Does anyone on this board ever feel guilty about not wanting to make music? I just came back from school today (10pm) and I just don't feel like producing. I feel guilty though because I can't get better if I don't at least try to produce so I'm probably gonna force myself after I'm done writing this post. Is this unhealthy do you guys think?

I feel like I should be excited to produce but I just don't feel that way at all. Don't know whether it's because things have become much more challenging lately or whether it's due to something else.

Anyways... what do you guys think? Is it counterproductive to force yourself to write?

I agree that breaks are definitely needed from time to time. I know it's not gonna kill me if I don't produce tonight but at what point does forcing yourself to produce become negative?

To me, music is a hobby. If I would force myself, it wouldn't feel fun anymore.

its alright man, take it one day at a time

its challenging man but you have to push through, try not get distracted, focus on the daw

i think producing is linked with confidence, so maybe you should go and learn some technical stuff, watch some youtube videos on melodies, sidechaining, arranging, Eqing, get a subscription to computer music magazine, watch your favourite producers talk about their music

try produce on a consistent basis and then increase the intensity when you get momentum

spit out the ideas and do whatever it takes

try and have fun, learn stuff, you start to impress yourself

theres a reason why the best producers make the best tracks

Spring semester of college just started again, so I'm busy as fuck now, and I definitely do see where you're coming from.

For example my typical Tuesday

8:30-9:50am - class
10-5pm - work
5:30-7pm - gym
8-10pm- produce
10-11:30pm - Fraternity meeting
12- 2 or 3am - produce

Monday/Wednesday I have class for about five hours, then I go to the gym, and then produce.

Now you see, I forced myself to produce those hours on Tuesday. What I found out was that I wasn't producing from passion, I was forcing myself to produce - to produce a track to work in a way that it wasn't. What do I mean by that though?

I had this stupid fucking idea and drum arrangement that I was so determined to get to work in my track.. and quite honestly it wasn't working. I played with it for fucking hours.. and I realized I was trying to force this idea and got so stubborn with that exact arrangement only to the point where it wasn't musical passion.

Maybe I was over tired, stressed because I wasn't able to convey ideas from my head to my DAW (this is something I think defines really good producers), or whatever it was.

If you have to force yourself to produce music, there are a few questions you should ask yourself.

1. Why do I want to make music?
2. Who am I doing this for, myself or others?
3. Is this something I really want to be doing with my time and/or the rest of my life?
4. What do I want to get out of making music?
5. Do I want to put in the amount of effort and work required to make music?

If you're struggling to answer any of those questions, you probably shouldn't be thinking about producing until you can write down your answers. Either you'll figure them out and have redoubled your commitment which will help motivate you to push through, or you'll realize that you're trying to force yourself to do something that you don't actually want to do, and you should look for what can answer those questions.

That being said, there's nothing wrong with just being a hobbyist producer who picks up his DAW when he's bored, makes a couple of loops, dicks around with some sound design, and puts it back down to go about his normal life. Make sure you're not trying to make this into something it isn't, and that might remove the sort of negative emotional attachment that keeps you from wanting to produce.

If you can answer all those questions, and you're still struggling to wanna sit down and write some tunes, then you're deep in the throes of Resistance. Go read The War of Art and/or Turning Pro by Steven Pressfield. Those books completely changed my life as a musician and an artist, and I couldn't recommend them enough to anyone who is interested in getting serious about any artistic endeavor.

When i was working 14+hours a day most days, i didn't really feel like doing any thing besides smoking weed and playing video games. I got some work done on my day(s) off, but that was mostly spent hating life and smoking more weed and playing more video games.

It's tough to find a balance to be able to do the things you want to do. And unless you have a situation (or environment) that allows you to do this sort of thing with out much "pressure", then you'll have to work towards any thing to get to where you want to be, in order to do the music deal.

It's a hustle, and it's hard work. During the semester I work on music sparingly as well as what my releases are. This is also forcing me to spend more time on my tracks from creation, mixing, bedroom mastering.

It's a weird combination of things that are hard to describe, but you shouldn't have to force yourself to produce. That just actually might be the want to produce, but your body just isn't going to have it. Listen to that sign, and come back when you're ready. other wise it's just going to be not an efficient process.

Just be aware, i'd also suggest writing in a journal if you have these ideas that just need to come out. I don't do that for music specifically, but i do write things down all the time.

Quote from: Marrow Machines on January 28, 2016, 06:36:50 pm

When i was working 14+hours a day most days, i didn't really feel like doing any thing besides smoking weed and playing video games. I got some work done on my day(s) off, but that was mostly spent hating life and smoking more weed and playing more video games.
....
That just actually might be the want to produce, but your body just isn't going to have it. Listen to that sign, and come back when you're ready. other wise it's just going to be not an efficient process.

When I think about it, that might just be exactly what's happening to me at the moment. ...kinda makes me think about switching a job for something not that time consuming.

It's always going to be time consuming dude. If you're in school, finish school. But if you're working and not going to school, you're going to have to make aims to create the time for making music.

You have to work how ever many hours to pay for your basic needs. But you can choose a job that allows you to be more efficient with your time spent at work.

Less hours more pay (usually comes with a college education in certain fields), or try to negotiate a pay raise (maybe more responsibility but it also could be with another job).

You have to seek more compensation for your time spent at work, but that usually require more sacrifice or skills.

either that, or you just need to look into your health. You may have time, but there's other external factors you may not be considering.