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I need to be inspired by good sounding stuff. My latest muse: thumbjam cello -->AUM with crystalline reverb lush preset.
I wrote out a long ass reply but I started waffling and went off on a tangent, so I'm just going to try and keep this short and sweet, wish me luck.
In the last six years I've had two creative downtimes, one was due to illness and being in constant pain, couldn't concentrate on finishing tracks so I made presets, loops, beats and experimented with odd sounds, for later use.
Found travelling mainly just going for scenic drives, bit of camping and hotelling to the coast, hills and mountains helped eventually motivate me again, would take my ipad and get samples of the places I visited and use them to start ideas for tracks, found it quite inspiring if I did it in the first week after, while the vibe was still fresh.
Second sort of downtime as I've still been making tracks, I started noticing last year in the summer, thought I was just anxious about my mixing chops, which to be fair I lacked, but after watching a really eye opening, thought provoking doc, I think I'm reacting badly to having an amalgam filling, sounds silly, but mercury can have a devastating affect on your motivation levels, this is my working theory which might be wrong.
I can recommend cbt for anxiety, like robosardine said, also russ at pro tools expert did a few great pieces about depression in the creative sector, which might be worth a read, find sometimes when I'm off my music I switch to other creative things like photography or cooking, just to keep myself topped up.
http://www.pro-tools-expert.com/home-page/2016/6/30/mental-illness-in-the-creative-sector-you-are-not-alone
Think it was in one of the comments or maybe in one of the articles that someone mentioned one of their friends was on antidepressants for years, went to a new doctor who found out it was a problem with the liver which wasn't producing a certain chemical, change of diet sorted them out. The documentary I talked about is called trace amounts, link I had to youtube has stopped working.
so true what you say here!
Lots of advice on this thread already that should help you on the road to recovery. @Musikman4Christ kinda nails it in his posts and then @JohnnyGoodyear reveals the essence with his final suggestion, written small.
As a bit of a backup to the ideas already splendidly explained I wanted to add a few morsels of practical advice that revolve around one simple thought.
Make music for people.
It doesn't matter who and it doesn't mean watering down any grand concepts that might be swirling round your brain but involving others in your music challenges you to make it into actual music.
Like most people here, I can and have spent decades strumming, clicking, buzzing, flapping, wailing in my draughty garret. But the times that stick out for music making have been early adventures with bands and recently having found a collaborator in kind on this forum. I cannot recommend this highly enough, and you mentioned in your post how a collaboration was the one thing of note that you achieved during this time, the simple act of sharing, of giving and receiving criticism and praise is a powerful catalyst to the creative process.
If you can find such a person to work on music with, and we have both come into it with, and fostered, an anything goes attitude you will find a lot of the things happening that other posters have talked about in this thread. It really is an exhilarating ride and quite mind-blowing in its effects. In the process you could gain a cherished friend and deeply explore musical ideas that you may have only dabbled with previously.
Other than that, like the Good Mr said:
Fall in love
..and get a uke (seriously the simplicity of it works wonders for songwriting)
no uke on me... but then I considered a Banjo an instrument of torture for years - until listening to Dock Boggs
On my own stuff I used to be overcritical, doesn't fit, isn't cool, could be better bla bla, trash it.
At some point I stopped the latter and simply kept the fragments around, arranging and re-arranging them occasionally.
The most stunning experience was how intensely my own 'judgement' was floating over time. A wtf was followed by 'cool' just the next week or 3 month later, even perceived timing didn't remain constant (bewildering).
Which lead to the bottomline of (almost) completely giving up to wonder how others might find it... pointless, if I cannot even predict myself over the course of a couple of months.
The idea didn't come like a revelation, but turned out to be a great relief.
Eventually it made me exploit my own output to a much deeper degree.
Self acceptance is the foundation of any work, pre-judgement spoils the party and may become a serious source of blocking.
What works for me:
Set yourself goals - for example, finish and release an album.
The lack of confidence thing is tricky, but time helps in this respect. I used to be like this myself, but now I'm much less concerned about it, this has only really come about over the years. There's nothing wrong with setting yourself high standards, but you have to have a realistic appraisal of your talents - and shortcomings and work with them.
