How To Write More Creative Songs

Have you ever been so smart in a subject that when asked a simple question, you get it wrong because you overthink it? Well, that definitely happens in music too! This article will serve to help expand your creativity when writing by excluding your main instrument from the process.

Photo by James Pond on Unsplash

Why Write Without Your Main Instrument

Why does using your main instrument hold you back from being creative? You put all this time into learning the instrument, why not write with it?

While it’s great to have mastered an instrument, it comes with some unintended consequences.

At some point, you get so used to your instrument you can start to see exactly how to play what, in very distinct patterns. For example, on guitar, every single scale for every key has the same shape down the neck.

Like literally. You only have to learn basically one scale and you have the rest of the scales of the same mode learned as well by shifting the whole pattern up or down the frets.

While this makes it easy to remember, it puts you into a mental box; it’s hard to see out of this scale. You know all the chords that would work including their voicings, so you tend to automatically use specific chords, chord changes, and voicings just from familiarity. You’re not even listening to the music you’re making anymore; it’s all just from your head, muscle memory, and tendencies.

Example

If you play guitar, have you ever tried an alternate tuning? If you haven't, try open D or DADGAD (Open Dsus4). That’s turning your E string down a whole step, leaving A, D, and G, tuning B down to A and the high E down to D.

If you don’t play guitar, take notice anyway!

Play around and see what sounds good. Beautiful, easy to make chords right?

Notice how you now have to actually LISTEN to what you’re playing; it’s difficult to play because you don’t know what sounds good, but this is how you break out of your normal habit and write some truly beautiful and intentional stuff. The focus is now on the music/what you hear and not the “correct” playing and normal patterns you picked up in your years of learning your instrument.

Take It Further

Why stop at alternate tuning? Now that you have some music knowledge from your main instrument, you can use it on another!

If you play guitar (sorry I keep referencing guitar, it’s because I’m a guitarist), try out piano. You might know your scales from learning guitar, so you can translate them to piano.

If you play around for a bit, you might find some interesting stuff! And the best part is, it’s all judged by how it sounds and not boxed in by routines and tendencies of sticking to perfect scales or tricks.

In a way, I feel like this brings out the best music because it’s the purest; you’re not influenced by your past learning or what someone tells you. You’re just making the music from itself, based on your ear.

It may take longer, and not conform to a lot of conventional ways of having things, but overall I think it naturally brings you closer to what the music needs and not be forced into being a certain way influenced by things not really appropriate for the song.

Just another tool in the shed to keep your ears fresh and your music fresher!

-Michael