I can't stress these two things enough: Learning and
living. A steady diet of these two things will help
inspire anyone. Here's some more tips...
Classical composers used to turn sheet music upside
down and try to play the music, to gain new insights
into progressions and melodies. While not the same as
'upside down and backwards', listening to music
backwards can also give you alot of ideas. Remember,
learning is all about connecting ideas, and actual
spaces, in our brains. Like water flowing through a
labrynth of channels and passages, when a new
connection is formed, the water can flow into new
areas. A single new connection can cause hundreds of
other connections to be called into more frequent use.
Get some new gear. I hate to admit it, but new
equipment is the quickest way to feed yourself some new
sounds, which entertain the portion of brain concerned
wholly with identifying what sounds are. This part of
the brain creates the best feelings when excited,
contrary to our belief that it's the notes and melodies
that entertain us the most. The pleasing sounds are the
candy coating around the melodic payload...
The best sounds have alot of 'overtones'. Basically, a
piano has alot of overtones. Play middle C, and at a
lower amplitude the c an octave up is mixed in, and the
next c quieter yet, and so forth. As we move up the
keys, the overtones decrease beyond our ability to hear
them. The more overtones (and not necessarily at the
octaves) the better! Ever wonder why we can listen to a
piano or a cello for hours and not get sick of the
sound? OVERTONES. Something lacking from purely digital
instruments. That's why electronic musicians have to
build them back into the sounds using LFOs, filters,
reverbs and delays.
Get a mentor. You need someone who will be honest and
tell you when you're making crap. Someone who can also
steer you away from habitual paths.
Alot of new age musicians claim to have had near-death
experiences. While dead, they say that they have heard
the most beautiful music. They spend the rest of their
lives trying to re-create the music they heard while
dead. They are driven because they have a goal in mind,
one that they may never reach. If you don't have a goal
besides 'a banging track', you may find your creativity
lacking more often than not. I have such a goal, but I
do lose sight of it, sometimes.
If people want me to shut up, jus