Hi Brian,
I had this situation many times and established some sort of "catalogue" for me, what could be done against this:
1. Oblique Strategies - always a good first choice.
2. As a guitarist, try different tunings, especially ones, which you never have tried before.
3. Listen to some of your old stuff, which you never have continued, because at that time you didn´t had any ideas for it - maybe now´s the time.
4. Establish a "Composing Hour", which means that every day at the same time (that´s best, though different times of the day also work), you sit with all your equipment (guitars, keyboards, computer, software, boxes - all that you have) and force yourself to DO something for one hour - then stop and don´t think about the music until you sit there again the next day. When you have a new idea, just record a short sketch of it. Keep away from starting arrangements, into deep sound tweaking etc. - keep it fast and simple and move on to sth. else. There might be little to none output at the beginning, but the continuity of everyday´s working rhythm will get you on the track again. After one month you listen to your recorded material and then start to add more arrangements, sounds etc. (I got this idea from a very good book on this subject: "The Art & Craft of Writing Music" by Matthew Nicholl,
http://www.lulu.com/product/paperback/art-and-craft-of-writing-music/16071216 , which was originally recommended by Robert Fripp)
5. Read a book. Try subjects that are not your favourite crime reading etc., but sth. new to you.
6. Go to the cinema. Try films that are less action and more to contemplate about afterwards.
7. Go to a concert. Especially with music, that is not your favourite band, but somebody you just have read about in the papers or sb. had told you it´s interesting.
8. Go to a museum or exhibition. If you have talent in doing sketches, take some paper with you and try to make a sketch of one piece of art, which you liked very much. Put this sketch on the wall where you work on your music. Let it inspire you, watch it while you play your instrument, let your musical thoughts meander into every possible direction and do a simple recording of what you play
9. Leave all your musical stuff completely untouched for at least one week (or two, or three...) and DON´T worry about it.
Hope this helps a bit :-)
Cheers
Ingo
Ingo Ito
----- Original Message -----
Sent: Sunday, October 16, 2011 6:30 PM
Subject: What do YOU do when creativity dries up?
I'm sure this has been covered in the past before my time here. Perhaps it's
a good thing to take a fresh look at the phenomenon and coping strategies
from time to time.
What do you do when the creative flow diminishes into a creative drip and
then seemingly dries up completely? You sit at your instrument to come up
with some new ideas and......nothing!
You have a vague sense that your passion is just not there. You might even
feel "cludgy" and awkward at the instrument. Aside from letting time pass,
would anyone like to share their strategies for minimizing time spent in the
creative desert?
Brian
