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 How do you get creative ideas out of your head? 
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Post How do you get creative ideas out of your head?
Hi guys. I have been doing a lot of laying in bed awake at night lately. As I am recovering from a recent knee surgery, and have few responsibilities for a change, I can honestly say the experience is not altogether unpleasant. When the world gets dark and quiet(it still does that where I live) my mind comes alive with ideas of all kinds. Ideas for music, painting or drawing...really any kind of creative expression. The frustrating part is getting those ideas out of my head. I seldom have a complete enough picture left the next morning, or even a few hours later, to recreate what I see or hear in my head. Or just as frustrating, during the act of transferring the idea from the inside world to the outside world, the idea becomes altered to a great enough degree that I am not nearly as fond of it.

I have occasionally tried the notebook by the bedside or even a voice recorder near by that I can quickly take to another room to "sing" any musical parts or rhythms I might imagine. Or if it is at all possible, I may get up and go get whatever tools of expression I have that are easy enough to grab and try to work it out in the dead of night. My success rate is sadly very low.

But I believe I have had thousands of what I would consider "great" creative ideas like these over the years and feel as if my hands are tied and I am helpless to realize a vast majority of them. It may be delusions of grandeur, but I believe if I could successfully express some of my music or art to the world, it could be very meaningful in some unknown way to those around me. Communication of this kind is one of my greatest desires, but the single most unsuccessful endeavor I have ever undertaken.
In the past week or so it feels like some sort of alarm clock has gone off and I have awakened to the reality that time is limited. Now an urgency to improve in this area has become a great priority.

Any and all suggestions or personal stories of success would be extremely welcome. Even what may seem like the most obvious and hardly worth mentioning could be the key I am looking for.

Thanks,
Mike

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Sat Jul 08, 2017 9:47 pm
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Post Re: How do you get creative ideas out of your head?
I have 2 apps on my smart phone (Android Galaxy Note 3 w/64 gig mini SD card) that I use a lot for getting ideas down and playing them back. One is the free version of Hi-Q MP3 Recorder which is a very simple recorder and playback engine where you can name your recording which is also automatically date and time stamped and can record up to 10 minutes at a time using the phone's built-in mic. There is a "full" version with unlimited length recording capability and maybe a few other features. The free one suites my needs tho. The other app is a playback engine that costs a few bucks called The Amazing Slow Downer or ASD for short. It can slow down or speed up any kind of sound file with or without changing it's original pitch. It can also change pitch and keys without slowing down or speeding up. Or both. It can be set to loop a defined section and a couple other features like a 7 band EQ and preamp. These 2 apps are all I need to get ideas down, record tunes off You Tube or TV,etc or my own Stick noodling - and work them up later. I can slow down fast musical lines off records and loop them at any comfortable speed for those hours that must be spent figuring out the best possible fingerings, when to shift positions, best keys, etc. ASD is well worth the bucks. I usually don't wake up and sing my dreams into it because music doesn't come to me like that. It comes with an instrument in my hands. Plus my wife would pop me upside the head if I started singing into my phone at 4 AM. I once read where Keef dreamed the guitar lick to "Satisfaction", got up and played it into an old early 60s mini reel-to-reel, went back to sleep and forgot all about it till he happened to play the tape back, heard the lick and then built a song around it. So I guess it happens with some people. 30 years ago Stevie Wonder used to carry 2 pocket cassette recorders around at all times so he could sing ideas, bounce them back and forth and get multiple parts down before he forgot them. I'm sure there's a multi-track recording phone app nowadays for that purpose.


Sun Jul 09, 2017 1:44 am
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Post Re: How do you get creative ideas out of your head?
One thing I've found helpful is to try and translate the notes to frets mentally. If I can memorize a concept of what I would be playing as well as whatever melodic idea I'm having, I have a much higher chance of recalling it when the Stick is actually in my hands.

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Sun Jul 09, 2017 8:36 am
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Post Re: How do you get creative ideas out of your head?
This is such a great subject! I love hearing what others do...

About five years ago (November 2012) I decided to devote myself to just the NS/Stick. Slowly, but surely, the song ideas I have in my head were coming to me as NS/Stick tunes. I was a bassist many years ago and has contributed to learning the NS/Stick.
Similar to what Josh said, I can now conceptualize the relationships of the notes in terms of where I will tap on the fretboard. However, when I get to the actual instrument I am usually wrong... :lol: but it's a starting point and as a tool it helps me to remember the actual melody that is in my head.

I am lucky that at my house I have my own room. (3 bedroom... no kids so my wife and I each have our own room) If I have any ideas in the middle of the night, or even in the middle of the day, I can just walk over, plug in and get my DAW up very quickly and record my idea right away without bothering anyone. (It does bother my wife when I disappear for a bit, like when we are watching TV, but I get back within 5 to 10 minutes and she is willing to tolerate that... :roll: )

Being away from home is a problem for me though... I have used garageband on my iPhone but it's difficult for me to find the notes compared to a stick fretboard. Is there an app that has an interface that is like a fretboard? Like the Linnstrument? If I could record from that type of instrument on my phone then I will be golden!

