When you work with other musicians/songwriters it can lead to some super creative collaborations much more elaborate than anything you each could have created on your own. Since most people don’t have an army of songwriters at their beckon call, there is an alternative. Listen to as much music as you can in as many genres/styles as you can and build off the musicians’ ideas. The farther removed this music is from what you usually listen to, the better. Sometimes your ears just need a break and this is a great way to take one. Remember that a quick way to get into a creative stand-still is to always listen to the same thing.
How you are feeling and what mood you are in can provide great motivation for song ideas. Music at its core is about communicating feelings and the easiest way to do this is to tap into your own emotions and inject them into your compositions. If you are stuck for ideas, think about how something you like makes you feel or conversely how something you hate makes you feel. This is sure to get those creative juices going.
Everyone knows the feeling of having a deep emotional connection with someone they meet. These are the kind of situations that raise strong feelings in you, even years after they happen. If you are in a rut, just think of someone that you have met that you have strong feelings for. These can be positive feelings such as love and respect, or negative feelings such as anger or hatred.
Everyone forms emotional bonds with places they visit and the place they live. These feelings can play deeply into their moods and the way they feel when they are in these surroundings. Think of somewhere that you have particularily strong feelings towards and use these feelings in your artistic renderings. The more extreme the feelings, the stronger the pull they will have when you use them to covey your emotions to the audience.
Often you can remember certain situations where you felt really good or really bad for years after they happen. The thing that you are remembering is not necessarily what happened, but what being in the situation/place felt like. These memories carry intense emotional power and can be a great source of inspiration in the song-writing process.
Thinking about things you have lost, or things that have come into your life forms another great source of creativity. Try to remember the circumstances in which you were first united/seperated and how you felt. These “things” are not limited to tangible items such as possessions but intangible states of being as well.
CAUTION: DO NOT ENTER! These guitar jam tracks are too hot for the average person to handle. This post is not to be read either.