As musicians, we spend so much time practicing our instruments, working on our technique, learning songs, and preparing for the next gig that sometimes we forget to practice the most important thing of all:
Our creativity.
We practice scales.
We practice chords.
We practice our parts.
We practice playing faster, cleaner, and more accurately.
But how often do we actually practice coming up with something we've never heard before?
Creativity is a muscle.
And like any muscle, the more you use it, the stronger it becomes.
You don't have to write a hit song every day. You don't have to produce something amazing. You don't even have to finish anything.
The goal is simply to create something new.
Every day.
Creativity Doesn't Have to Be a Song
Sometimes creativity looks like sitting down with your instrument and coming up with a new riff, chord progression, melody, or groove.
Sometimes it's opening your DAW and trying a sound you've never used before.
Maybe you play the same four chords but change the rhythm.
Maybe you write a melody without worrying about lyrics.
Maybe you take a familiar song and try to completely change the feel.
Maybe you record a weird little sound just because you like it.
The point isn't necessarily to create something useful.
The point is to create something you haven't created before.
That's the exercise.
Record the First Idea
And here's something I've learned over the years:
Record everything.
Some of the best musical ideas I've ever had have seemingly come out of nowhere.
Almost like a download from somewhere else.
You're playing. You're experimenting. You're not really thinking about anything in particular.
And suddenly...
There it is.
A melody.
A groove.
A chord change.
A lyric.
A sound.
Something you weren't looking for suddenly appears.
Those moments can be incredibly special.
They're also incredibly easy to forget.
That's why I always encourage musicians to record the very first idea.
It can be a voice memo on your phone.
It can be a quick bounce from your DAW.
It can be you humming into your phone while you're walking through a parking lot.
The sound quality doesn't matter.
The idea does.
Get it down.
You can always develop it later.
You can change the tempo. Change the chords. Rewrite the melody. Change the arrangement. Change the entire direction of the song.
But you can't recreate that original moment exactly as it happened.
And sometimes that first little idea becomes something much bigger.
Don't Judge It While You're Creating It
This is where a lot of musicians get stuck.
We create something...
And immediately start evaluating it.
"That's not very good."
"That sounds like something I've heard before."
"That's probably not a song."
"That isn't my style."
"I don't know where this is going."
And suddenly we've killed the idea before we've even given it a chance to become something.
Creation and criticism are two different jobs.
You don't have to do them at the same time.
When you're creating, create.
When you're editing, edit.
When you're producing, produce.
When you're listening back and deciding whether something works, that's a different part of the process.
Give the idea enough space to exist before you decide what it means.
Most of It Won't Be Great
Here's the part nobody really wants to hear:
Most of the things you create won't be great.
That's normal.
It's actually part of the process.
If you sit down and write one idea every day for a year, you're going to have a lot of ideas you don't use.
Some will be bad.
Some will be interesting but unfinished.
Some will sound like something else.
Some will make absolutely no sense.
And then...
Maybe a few will be really good.
That's the point.
You're creating enough opportunities for the great ideas to show up.
You can't control exactly when inspiration happens.
But you can control whether you're there when it does.
Give Yourself Creative Reps
Think about what happens when you exercise.
You don't go to the gym once and expect to become stronger.
You show up consistently.
You do the reps.
You build the habit.
Creativity works the same way.
The more you write, the more you record, the more you experiment, and the more you allow yourself to follow an idea wherever it leads, the more naturally those ideas begin to come to you.
You start recognizing possibilities you might have overlooked before.
You become more comfortable taking chances.
You get better at solving creative problems.
And you become less afraid of the blank page.
That's what the reps are doing.
They're teaching your brain that creating is something you do, not something you have to wait to feel inspired to do.
Change the Rules
One of the easiest ways to exercise your creativity is to give yourself limitations.
Write a song using only three chords.
Make a beat using only stock plugins.
Write a melody before you write a lyric.
Start with the chorus.
Use an instrument you've never played before.
Write for ten minutes without stopping.
Take a song you've already written and completely change its tempo.
Use a sound you normally wouldn't touch.
Limitations can actually create freedom.
When you remove some of the choices, you force yourself to find possibilities inside the ones that remain.
And sometimes that's where the most interesting ideas come from.
Don't Wait for Inspiration
This is probably the biggest misconception about creativity.
We think inspiration has to come first.
Then we create.
But often, it's the other way around.
You create first. Inspiration shows up while you're doing it.
You sit down even when you don't feel particularly inspired.
You play something.
You record something.
You try something.
You make a bad idea.
Then another one.
And somewhere along the way, something catches your attention.
That's the moment you're looking for.
You don't have to know what you're looking for before you start.
You just have to start.
Your Phone Is a Creative Tool
One of the greatest creative tools most musicians already carry around all day is sitting right in their pocket.
Your phone can be a notebook.
A recorder.
A camera.
A sketchpad.
A place to collect melodies.
A place to save lyrics.
A place to capture sounds.
Use it.
If a melody pops into your head while you're driving, pull over and record it.
If you hear an interesting rhythm while you're walking, tap it into your phone.
If you think of a lyric at 2 AM, write it down.
Don't trust yourself to remember it later.
Capture first. Organize later.
You can build a creative library of your own ideas over time.
And someday, you may be digging through those old voice memos and discover something you completely forgot you had.
So Here's the Challenge
Create something new every day.
It doesn't have to be a song.
It doesn't have to be good.
It doesn't have to make sense.
It doesn't even have to leave your phone.
Just make something.
Record that little melody.
Save that weird sound.
Play the chord you've never played before.
Write four lines of lyrics.
Build a beat.
Hum a melody.
Change the rhythm.
Take an old idea somewhere new.
Give yourself ten minutes and follow whatever happens.
Then do it again tomorrow.
And the next day.
And the next.
Because the goal isn't to become brilliant overnight.
The goal is to become someone who creates.
Final Musings...
The most important thing about flexing your creative muscle isn't that every idea turns into a song.
Most won't.
The important thing is that you're keeping that part of yourself active.
You're staying curious.
You're experimenting.
You're taking chances.
You're giving yourself permission to make things that might not work.
And you're creating enough opportunities for the really special ideas to find you.
Somewhere in that pile of weird voice memos, unfinished songs, strange chord progressions, accidental sounds, and half formed melodies might be something extraordinary.
But you'll never find it if you stop creating.
So don't wait for inspiration.
Give yourself the reps.
Create something today.
Record it.
Save it.
Come back tomorrow and do it again.
You never know when the next little download might turn into something extraordinary.
Keep creating.
Keep recording.
Keep experimenting.
Keep those ideas alive.
-SongLab