7 Things You Can Do To Overcome Writer’s Block

1. Fire up some samples or MIDI files

When the compositional juices suddenly stop flowing, one surefire way to give your muse a kick in the pants is to delve into a sample or MIDI file library appropriate to the genre in which you’re working. It’s amazing what the introduction of a well-crafted piano line, horn riff, or drum break can do in terms of providing a hook on which to base wider melodic, harmonic, or rhythmic exposition.

Of course, you may not feel comfortable including someone else’s pre-fabricated material in your track wholesale, but no one’s saying you have to – you can manipulate or edit the sample or MIDI clip in question, or just use the notes within it as a springboard for an original part of your own. The point, ultimately, is to overcome that temporary dearth of imagination with an injection of well-realised external inspiration.

2. Try a songwriting assistant plugin

In the current era of burgeoning artificial intelligence and machine learning, the beleaguered songwriter has a variety of compositional aids on which to call when necessary. Plugins such as Mixed In Key’s Captain Plugins, Scaler Music’s Scaler, and AudioModern’s Riffer provide powerful AI-driven tools for the guided conjuration of harmonic and melodic parts, greatly empowering those who aren’t well-versed in music theory and ably assisting those who are in coming up with tasty musical elements. Again, while the notion of having a plugin generate lead melodies and focal themes for you might not sit well with the purist, we would suggest that the real strength of these things is how easy they make the process of writing more foundational chord progressions and harmonic structures, which can be hugely helpful in smashing through writer’s block.

Meanwhile, in the drums department, AudioModern’s PlayBeat and Sonic Charge’s Microtonic serve up AI-powered electronic beats with various points of constraint facilitated to keep them within the accepted norms of contemporary percussion tracks.

3. Go for a walk.

Often, writer’s block comes as a result of over-focussing on the minutiae of a project and, consequently, being unable to see the wood for the trees. One highly effective way to counter this is to get out of the studio entirely and do something else. Going for a long walk in nature, working out, meditating, or any other mentally neutralising distraction should be enough to restart the musical engine, but if you’re up against the clock, just nipping to the shops to get lunch can make all the difference. And if you happen to have a block-busting idea while you’re out and about, sing it into your phone or use a music app of some sort to make a note of it.

4. Take in a show.

Expanding on the previous tip, the next time you find the songwriting cupboard bare, why not seek out aesthetic nutrition in the broader arts? Devouring the work of other talented folk, no matter what their particular field, is always invigorating, and going to the cinema or theatre, visiting an art gallery, or even simply reading a book can profoundly shift your perspective and re-energise your creativity. While the direct feedback of such experiences into your music will range from subtle (realising a general mood or vibe based on a painting, say) to overt (lifting some choice lyrics from a poem, sampling dialogue from a movie, or reimagining an arrangement inspired by a movie soundtrack), as long as it gets you out of the doldrums and back in the flow, it’s been a worthwhile endeavour.

5. Take your music somewhere inspiring.

Having already advised getting out of the studio as a way to recharge the ol’ compositional batteries, how about taking the studio out into the world to see if a profound change of scene might help you get back on track? Obviously, by ‘studio’ we actually mean ‘laptop’, and the effectiveness of this exercise will come in large part down to how much outboard and hardware you use; but heading to the park, a café, the pub, or anywhere else that isn’t your home with your DAW, your EVO audio interface, a good pair of headphones, and a mini-keyboard/controller in tow is sure to put you in a new emotional space and refresh your artistic faculties.

6. Get someone else involved

No producer is an island, and inviting another party into the studio (online or IRL) can radically boost your creativity, even when you’re not stuck for ideas, let alone when you are. Your collaborator could be a fellow musician able to actively participate in the songwriting process, or just a friend whose taste and judgement you respect, providing honest feedback on the track as it currently stands and making less-specific suggestions as to where it might go next. Alternatively, there are internet forums and subreddits full of mouthy music makers, all too willing to give their two pennies’ worth on anyone’s sounds – although we would advise steering clear of them unless you’re fully prepared for the unfettered criticism that will come.

7. Start a new project or revisit an old one

If all else fails, and you’re just not getting anywhere with your current tune despite your best efforts, shelve it and move onto something else for a while. Start a new track in a completely different style, then return to your problem child later (possibly much later!) with a whole new attitude and angle. If, having done that, it’s still not happening, you may have to face up to the possibility that it’s never going to and concede defeat, perhaps plundering the DAW project for individual parts and elements that could work well elsewhere.