Earthbound – How I Wrote A Song Without Any Inspiration
A week or so ago I wrote a post that asked ‘Is it possible to write a song without inspiration’.
Yesterday, I tried to answer that question.
You see I’m trying to release 52 new pieces of music this year – one a week. After spending the start of the year mixing old recordings and finishing off half-done projects, I’m now at the stage where I have to write new music.
Come 7pm yesterday, I had literally nothing for this week’s music. Not a thing.
I was determined to meet my arbitrary, self imposed deadline though – was going to do it! In 30 minutes I created a new song from scratch, without any inspiration or flash of insight.
Here’s how:
Step 1.
I picked two chord shapes, tweaking them on the guitar until I had two that I don’t think I’ve played before:
A6+9:
-0-
-0-
-6-
-4-
-7-
-5-
and C#min9
-0-
-4-
-4-
-2-
-4-
-x-
I recorded a bar of each, picked as an arpeggio, into Reaper. I then looped this for about 6 minutes.
Step 2. Layers
I recorded three extra layers. First a second guitar part, using the same chords but in a different voicing. This I looped along with the first.
Next I recorded a synth part, then a strings part. Both of these were played into Reaper using a cheap guitar to midi interface I have called the Sonuus G2M. These were improvised, at random but staying in key. I made sure I stuck to atmospherics and left lots of gaps
Step 3. Lyrics
I had no idea what I was going to write about. I didn’t want that to stop me, so i spent a while messing around with the MUSE tools over at www.fawm.org and google translate. This are great fund. Put some random words into ‘lyricloud’ – copy the results into google translate, translate through several languages then back into English and hey presto, randomised words that are kind of connected.
I then sang the result into Reaper, improvising a melody as I went. When I heard a line I liked I repeated it.
Here’s the result of all that, free to download if you’d like a copy. 52 Things #17, Earthbound:
Is it the best song I’ve ever written? Maybe not, but it works and I’m happy with it. And not once did I feel inspired – it was all hard work and craft. It was improvised and sounds it, but it is a genuine piece of music that works.
Have you ever written a song to a deadline, without feeling inspired? Use the comments to share!
No related posts.
About the Author
Tom IndieSongwriter.net is a website about songwriting. It is written by Tom Slatter, a musician and teacher who can also be found at tomslatter.co.uk. IndieSongwriter, used to be called Songwright.co.uk.
Related Posts
3 in one – 52 Things #13, #14, #15 →
52 Things #12 – Thaw →
52 Things #11 Dance Dance Dance →
I agree with your opinion that from a per perspective of songwriting as a craft, you do not/should not need inspiration. Much like a carpenter or any tradesperson – if you are good at your craft you should be able to do your job well on demand.
That being said – certainly insiration can help get the juices flowing anr/or can entice the muse to appear – but a good writer should not have to wait for that to happen.
One of the “best” songs I’ve ever writen was the result of my simply deciding I was going to write an intelligent, well crafted song. I came up with a decent chord progression (beyond the standard I-IV-V frame) and then used that to give me a a mmod which then helped create intelligent lyrics.
The more I was able to execute – the more inspired I became – but the inspiration did not come from any external place – it was simply the satisfaction of a job well done.
Hi Tom,
This song has a nice feel to it. Great job on the instrumentation and vocal delivery. It reminds me a bit of BT http://www.facebook.com/BT
If you are looking for more ideas on weekly assignments, check out the Sunday Songwriter’s Group at GuitarNoise.com
http://www.guitarnoise.com/forums/viewforum.php?f=23
I’m on a similar song a week journey and agree you can push on through and go after the ideas….each song won’t be better than the week before, but you learn something from each song you write.
http://www.soundclick.com/JamesSundaySongWritersGroup
Hi Tom,
This song has a nice feel to it. Great job on the instrumentation and vocal delivery. It reminds me a bit of BT http://www.facebook.com/BT
If you are looking for more ideas on weekly assignments, check out the Sunday Songwriter’s Group at GuitarNoise.com
http://www.guitarnoise.com/forums/viewforum.php?f=23
I’m on a similar song a week journey and agree you can push on through and go after the ideas….each song won’t be better than the week before, but you learn something from each song you write.
Wow. That’s inspiring *tongue firmly planted in cheek*
Isn’t inspiration just that cool feeling you get when you realize that something has possibilities?
Tom,
That’s a nice song, a ballad I’d call it. We’ve just listened to it with my wife and she asked me: ‘I wonder if this is his uninspired song what his inspired stuff would sound like?’
Keep posting those newsletters but I should confess I only now had a chance (or motivation) to go through your April’s newsletter but the title always made me smile! A bit of disguised sarcasm I guess?
Thanks!
Tom,
That’s a nice song, a ballad I’d call it. We’ve just listened to it with my wife and she asked me: ‘I wonder if this is his uninspired song what his inspired stuff would sound like?’
Keep posting those newsletters but I should confess I only now had a chance (or motivation) to go through your April’s newsletter but the title always made me smile! A bit of disguised sarcasm I guess?
Thanks!
PS Having some difficulties with posting comments.
Hi there Serg, yes, comments and indeed the whole site hasn’t been working – I’ve finally solved the issue and it should work now!
Thanks for your kind words, I will keep posting those newsletters (though not as often as I’d like – the need for a day job gets in the way of my updating as regularly as I’d like).
Yup, maybe it is just that. Or maybe that feeling you get when it seems like the song is writing itself (although it’s really being written cos you’re unconsciously applying all those musical skills you’ve built up through practice).
Hi Tom, I really like this song. I was just wondering if you could post the lyrics? That would really help me understand how to use the lyric cloud, as I am struggling through an extremely long, dry spell.
Thanks a bunch,
Victoria
Absolutely. Here’s the lyric sheet I ended up with – I didn’t sing all of them in the end.
Tired of the lasers
falling hopeless down
Would you pit your swords against our guns?
Force to run you through the walls of the world again
breaking of the boom towns
damn near deafening silence
Would you pit your swords against our lasers?
We’ll force you out of the world again.
Chainsaws aircraft flying
growing darker eyes
storm winds shift
earthly illusion brings us home
Home at night used listen to something distant
We used to soar so high
But oh we’re Earthbound now
We used to soar so high
But oh we’re Earthbound now
We used to soar so high
But oh we’re Earthbound now
Home at night used listen to something distant
silent sleep
Tired of the lasers
falling hopeless down
Would you pit your swords against our guns?