here's an ableton playlist of artists sharing one thing that keeps their creativity flowing

what's your one thing you do with biab\rb that keeps your creativity flowing

Turn it on.

Yikes! Keep it G rated Herb!

My comment is an example of mine. Looking at things differently; even in BIAB.

Can something be shifted over a half beat and trimmed to make it work?

Or, how would various sounds work into the piece if you reversed them?

Those kinds of things.

I guess the one thing I do with biab/rb to keep the juices going is I experiment. I'll try all sorts of different styles with a piece I might be working on, or I'll plug in different chords -- often just for the heck of it -- just to see how they sound. I usually have a guitar close by to double check whether it's even an idea worth considering. But in some of the styles I mess around with (jazz mostly), the style will be playing all sorts of altered chords based on what I inputted and they may end up sounding completely differently. So it often pays just to play around with stuff.

The piece I'm working on right now, that's how I arrived at probably close to half of the chord progression I have laid down right now -- just experimentation. If I like the sound of it, I'll stick with it until maybe something better comes along.

Oh, also something else I do religiously -- it's not so much about keeping creativity flowing as it is about preserving continuity, which can be just as important -- especially if my creative flow has led me into a dead end. Every time I make a change to a piece of music I'm working on, I save the changed tune to a new file name. It doesn't have to be totally new. Often I'll just add a digit to the end, like a 1 or 2 or a or b. Just enough where I know this is a change to the one before it. This often results in a long string of versions of the same piece of music, but what its done is catalog all the changes I made to it. And if for some reason I decide I don't like something I've done, I can always go back to that earlier version. Having lost a piece of music that one's working on does major damage to one's creative flow, and I'm speaking from experience here.

Something else I like to do with biab especially is, if I've gotten to the point where I've actually put together a working progression, I'll choose a style I like, and just let it run. I find that the repetition helps me, the way my brain is wired. I'll often get ideas later on, even after I've shut down the music, which often lead to something that later gets added into it.

Hello, "pghboemike"...

I agree VERY strongly with "cooltouch's" advice:

"Every time I make a change to a piece of music I'm working on, I save the changed tune to a new file name."

For me, it's absolutely indispensable in maintaining continuity of creative inspiration.

In other words, I think of BIAB files saved sequentially as building blocks upon which my original idea is developed.

Of course, "guitarhacker" made it plain: "turn it (BIAB) on". With all of the assistive compositional tools BIAB virtually throws in my face upon booting-up, I always end up making inspired progress on a song before I exit the program.

Last, but on a personal level, I get plenty of sleep, am physically active, and avoid controlled substances and alcohol -- the "muse" doesn't appreciate "squatters"!

LOREN (a.k.a. "bluage")

Perzackly!

Here are the things that work for me:

1.) I listen to other people's music all the time. Especially the forum, there is some fresh stuff on here. Lots of cool ideas. I like wandering through the weird stuff and alternative on Spotify for ideas but I stay away from mainstream. It gives me a pounding headache.

2.) I open up BIAB (turn it on like Herb says) and study those demos like crazy. There are thousands of wicked chord progressions in there.

3.) I tune my guitar to really weird tunings so I don't get stuck in a rut--and I search for new progressions.

4.) I write a lot on the piano so I don't get stuck in a guitar rut either.

5.) I collaborate with other people and ask them to throw me ideas and snippets. Sometimes all it takes is a phrase to get you going. Herb and I are doing that on a new one right now.

6.) I keep a small hand held digital tape recorder by my bed. The best lyrics always come to me just as I am about to fall asleep or when I am waking up and if I didn't record them immediately they would be lost.

7. Last but not least, I play for fun all the time. I never stop playing. I am always plugging something in somewhere.

I guess that's what Herb means by turn it on. My version was a little longer I know.

Mirroring some of David's comments;

1. Go to live music in my genre. Often, it is hard for me to remain at small venues or house concerts where someone is performing their original songs. Even when I think they kinda suck, ideas begin coming, and not about their songs, not their hooks, completely different melodies, maybe a kernel of a feel of their song that subliminally stirs something in me. I often write snips and lyrics on my phone, but 90% of the time I can't stand it, I do the Irish exit, come home and write and start it before I sleep and lose it.