I think a big part of my song ideas is that they come to me in the form of the melody/hook first and they are only two to four bars long... I don't think I have ever had a full song come to me. So what comes to me is super simple and short. Easy to record...

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Sun Jul 09, 2017 10:01 am
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Post Re: How do you get creative ideas out of your head?
Thank you, guys. I will give some of these methods a try. Except maybe the phone apps. My current phone is not that advanced. I can barely reach the internet on it :oops: . But a new phone might be just around the corner.

I hope some more will chime in. But maybe there is just no practical way that will work for everyone. Many would say that I just need to get myself some personal, quiet, distraction free space and a butt load of discipline so I can be creative on demand(or at least any time of day). So far I can't seem to get them all at the same time. And, though I don't know why my mind works the way it does(famine and then plenty---or when it rains, it pours), I do know that my most creative times come in a flurry of activity over several days or up to a week. Then, silence for a time.

I would love to see this topic catch on and gain some traction here. This is one of the most creative bunch of folks I have been associated with.

Thanks again.

Mike

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For the straightforward pathway had been lost. --Dante(translated by Henry W. Longfellow)


Sun Jul 09, 2017 7:04 pm
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Post Re: How do you get creative ideas out of your head?
ZOOM H2. Thru the mixer, in the room w/ the built-in mics., in the truck (singing or stealing). Real notepad when I forget the H2 (alot)

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Sun Jul 09, 2017 7:11 pm
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Post Re: How do you get creative ideas out of your head?
I think it’s mostly about getting it out of your head into something concrete that you can look at later. That can mean jotting down text notes, writing out music, or recording audio or midi.

Ideas tend to pop up when you’re not focusing on it, that’s why they come up in the shower or when you’re trying to sleep. If you want more ideas, go for a walk or do something mundane - that gives your brain time to mull things over. The discipline comes in when developing the ideas.

If want to set aside time, find the time that you come up with things. When I was working on my Master’s, I got to know when my brain would feed me things and when it wouldn’t. For me, trying to write papers earlier than 5pm was pointless, I’d get nowhere. I got in the habit of going for a walk in the late afternoon / early evening, and then I’d sit down to write. That made everything much easier for me. Everybody’s different, try some different times and see how it goes.

Skydiver wrote:
Is there an app that has an interface that is like a fretboard? Like the Linnstrument?

Geoshred


Sun Jul 09, 2017 7:38 pm
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Post Re: How do you get creative ideas out of your head?
A couple of ways for me (for music, anyways) ;
1) I sing my ideas. Even solos, bass, drums and all that stuff. I make a 'fake' recording, and have some fun with it, just make noise and create my own "mashup". Think of a shitty version of what Reggie Watts does with a looper, and that's me mucking around.

2) I score it. This is always a real stiff way to create; maybe because my interpretive and notation abilities still need a bit of sharpening (Especially on/with Stick). But I score pretty much everything I do...

3) I just make something up from a super simple idea and revolve everything around that. Transpose it, invert it, retrograde it, etc etc... A looper is always handy for this!

4) Jam with some people. This always helps me get some different ideas and inspiration...

Probably not too helpful, but I thought I'd post anyways!

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Sun Jul 09, 2017 7:51 pm
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Post Re: How do you get creative ideas out of your head?
Claire wrote:
Skydiver wrote:
Is there an app that has an interface that is like a fretboard? Like the Linnstrument?

Geoshred


Thanks Claire!
I'm will check it out.

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Sun Jul 09, 2017 11:32 pm
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Post Re: How do you get creative ideas out of your head?
So I got GeoShred on my iPhone.
It works perfectly for me. I only need melody side, 4 strings, since that is where the majority of my ideas, melody lines/hooks. I set up my interface so that it's the area that I usually put my hand, 12th fret area, and big enough "pads" that I can fit my fingers. I think I could fit more "strings", so if you are looking for melody side of 10 or 12 string it should be possible. It's pretty limited range because it's on the iPhone but it's enough for me to get started and get my ideas down.

I don't have a way to record the ideas on my iPhone just yet... Does anyone know how I may be able to do it?

At least it will get my ideas out of my head...

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Dean Kobayashi
NS/Stick - Prototype #2
Started 11/24/2012

http://www.GreenElephantStudio.com
Now Selling - MOD DUO, Tech21, Ebtech, KMI, Earasers, IsoAcoustics

Subscribe to the NS/Stick YouTube Channel: http://www.youtube.com/NSSTICK


Tue Jul 11, 2017 3:52 pm
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