Or/and ignorance is bliss. Sounds like you (OP) need to settle the stuff you know and build on it. Not unlearn but process it properly. It sounds like you've burned out and need a massive break. If music is in there it will start coming out sooner or later. Maybe focus on a completely different (non audio) discipline, maybe you're simply trying too hard?
I've never experienced this to this extent in my 40 odd years career but can relate to writers block due to tiredness or maybe lack of excitement in life. Those who have kids won't complain about the lack of excitement but little ones can totally kill the vibes.
Stop overthinking.
P.s. Collaborations with other musos?
to our futile attempts to shine
as photons drifting through time and space, to give form to the possible
Do not listen any of these advices.the solution is. IN YOU!
Roll tape
Sit at your piano, guitar, etc. and play a simple three chord progression over and over. The tempo and touch on the keys might reflect your mood. Feel your playing - three chords over and over. I'll bet that a melody will come to you. Follow it, over and over. Sing sounds, not words.
Stumble on a riff to get from one chord to the next
Words and phrases, or what sound like words and phrases sneak their way in: a chorus, a verse, a bridge ...
Listen back, take notes
Roll tape and repeat
I have always had a - you ain't gonna hear it until I'm happy it is perfect to me attitude when making music, this led me to agonise over things like the exact velocity of individual drum and note hits throughout the entire duration of a tune, or the exact filter frequency on a sweep and timing of said sweep. I was also hellbent on not using samples or synth patches from anywhere other than what I created or tweaked. Then I progressed onto needing to know exactly how to mix a track and master it.......by the time I did 'finish' something, which wasn't very often, it was way overworked and over processed and sounded horrible.
While I was satisfying my own cravings for editing and knowledge I wasn't producing anything that was heard by anyone else, so the Artist in me was almost completely lost. I did this for nearly 20 years....
I am not a singer so have never really written lyrics and therefore not got any experiences to pass on in that regard
The main things that changed my attitude
I am now happily churning out tunes all over the place...some good and some not so good, but I am now at least producing output, and having far more fun doing it......I still need to be less picky about what I upload, and more active at advertising what I have done, but I'm getting there ...
I guess the point here is that the creativity is probably there, it is most likely just being stiffled by your everyday life or the tools you are using.
If there is hope for me then there is hope for you
Sometimes what helps me when I worry about making nothing but poo is setting out to deliberately create poo audio, so much fun!
Worst case scenario, you'll have had some fun, eh?
Best of luck, I feel confident you can whup this thing's butt.
You guys are simply the best there is!
I never expected this thread to blow up with all the great advice and support you guys have taken the time to share with me, all of it obviously much better than what Google could get me.
After reading the thread and all the insights, I think I finally identified the problem personally. After the "distraction" of college was over, I had more time to spend with my music making, and the more time I spent on that, the more time I had to perfect it, and overthink it, and before ya know it.....I fell into the vicious warped cycle that eventually landed me in my 3 year block.
College sucked up a lot of my free time to do my own stuff, and so I wasn't really able to obsess over it. After college, each subsequent track was given more detail, more perfection, more obsession - and somehow my ability to mix clear tracks went to rubbish despite my ears being just fine and not overused. (Which I believe is more of a mental thing anyways rather than a hearing thing.) So then I started obsessing over "oh god, my mixes suck. Why do they suck when I used to have the 'Midas touch'?" Lol.
Not only that, but I did have a little bit of "post college depression". While college may have been a helluva chore to get through, those were also some of the funnest days of my life. This probably fueled my own music (inbetween composing assignments that had me making some fun Stockhausenesque types of noise music). I'm over the depression period obviously since I graduated almost five years ago, but I gotta find a new "fuel source" or two or twenty.
That and all this excellent advice should help me immensely get myself back in gear.
I bookmarked this thread for my future reference. Thank you everyone. (And, additional insights and advice and support is more than welcome. Hopefully this thread can help more struggling musicians than just me. 
)
@jwmmakerofmusic we might give you to the end of the year, but if you're not throwing something at SOTMC in January we may have to send the bots round. Just so you know.
Saw this and thought of the OP @jwmmakerofmusic
https://www.buzzfeed.com/annakopsky/happy-songs-for-ya
I often have trouble creating music. What works for me is to find ways that force me to create, that way I have to push through my blocks.
Playing with other people (even if it's just improvizing or playing other people's music) is one of the best things I can do to make myself write music. There is no choice, I have to play. After i play music with someone else, I am usually inspired, energized, and open.
