10 Tips to Overcome Writers Block for Musicians and Producers


Writers block happens to every musician or producer at one point or another, and there is nothing more frustrating. It typically comes in a waves or cycles. Periods of time where you are super creative followed by the dreaded nothingness that follows the block.

The problem is if you make a living off of your creativeness, then all of a sudden it feels like the sky is falling when a block comes, but don't get upset. There is not a person out there that is in the zone all the time.

I wanted to share some tips to help get over a block and shorten it the next time it creeps into your mind.

Tip 1: Force Yourself To Create
Try to just get something going by throwing out ideas. Even if that something sounds like total shit at first, don't judge your work. Just let it flow. There might be a melody or idea that catches your attention. Once you've gotten that spark keep fanning those flames.

Tip 2: Work in a New Genre
Every musician or producer has a wheelhouse where they feel comfortable. Get out of it. Part of the block could be forming from trying to hard to create a masterpiece in your genre. You start judging your work to other peoples and it just doesn't feel good enough. This is a great time to expand your skills, try something new, and get those creative juices flowing.

Tip 3: Practice New Skills with Tutorials
There are countless videos on YouTube that teach you new music skills. Whether you play an instrument, produce, sing, whatever; there is always something new to learn. If you play an instrument, learn a new scale or playing in a new time signature. If you produce, learn a new VST, new compression technique, mastering skill, or whatever. Learn something new, and incorporate into your skill set.

Tip 4: Listen to Music you Love
Remember why you wanted to get into music in the first place. Take some time to just enjoy and let go of the need to create for a while. Don't sit their and judge the music either. Part of the block comes from fear and pressure. You need to release that from your mind.

Tip 5: Focus Your Energy Elsewhere
Creating music is only a piece of what needs done for your music career, believe it or not. Promotion, networking, and working on building your online presence, are all important things you can spend time on that are just as valuable as creating new music.

Tip 6: Meditate
The thing with writers block is it is a mental problem not a skills problem. It stems from fear, perfectionism and pressure in your mind. When you meditate, the point is to free your mind from all the distractions and bullshit going on around you. Let it all go.

Tip 7: Accept the Blocks
Fearing blocks, intensifies them. Don't give that fear your mental energy. Think of them as a tool to help you focus on bettering yourself, learning something new or expanding your skills. Turn them from a negative into a positive. Learn to enjoy the creative cycle of peaks and lows as part of the process. Just because today you don't have an idea, doesn't mean you've lost your spark. It's been my experience that immediately following the lows, comes some of the best most creative work.

Tip 8: Raise Your Mental Frequency
A lot of times a block can start putting you into a negative spiral intensifying anxiety, depression, anger, and fear in your mind. If you think of those negative emotions as low vibrating states, high vibrating states are the exact opposite. Get outside on a sunny day, go for a walk, laugh, and surround yourself with things that give you love, happiness, and joy to raise your frequency.

Tip 9: Save Everything and Rework Old Material
If you're at a point where you can't seem to finish anything, don't just give up on it. Save it in a folder and let it go. Eventually you will have a bank of unfinished ideas that you can come back to months or years later when you feel tapped on ideas. Just because today it's not coming together, doesn't mean it never will.

Tip 10: Collaborate
Sometimes the best way to shake off a block is to get to work with another musician or producer. Even if it feels at first like you wont be able to bring something to the table, you have to remember the block is a mental problem, not a skills problem. You might have something that sparks the imagination of the person your collaborating with or vice versa.

I hope this helps you. The most important thing to remember is you are not alone dealing with this. Every musician and producer goes through this at one point or another, but it's something you will overcome. When you do, hopefully it's followed by the best creative period you've had so far!

Thanks for reading, and please feel free to share, like and comment below.

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