all likely examples of the DMN at work on the mind’s behalf.

So is it always as simple as “take a break and the ideas will immediately arrive”?

Not exactly but, that’s also the point. It can, and does, happen anytime and anywhere. The moment you realize that your ideas are not bound to a particular context, the sooner you can start working on tuning your brain to the right inspirational frequency. Think of it like turning a knob on your car radio station until you tune it to the “muse” that’s waiting in the airwaves.

Developing Practical Habits

So if this is true, it would make the most sense to capture those ideas as they happen, right?

Tools

We all have a phone, with a voice recorder and most of us can carry a tune. And, therefore, if you can hear it in your mind, you can probably hum it (or whistle it).

If you’re out in the world, and an idea strikes, don’t wait, record it immediately, no matter how insignificant the idea may be.

If you can’t hum a melody or, if you prefer to get more musical with it, you can also carry a small MIDI keyboard/travel guitar, and headphones around with you.

Creative Auditing – post-inspiration

In my opinion, this one is as important as capturing the ideas in the first place.

Once you have a few audio snippets compiled into a note, why not set aside time to review them, when you would otherwise be unwinding and scrolling on Instagram?

This is not only a better use of your creative time, where you can play more of an active role in this process, but you can use this opportunity to bridge the gap between the two networks.

I refer to this as “creative auditing” and this is the daily step you can take once you’ve gotten in the habit of capturing ideas outside of your official sessions.

In this scenario, you start out passively listening without engaging – assessing your ideas and the possibilities within. You may find that it sparks additional ideas but, the difference here is that you don’t have an agenda and you’re listening to a snapshot of yourself in another moment, almost like you’re listening to someone else’s ideas.

You’ll find that you are thinking both analytically (sussing out “this one works” or “this one doesn’t”), and inspirationally (“These sound like horn parts…what If i gave this a Motown arrangement?”, “I hit the wrong note there but I like it…maybe this song needs a key change”). And, because you’re mostly operating in the moment, without the pressure, you can continue to capture more ideas once something registers in your brain. This is where you could capture more audio notes.

It’s at this point where you may find that you’re moving from passive listening into active listening and SOMEtimes you’ll suddenly realize that your back into songwriting mode (though, I would argue you never stopped).

Location and Timing

Then there’s a question of the inconvenience of your location. Maybe you’re out a dinner, on a plane, or at work, and your bashful at the idea of humming some nonsense into your phone, while out in public.

Understood. Why not duck into bathroom, put the phone close up to your mouth and hum quietly into your phone mic.

Now, despite the fact that this post seems to imply that the studio is somehow limiting your creativity, I don’t mean to mislead you. Some of us find it to be quite the opposite – it can also provide inspirational magic that we’re all chasing. However, there’s one important workflow tip that I would be remiss to of leave out, even if it seems obvious to some of us:

Be set up to record at any moment.

If you’ve got an idea but the difference between you and getting that idea out of your head and into your DAW, is:

• moving around a bunch of equipment
• tuning your guitar
• plugging in every single cable
• powering up you laptop
• opening the DAW
• setting up your tracks (“No..wait, I need to update my software!! Grrr!”)

before you hit record, you’ll likely lose all your mental and emotional energy trying to capture that idea (or at the very least, forget the melody, beat, or chord progression).

So as it relates to your studio, just have everything set up so that all you have to do is walk over to your workstation with your instrument (or voice), open your DAW, hit record, and get it out of your head. I wasted years doing it the hard way. I’d like to save you from doing the same.

Is all this obvious? It may be but, it may also be the difference between coming up with that “hit” you have always dreamed, or writing another mediocre song that the world doesn’t need.

One Last Prescriptive Analogy

If we want to take all of this and wrap it into a philosophical framing try to think of this ancient practice of feng shui (something I’ve always viewed it as a mood optimizer), where you physically reorient your immediate environment to optimize energy-flow and thought.

Find the immediate environments that bring you the most mental relief and openness and make them a part of your creative process. These settings can can be as mundane as your commute to work, a walk through the aisles of a grocery store, a beach, or a nearby park.

For me it’s the driver’s seat of my car, or the basketball court, early in the morning when no one’s around, where I shoot hoops as a form of meditation.

You want to get into the right headspace to set the stage for the purest ideas. You’re immediate environment and your mind may be the best tools available to you.

A post-script invitation

After reading all of this you may think to yourself, “That’s great, I get it, I’ve tried all of these things but I still need help!”

Fear not, we’ve got your covered. And this is why exactly why Zippgun was created. If you need help navigating your way forward with a song/composition or mix that you’re stuck on, or you’ve simply lost perspective, visit out “Get Feedback” page and book a call with one of our seasoned feedback professionals. We’re here to help you be the best musical version of yourself.