Another thing that is really important for me is knowing why I play music, and finding ways to remind myself why I am a musician. I play music for other people. When I play alone, I'm just practicing. It's not real music unless I'm playing for someone. So, if I want to make music, I need to either record or play live.
Nothing helps with mental blocks more than playing live music for people. It gives me renewed purpose and reminds me of why I am a musician when I can see that I am moving people.
Make your app buying obsession work for you by setting yourself a rule that you can only buy one app per tune you finish
Unfortunately, my music and lyrics are a result of decades of resentment, pain, and loss.
The positives of my life have been real. They have been plenty. Unfortunately, they have not had the greatest impact.
The failures have.
I guess that is life.
There's a song right there
I guess it is.
Lots of great wisdom on this thread. As others have already said it's helpful to keep the perspective that this one man band form of music creation is really difficult and it's easy to get blocked on really challenging tasks. It's interesting to me to contrast this kind of music making with "just" being a musician. I've bumped into many musicians over the years who don't have the knowledge or the interest to compose, mix, master etc.
This is an excellent point. If the human tendency is to mull over weaknesses rather than celebrate strengths, the variety of requirements the one-man-band must master open many doors to potential disappointment....
attempt to write music about your struggles with perfection, when you do this your mind, body, spirit, and creative self will all be aligned and something should happen. Just pray it's not a baby alien bursting out from underneath your sternum!
@jwmmakerofmusic two suggestions:
-Try exploring playfulness.
-Seek out a professional therapist.
Good luck!
I submit this offer.
If you have some parts loops stems that you want to do something with and cant or dont, give em to someone else and see what they can do with them.
I welcome anyone's stuff if they want me to take a crack at it.
"Inspiration is for amateurs; the rest of us just show up and get to work. If you wait around for the clouds to part and a bolt of lightning to strike you in the brain, you are not going to make an awful lot of work. All the best ideas come out of the process; they come out of the work itself. Things occur to you."-Chuck Close
I'm glad I've came across this discussion, the majority of the music (or beats) I create is sample-based hip hop, so I decided one day that I am tired of making music using samples all the time, so I wanted to start my own music from scratch. Right now, I'm learning how to play the keyboard, and the biggest one: music theory. I know music theory is important and I'm beginning to get through the basics which is a good thing, but, when it comes to applying it to music I don't know where to start, especially when it comes to melodies, harmony, and chord progressions, etc.
It's becoming more frustrating, I feel limited in a way. I don't want to make crappy ass hip hop music thats been out for years now, I'm from an era when hip-hop and rap music meant so much to me (the 90's). It's even worse when you're trying to become someone like a new Dr. Dre or DJ Premier just to name a few. Anyway, I just need some advice real bad concerning music theory and applying it to song, it would mean alot.
Hi @Chillmatic ,
If I understand you correctly, you are trying to think of music theory rules and then create musical phrases to fit them?
If that is the case, then I suggest thinking of "music theory" as a tweaker-cleaner-upper to be applied after you create a phrase, rather than before.
I sympathise with your confusion. These musical rules rely on context to make sense. To me, this means knowing if a phrase is an (initial, section or entire work) opening or concluding one, To me, every phrase can be constructed using 2 bars of opening, 2 bars of temporary conclusion, 2 bars of secondary opening (can be a repeat of previous opening) and 2 bars of more definite conclusion.
That alone can make up those crucial first 8 bars, after which building the whole rest of your piece should become much easier.
If you have some (parts of or entire) composition already made but feel that parts of it are a bit messy and don't know how to fix it, try applying that overarching 8-bar structure I described above, and choose what function each 2-bar section is supposed to be doing (initial opening, temporary conclusion, secondary opening, more definite conclusion), then tweak the messy bits which hopefully just got a lot easier.
I sincerely hope that helped. Best of luck.
It may sounds a bit harsh, but (depending on what you want to achieve) I think there's a fair bit of common sense there. I quoted that very quote on another forum and got a very piqued response from some fellers there who claimed to be experts - but didn't actually create anything.
I've had Chuck's quote printed on the permanent tshirt of my mind for years. Part of the 'Just Turn The F**k Up' school. I am a great believer in the fairies and being touched by the special precious thingie, but mostly you still have to have your work boots on.