How to get over a creative rut?

E

Eggman

Member
It happens to everyone at some point, where you just feel you can't create anything original when you sit down at the drums. You feel like you're just rehashing the same standard grooves, the same fills that you've been doing for years. You play, but your brain is completely shut off. Drumming can begin to feel like a chore. Sometimes this feeling can last for months, even years.

When you're in this kind of a rut, what do you do to get over it? Wait it out? Join a new band? Take a break from drumming? Pick up a drum book? Listen to unfamiliar music? Re-arrange your drums in a new way? Buy a new piece of gear? Play an instrument besides drums?


I definitely feel like I'm in a rut right now, and have been for a while. I've tried many of the above options with little success. Can you even force yourself to get over a creative rut, or do you have to just let things come back naturally?
 
Buy some new books, whatever books fit your style of drumming.
Listening to different things is something that almost always has worked for me.
Maybe if you have money to spend you could buy some auxiliary percussion stuff like a cowbell.
Also, just listen to some of the grooves on drummerworld and try and play them. I learned Jim Payne's grooves well and that really helped me.
 
i take lessons, even though i'm pretty far along. my teacher is always a source of inspiration and keeps challenging me and keeping it interesting.
 
Tune your drums, maybe even get some new heads. Give them a bit of a cleaning. Get them sounding and looking beautiful and it'll make you want to play.
 
I usually end up buying a new snare....
Thank goodness I don't get creative block too often!!!!
 
To me, creative ruts like that are a sure sign I'm not progressing in a certain area. It tends to become muscle memory type of stuff and you do need to shake that off if you're going to get back in the game. Taking a short break is always a good idea. Let the body heal or just rest is sometimes the key. OTOH, you mentioned "creative" rut. I don't know what genre you prefer to play in, but I would suggest looking at a few new labels. Try several days of reggae...try several lessons of some new Latin style...get some new auxiliary pieces and write a new solo. Another good way is to look up the hybrid rudiments and begin doing snare/bass/hats exercises to them. Learn a new pattern and explore it in all it's entirety. I think we've all been there at some point, so best of luck shaking this and let us know what you found.
 
How experienced a drummer are you?

I find that a lot of my students practice the same things over and over, the same stuff being only the things I give them, and only the things they like. What I try to inspire them to do is take the stuff I give them, and try and do something totally different.

Take a basic paradiddle for instance. By itself, a paradiddle is RLRR LRLL (sixteenth notes), but you can do so much more with it. Play all singles (so the RL or the LR) on the snare, the double rights on the ride and the double lefts on the hats. Shift the accent to the L of the first group and the R of the second group. Play the hats on 2 and 4 and your bass drum on all the Rs. You've got yourself a groove going on.

Taking that down a notch, if you just play the right hand on the ride, left hand on the snare, and play your bass drum on all the 2s and 4s, that's a groove.

The possibilities become infinite if you put your mind to it. Another exercise I got by watching a guy named Mike Johnston was to take a paradiddlediddle, and replace all the left hands with your bass drum. Again, taking that an extra step, you can push more and play the right hand on the ride and start playing a song clave over top of that. So you're right hand and foot are playing groups of 6, and your left hand is playing in 4. You have a 4 against 6 groove.

Again, all you have to do is take stuff you already know, and push yourself to do as many things as you possibly can using the knowledge you know, and that in itself, pushes you to gain more knowledge.

Learn a new style, pick up afro cuban drumming or latin drumming. The interdependence that you'll gain from learning a new style will open up so many new doors for you to explore your creativity.
 
Sometimes just retuning the toms, or rearranging things, getting a new snare/cymbal, putting on headphones with the radio or some favorite mp3s to play along with. I never bother trying to play the songs perfectly; it's more like playing to a click with a structure and melody, as just something to solo/go nuts over. When I'm going for creativity, I'm not trying to work on anything in particular, but just playing for the sheer fun of it. Sometimes even an intoxicant or two works for me. The point being that the creative ruts end when the fun kicks back in so whatever gets you there is what I'd recommend.
 
New equipment always helps me. Maybe get some cymbals that are different from what you usually play, like some bigger than usual hi hats. I've heard some 18" hats that sound pretty good (wink, wink).
 
I always find it useful to go see a band live. See what other drummers are doing. There is always someone who's got a beat, lick or something down that is worth learning.
 
utdrummer said:
What are we waiting for?
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Aha! This question you answer, Luke Skywalker, and a master you will be ...

Seriously, you wait for the creative blues to go away. It comes and it goes. We have hardly any control over it.

See all those things people mentioned? Every single one of them has worked for the person suggesting it. But I can just about guarantee that none of them will work every time.

Sometimes you see a band or hear a song, sometimes you change things around, sometimes a mentor will say or do something inspiring, or you step up your practice, change your practice, take a break, have a big night out, exercise more, ramp up your love life, mess with other instruments, meditate, get more sleep ... there are countless things that might get you out of a creative funk but there's no failsafe formula. Generally it happens when you're not looking.

The one thing you can be confident about is, if you've been creative before you'll be creative again ... in time.

I find one of the best things I can do when feeling uninspired is to work through all those boring things I've been putting off - domestics, paying bills, filing, etc. It's no guarantee to get the juices flowing but it at least gets the monkey off my back for a while. No point wasting our purple patches on that dross. Tuning and maintaining the kit, as suggested, could come under that heading too.
 
DrumEatDrum said:
I always find it useful to go see a band live. See what other drummers are doing. There is always someone who's got a beat, lick or something down that is worth learning.
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That does it for me too, i listen to something that inspires me, not always from a drumming angle but from a creative one, could be guitar or vocals or just a groove thing, it gets me all fired up again.
 
Here are a couple of things i'd do:

1 - Take a break for a couple of days. Don't play drums and don't listen to any music at all. Come back to it fresh.

2 - Then, listen to some totally new styles of music - funk, rock, jazz, brazilian, afro-cuban, reggae, bop, swing, metal, etc. There's always something new to discover that'll fill you with a load of great new ideas you've never known before.

3 - Just start playing these new groove and fill ideas, even if you're not totally sure how, just dig in and explore.

4 - Next, try sitting at the kit and saying to yourself "I can play everything in my set EXCEPT the hi-hats, or any cymbals at all, or the snare drum" and force yourself to stop relying on familar sounds for a while. You'll make more of the limited sounds you have left.

5 - If you only play with sticks, start using brushes too, or rods. They sound very different and force you to play differently too.

6 - Go to clinics and watch live bands. Even watch percussionist, timbale players, etc...they'll give you new ideas to apply to the drum set.

7 - Take mind altering drugs like The Beatles did, and let your newly expanded conciousness create beautiful, crazy drumming ideas....JUST KIDDIN'

Hope these help you out!
 
Total-Drums.com said:
4 - Next, try sitting at the kit and saying to yourself "I can play everything in my set EXCEPT the hi-hats, or any cymbals at all, or the snare drum" and force yourself to stop relying on familar sounds for a while. You'll make more of the limited sounds you have left.
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Great tactic! This has always worked for me. Usually I start off by removing my 12" tom and I only play with 2 on my set. Removing all the cymbals but my hats works for me too.
 
Work out of a book, it forces you to play different things than you would normally play. Then the discovery kicks in and gradually it becomes your own. Then you're in a new rut. Repeat!
 
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