Stay in the Process: How to Get Unstuck Creatively
Getting stuck is part of making things.
A while back, I taught a songwriting workshop built around that exact problem. Everyone brought something they were working on but couldn’t seem to finish. Some had lyrics without music. Some had musical ideas they couldn’t turn into songs. Others had been circling the same material for so long that they no longer knew what to do with it.
The goal wasn’t to critique anybody’s work. It was to get everyone back into the process.
That distinction matters, because when something isn’t working, our instinct is often to keep approaching it the same way, only harder. We stare at the same verse, play the same chord progression, run the same scale pattern, and think about the problem from the same angle.
Then we wonder why we keep ending up in the same place.
Sometimes the answer isn’t to try harder. Sometimes you need to change the process.
Put Yourself in a New Position
One of the best things you can do when you feel creatively stuck is work on a skill you don’t normally rely on.
If you mainly write lyrics, learning some guitar or piano can give you another way to work with chords and melody yourself. If you’re already comfortable on your instrument, spend some time singing. Work on melody. Study lyrics separately from the music. Learn songs by ear. Write out song forms. Pay attention to what happens before the chorus instead of just learning the chords.
You don’t have to become an expert at everything. You’re trying to give yourself more ways into the music.
Sometimes even a small limitation or a different way of approaching the guitar can open up new ideas. Our guide to creative songwriting on guitar includes several practical ways to change the way you start.
Every new skill changes what you notice. It gives you another way to hear a song, another way to solve a problem, and another place to go when your usual approach stops working.
That’s part of developing a better creative process. The more tools you have, the less likely you are to feel trapped by one way of writing.
Learn Enough Theory to Know Your Options
Music theory isn’t the enemy of creativity. It’s a tool.
If you understand what key you’re in, how the chords relate to each other, and what creates tension and resolution, you have more options when something doesn’t feel right.
Maybe the melody needs somewhere different to go. Maybe the chorus isn’t getting enough lift from the verse. Maybe the chord progression needs more tension before it resolves. Maybe the section you’re calling a bridge isn’t actually doing anything different from the verse.
Theory gives you a way to ask better questions.
You don’t need to analyze every note while you’re writing. But understanding harmony, form, rhythm, and melody can help you recognize why something works and give you somewhere to turn when it doesn’t.
Have Words to Burn
One of the quickest ways to freeze up creatively is to start editing too soon.
I see this with songwriters all the time. They write a line, judge it immediately, decide it isn’t good enough, and stop.
There’s nothing to edit if you haven’t made anything yet.
When somebody gets hung up in a lesson, I’ll sometimes have us write back and forth quickly. No sitting there trying to make every line clever. Write something and keep going.
If you need two verses, write four.
Give yourself more material than you need. Some of it will be terrible, and that’s fine.
The point is to stay in motion long enough for something interesting to happen. Once you’ve made enough material, you can go back through it and find the useful lines, images, melodies, or ideas.
Creating and editing are different jobs. Trying to do both at exactly the same time can shut the whole thing down.
If you want to put that idea into practice, try our 30-minute songwriting exercise and focus on finishing a rough draft before worrying about whether it’s good.
Have words to burn. Give yourself something to work with.
Let What You Have Tell You What Comes Next
When you’re stuck, take stock of what’s already there.
Do you have a chorus you love? Then you probably don’t need another chorus. You need verses that set it up.
Do you have a great opening line? Follow the story.
Do you have a chord progression but no melody? Stop changing the chords for a minute and sing over them.
Do you have three sections that all feel basically the same? Maybe one of them needs a different harmonic, rhythmic, or melodic job.
You don’t have to solve the entire song at once. Figure out what you actually have, then ask what it needs next. The work tends to reveal the next problem.
And once you know what the next problem is, things get a lot less mysterious.
Go Looking for Inspiration
People talk about inspiration as if it either shows up or it doesn’t.
I don’t think that’s very useful.
When I feel creatively empty, I go looking.
I read, listen to records, learn songs, figure out guitar parts, and study writers I like. Sometimes you need to stop trying to produce something and start taking things in again.
Sometimes the instrument itself is part of the rut. Using the guitar as a songwriting tool rather than letting it dictate the entire song can create room for different melodic, rhythmic, and lyrical ideas.
Creativity requires input.
If you’re always trying to pull ideas out of yourself without putting anything back in, eventually you’re going to feel wrung out.
That doesn’t mean copying someone else. It means staying curious.
Learn a song you love and ask why you love it. Read something that has nothing to do with songwriting. Listen closely to a record you haven’t heard in years. Change instruments. Go somewhere. Pay attention.
You don’t have to sit around waiting to feel inspired. You can put yourself in places where inspiration is more likely to find you.
Don’t Worry About the Project Before You Have the Songs
Another way people get stuck is by jumping too far ahead.
They’ve written three songs and they’re already worried about what the album is going to sound like.
Are the songs cohesive enough? Are there too many slow songs? What will the production sound like? Does the project have a theme?
Maybe.
But first, write the songs.
When you’re still generating material, your job is to generate material.
A project often becomes clearer after you have enough work in front of you to see the patterns. The songs start talking to each other. Certain themes keep appearing. You notice what’s missing. You begin to understand what the project actually is.
You can’t always think your way there in advance.
Sometimes you have to make enough work for the answer to become visible.
Stay in the Process
Getting unstuck creatively usually isn’t about finding one brilliant idea. It’s about staying engaged long enough to make another move.
Learn something. Write more than you need. Stop editing while you’re creating. Study music you love. Go looking for input. Figure out what the song is asking for next.
Then do that.
The process changes from song to song, and sometimes it needs to change in the middle of the same song. That’s okay.
The important thing is to keep yourself close enough to the work that you can recognize the next step when it appears.
Stay in the process.
Ready to Get Unstuck?
Green Hills Guitar Studio offers personalized songwriting lessons in Nashville and online, with lessons built around your music, your goals, and the places where you’re getting stuck.
