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What inspires you most when you write music? Is it your favorite artists? Or are your thoughts and feelings the basis for what you write?
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anita_vamp25
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When I write, inspiration can come in lots of forms, and I try to keep myself open to anything. There is no question that the music I hear by my standard favorites (Dream Theater, King's X, Joe Satriani, Symphony X, etc) inspires me when I hear it. Whether it's to capture something in the spirit of something they've done, or to be put in the mindset that they may have been in, that can be my inspiration sometimes. This goes for many things I hear good and bad. Sometimes hearing something that is "bad" can inspire you to try to do something like it but "good". I won't lie though, usually it's pretty obvious what music/artists are in my rotation at a given time when I try to create! This is often good for initial ideas, riffs, or "launch pad" ideas to get things rolling. I have lots of little files on my computer of snippits for ideas and stuff that come to me, and you will see things like "Satch-y idea in E" or "SyX sounding riff in D" etc. These often evolve in different ways though. Or go unused!
My innermost thoughts and feelings are also another source of inspiration. When this is the case, it's usually more of a spontaneous thing. Lyrics, melodies, chords, etc, will often just flow or click when I'm in a certain mood, or if I've been through certain things. I do my best to run with this as fast and as far as I can when it happens. Even if it's 3am and I'm tired! I do what I can to write down, record, and capture as much as I can before that spark is gone. Pain is often the biggest source of inspiration unfortunately. But I have written complete songs; lyrics, melody, chord progressions, arrangement, etc almost instantly, with complete vision of the entire piece, or watch it take shape as I do it. Like I'm just the vehicle for it to take shape. Other times it's not so easy. Many of my "solo" tracks represent certain emotions/thoughts/ideas that I was trying to express at a certain time.
Material that is more "band format" is normally inspired by just jamming. This mostly refers to the way James Borgese (drums) and I work together. Sometimes these jams are triggered by some pre planned ideas or riffs (such as what I mentioned above), and then just take off. Or they can just be purely spontaneous and situational. The interplay between musicians spontaneously can often lead to some of the most amazing stuff. It's so raw and true, and obviously so natural. The ultimate expression really. The perfect scenario involves jamming, recording the jam, going back and listening to the jams and picking the good parts out, and piecing them together into coherent tracks/arrangements, etc. Kinda the best of both worlds combining natural spontaneous sound, with planned, focused, and logical arrangement. For the record James and I work brilliantly like this.
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