We’ve all been there, sometimes Creative Block can last for a few hours or days or even months.
It can be a pain.
You’ve been working on music for the past couple of days but nothing you do is working and you’re struggling to get ideas down and turn them into songs.
We’ve all been there, sometimes Creative Block can last for a few hours or days or even months.
So, what can you do to overcome it? Well, we reached out to our community and asked for their own tips and tricks to overcoming Creative Block and get back into writing music. Here’s 15 of our favourite methods.
*Some have been edited for length and grammar.
RESTING UP APPROACH
“You gotta have your free days from time to time, write your ideas on paper, then after your break, get to work” – Austin A
“Listen to music outside the genres you make or like to listen to.” – Earnie W
“Comeback when you have a fresh mindset” – Tj P
“When you’re not producing, make a to do list of ideas/shit you wanna try out. Then when you get back in the studio you have a list of shit to do. I often get ideas when I’m away from the daw.” – Nathan G
GETTING PRACTICAL APPROACH
“Learn a new Instrument or a new VST” – Grgur R
“Download MIDI chords and make a chord progression” – Shelby J
“I like to try and recreate drops that I absolutely love and challenge my sound design ability. I’ll sit around for an hour or more just making patches. It really helps you to get creative.” – Aidan M
“Learn something about a new scale. If minor and major don’t work out, try ethnic ones or use a different mode to make a melody” – Raaghav M
“Drag other peoples music into your daw so you can analyse arrangement and sample placement.” – Alexandre B
“Music theory. It really opens doors to more creativity. It’s like getting a paintbrush to make paintings with.” – Jason P
“I find obscure ideas to keep juices flowing. For example, last night I was working on a song that is the same average BPM of the human adult heart. I was also working on chiptunes which are notoriously fast BPM so then I decided to try to write at 180 or 200 BPM, but just use normal non 8-bit sounds.” – Jake S
“Try producing a different genre of music. A style that you aren’t familiar with. After you master it, go on and try another and another. Then when you run into a block? Try to incorporate all that you’ve learned from all those genres to make a new genre. You shouldn’t ever run out of ideas after.” – Bzo N
DECIDING PURPOSE APPROACH
“I Personally think Writers Block is a Myth. What you should really do if you wanna improve is building a discipline. Eg, Have weekly goals, produce for ‘x’ amount of hours a day, make a sample pack… I just open a successful project that i know i am proud of and take everything that i think sounds good and reuse it in my next tune. That’s also one of the ways you can create your signature sound unconsciously.” – Balša V
“I have to push myself and get in that studio no matter what. Even if I’m just sorting through samples or doing something really mundane, I never know when that spark will hit me. Also when you don’t feel inspired to make something try and learn a new skill instead like sound design or getting your mixdowns better, just make sure your always getting your brain thinking about music.” – Alex L
“Mixing and Producing Tracks takes time especially the creative process. Best for it is to work on technical things like finishing FX stuff and taking breaks. Also creating new sounds for other tracks are a win win situation, you come back with a fresh mind and you have also done something for your future projects.” – Fabian D
“I like to set small goals before each studio session. Realistic ones. So if i plan on writing a drop i “X” amount of time, then I can break the session up and know how much time I have for each piece that needs to be complete. So if I’m making a drop, the type, or genre of the track is now decided. Helps for me, hope that may help someone else.” – Joseph A

CONCULSION
So, everything from taking breaks, writing goals, doing something different, learning music theory. There’s a wide variety out there, what works for you?
We’ll you don’t know until you try each out.
Our advice and 2 cents? Creativity cant be forced, if it’s not working, it’s not working and accept it and take a break for a few hours or a few days. With that being said if you really need to be in the studio and feel like making music or being productive, then learn new music theory or try setting yourself challenges like making a drop in 10 minutes…
It all comes down to what works for you, try different methods and see which gets you results. Good luck with overcoming your Creative Block!