A while back me and Jim (James Blair who has some articles published on this site) came up with a huge list of random ideas to provide inspiration for new songs, riffs, etc.  We ended up with 50 of these random ideas, so I thought I’d share them with you.  I’m going to break them up into 5 different groups of 10.  The next 5 parts will start following  (one at a time) over the course of the next several days.

50 Ideas For Coming Up With New Musical Ideas

1. Try writing in different time signatures.  Write in 5/4 or 11/4 or something like that.  Maybe even take some time to set up some drum loops in some odd signatures before hand so that you have something to work with.

2. Try switching time signatures in songs.  For example:   5/4 in the verse, 7/4 in the chorus

3. Try switching tempos in the middle of a song.  For example:  Take a fast song with fast verses and fast choruses, and make the bridge 30 bpm slower.

4. Try switching time signatures AND tempo.  My dad has a song that the chorus and the first half of the verse is a slow ¾  song, but the second half of the verse is a fast 4/4 section, and it sounds pretty cool.

5. Step outside your comfort zone.  For example, try writing a heavy sounding rock song, but don’t use any guitars.  Force yourself to make a dark heavy sound with only keys and drums.

6. Try mixing up genres.  Dark rock guitars with a choir of vocals.  Country music with techno vocal samples.  Iowegian Death Polka.  Surf Lounge Punk Funk.

7. Write about everything.  Write a song about your dog.  Write a song about an old TV show.  Write a song about a character in a book.  Write about a super hero.

8. Try to put nontraditional sounds in a traditional song.  Write a rock song, but use a ukulele for the main riff with all the other traditional rock instruments.

9. Write often and write a lot.  Try to write 5 1-minute songs in one night, all with vocals of some kind.  Try to do that 3 days in a row. Make them all very different.

10. Stretch yourself by writing stretched out songs.  Try writing an 8 minute song with lots of interesting parts.

…stay tuned for parts 2 through 5

Related posts:

1. 50 Ways For Coming Up With Song Parts (Part 2 of 5)
2. 10 Ways For Coming Up With Song Parts (Part 3 of 5)
3. A Brief Look At The Parts Of A Song
4. 10 Ways For Coming Up With Song Ideas (Part 4 of 5)
5. 10 Ideas For Coming Up With Song Ideas (Part 5 of 5)