Energy to work

Oh totally. When I'm at work, I'm fantasizing about all the creative and productive things I'm going to do when I get home, then when I get home I sit on the couch all night. Even writing lyrics, something that requires little physical energy, is too much of a chore. I was going to do the "record an album in February" thing but I still haven't made my way over to the practice space to record drum tracks.

I think you just have to force yourself to start playing music. Usually, once I've gotten started I want to keep playing music and I get stuff done, it's just the actual starting that's difficult.

I find I put more effort into music when I'm feeling crushed by other things. Oh, I have a huge paper to write? Or, back when I was working, it's audit time and I should be putting in extra hours getting the house in order? Maybe I'll write some songs instead...

But when I have a ton of free time staring me in the face, there's no urgency to work on music, no sense of "this is the only chance you're going to get", no sense of "better to be doing this than working!"

mm hmm.

the starting thing is a good point.

i just can't believe i've been sitting on this bed all day when i should've been laying down a 2nd verse.

i know i fantasize at work all day too. actually most days i am productive when i get home. but it's days like this that drive me crazy. it's like i wish i could write music lying down, pushing buttons on a flat control screen above my head.

I'm all for that. I've dinged up my guitar a bunch trying to play it in various reclining positions.

move bed next to desk. work, sleep, eat.

cool thread - i'm all about this too. got a load of new gear that i'm just raring to get at but work pressures are getting in the way, time vs money etc

the irony is, if i wasn't working i wouldn't be able to indulge my GAS

mm hmm. i know but it's harder to bring the keyboard and mic to your bed.

life is so weird - it's like, we have to do ALL this stuff we don't REALLY wanna do

just to be able to do a teensy little bit of what we really wanna do.

i know, i'm getting too existential and it's only like 2 in the afternoon. not that this sort of frustration hasn't already been turned over and over by like, dozens and dozens of artists. oh well.

haha if you guys were to break into my house right now you would find a 4 track and Crumar Performer synth in my bed. Don't break into my house now though, please.

I have recently started running home and recording on my lunch breaks, I can get a good 30ish minutes in if everything's already set up, plus I have way more energy at noon-1pm than at 7pm-sleep. Plus, I can record drum/piano/vocal/etc tracks then with less risk of my roommate ruining tracks with door slamming etc.

Sometimes I find it takes a half-hour to an hour "warm-up" session and then a short break before anything really happens, whether I'm practicing drums, working on stuff with a band or whatever. It also helps to have a space to go outside your house and to and force yourself to go there - it's much harder to find energy when you have distractions.

An annoying semi-related problem I have is extreme difficulty being productive in more than one aspect of music making at the same time - to me it seems to be writing stuff, recording stuff, or practicing with a band (which maybe wouldn't be as significant if I ever stayed with a lineup long enough for everyone to know their shit, but that's a whole different issue).

When I get home from practice or recording, the last thing I want is to pick up my guitar again, but dammit I feel stale and useless when all I'm ever working on is shit that I wrote last year.

Does anybody else get that?

I end up getting so pent up with ideas that I just play for hours straight on some insane energy.
Then I virtually pass outand the cycle continues again.

I have discovered the instant energiser/motivator with regards to getting your arse in gear and doing music when you still have a dayjob...

DEADLINES.

I have just booked a gig, and now have to put together a band and finish recordings in just under a month. And it's amazing how my motivation and energy have come back.

The trick to finding the time to write music when you are so busy recording and/or rehearsing it is to allow songs to come when they come, rather than sitting down with a guitar and expecting to write. I often find that songs flow the best when I'm not trying to write. A lot of time that's odd times like walking to the supermarket on Saturday morning. I carry a notebook with me and write the song down as it happens.

yes my friends' favorite song of mine is one i started humming on the way to a friend's house

at first i was like, that sounds like a janet jackson song - when i realized it wasn't, i spruced it up and made it sound like me, but still catchy like janet =P

so yeah the off the cuff songwriting thing is great. dictaphones are great to carry around too.

'I was going to do the "record an album in February" thing but I still haven't made my way over to the practice space'

argh so painfully reminiscent of my life

One time I demanded "YOU WILL RECORD THIS SONG TONIGHT" f myself and fueled it with a huge cup of coffee and whiskey.
Not a good thing to do often.

I've written many songs while walking. When I used to live a seven minute walk from work and would walk home for lunch and rush home those few extra blocks to grab the guitar and hurry to get it down before I forgot anything... those were good times.