2. Play a guitar that I have never played before (yours), or play one of mine I rarely play. Songs hide in them. I have a "Writing Guitar" in a closet I only play for that purpose. I can't really "play" piano, but I can goof around on someone else's. Same deal.

3. Experiment with new chords, or chord progressions and just let things flow. Sometimes, if I find a little progression, a bit of lyrics come. Paul McCartney wrote "Yesterday" that way. The progression came...then "Scrambled eggs...how I like your long and silky legs...", and he filled in the gaps later.

4. Write. Write. Just wright what comes out. Gibberish is fine. Something may all of a sudden connect from free flow thought.

5. Go to the library. Book titles are often well crafted, well thought out, and inspirational without touching the cover. "The Bleeding Hearts of San Francisco," "The Day I Ate Your Shoe."

6. Keep all your song ideas and little phrases, forever. I have a running Word document that I just add stuff to. I read it occasionally. It's 20 pages long by now. "Maybe write a waltz with an acapella chorus or bridge...," "Crusty memories of rusty hinges...," "Why Can't I Pee?"

But, I know that "You (I)...cannot win, if you (I) do not play...." Steve Forbert.

IMHO.

For me (and also Barry) creativity gets a big boost when we simply get together and plug something in.

Neither of us has a problem coming up with ideas on our own, but when we are both slinging mud at the wall some really cool things tend to happen.

I also like collaborating with others, as mentioned above, especially with people I'd likely never have met otherwise (Limey, Jazzmandan or MusicStudent, TommyC etc) That is gold to me.

And again, as mentioned above by others a couple times; just start playing with various styles, use the Multiriff function and start slicing/dicing, do a bluegrass tune and use grunge drums, or go the other way and try a fiddle in a rock tune .. just 'have fun'

I have to say though, getting 4 or 5 people together and just jamming is the most fun and inspiration for me. That feeling where everybody is looking at each other and 'dialed in' is pretty awesome. Look at how focused the band is on Barry in the picture below (he was giving the clues).

We're still 'in-process' here at the new location, the drums only have 2 mics on them in this picture! That won't last.
We've had some weird weather here recently, and this week electricity in the area was actually pretty scarce, but we'll do it again next week.

Someone also mentioned above about McCartney just making up lyrics in the beginning stages. That's common here. Build the groove first and fill in the lyrics after. Just how we roll.
The audio sample below shows just how that works here. This was our first hour into the song and nobody cares what the song is about yet; we're just getting a structure together.
/warning it's pretty much raw audio tracks from that night, nothing rerecorded yet, a work-in-progress very early on so you'll hear mistakes. We're still formulating the song after all. We're old but still having fun.

RB recorded audio from live session -
http://masteringmatters.com/stuff/170304C.WMA

Since when should being older stop anyone having fun? It sure doesn't seem to be impeding you any!

Get on my mountain bike, ride a beautiful trail, get the heart rate up to about 90% max, enter the State of Anaerobia and hopefully await the appearance of the Muse.

J&B

.....or blackout and crash the bike and talk to the muse while you're in a coma.

Definitely not a scenario us mountain bikers like to contemplate...harsh man, harsh.

Just speaking from experience. I had a lot of bike crashes in my youth, luckily none got me to a coma.

try smoking a little medicinal mmj. that always helps me
Also i would say going for a walk or exercising
listening to music that inspires you

In a nutshell - experimenting with things that don't appear compatible on first look. You never know. Take any of the tracks included with the BIAB product and click onto "styles". Pick a style at random and then apply it to the BIAB track you selected. It doesn't always work out well, but more than half the time I get something interesting or that can be reworked into a pretty decent song. I posted half a dozen, or so, songs on the showcase forum that started out that way. One of them (Dead End Rendezvous) has become one of my favorite originals.

Just some thoughts, FWIW.

Alan