CAN YOU SURVIVE THE WHITE PAPER SYNDROME?


It happens to all of us, the blank paper stares back at you, taunting you to put one mark down to mar its perfection. This first act frightens even the best writer, but we all have to overcome it or risk getting nothing at all done. Here are a few ideas to getting over this nasty first hurdle.

Pick a random song, listen to it, put yourself in the position of one of the people in the story and write your side of what the artist is talking about. For example, if it is a love song, imagine yourself replying to what the artist is saying to you......positive or negative, it can be fun and often ends up being a great tune on its own. Musically, you can listen to a bit of a song on headphones and just record your response or fill to each riff you hear. This often ends up being a great tune in its own right and you can always change the chord line later and edit your bits to make it a completely original work. Another fun thing to do is to take the tune to a complete extreme and parody what is done....Weird Al Yankovic is a pro at this, or take an old song and do it in completely outrageous way, for instance, a Pantera metal version of the Beatles song "Eleanor Rigby". This often provides a hole in the dike to get you moving to do more writing once you get the floodgates open.

Pull out a dictionary.....With eyes closed, open a chord dictionary and flip it to a random page. Point a finger somewhere on the page and play the chord. It's usually a really weird one, but the sound tends to trigger your imagination to think about something that chord reminds you of. Follow that line of thought, use your basic knowledge of theory or flip to other page and add more chords one right after another and think of how the progression makes you feel. You may find that you feel drawn to scribble down more chords to resolve the story or feeling, or change certain notes to make the idea more palatable. The next thing you know, you're writing, and another tune is born!

Don't Edit! Free association can be alot of fun. Say you pick up the guitar, bang on a piano, or you just goof around with other instruments on a sequencer. You found something that sounded exciting so you turned on the tape recorder and just jammed out. Okay, so maybe it sounds like garbage to you later, but just listening to your live musical scribbling is often enough to make you say "I can do better" and get that pen on the paper.

Just do it!!! Hopefully, these ideas will help you overcome your fear of that blank sheet of paper. Any large job is easy if broken down into some small steps, so take these small ones and get yourself going in the right direction!! GET WRITING!!


Deb's Top 5 Songs Of The Day:

Korn, Twisted Transistor
Crossfade, Cold
Bonnie Tyler, Total Eclipse Of The Heart
Billy Joel, Only The Good Die Young
Ozzy Osbourne, Mama I'm Coming Home

Local Artist Of The Day:

Them One Guys