I need a unique idea!!!!!!!

awkward timesignatures are easy to understand and are not awkward, they reveal no musical intelligence in someone except that they do study and try to step out of the box from other music. The talent comes when you no longer try to write in awkward timesignatures but do anyway... The best thing to do is wright without a time signature and follow the feeling of the song, don't force your music to follow rules and you will naturally write in unique ways, but even so, it is the uniqueness of your chord structure that counts.

Try playing with other people, see how they work & get inspiration from them.

I personally get never get a great creative concept without some sort of influence that I can absorb and learn from- so you can't rely on other people's suggestions- It's a matter of trying things and experiencing them.

Draw inspiration from around you. There are countless ways to make new music even in 4/4.

Don't pressure yourself into trying to come up with some extremely new and undiscovered form of music- it's not really possible.
Music is a constant evolution- taking in influences from other types to create something new. You can't create a new species without a long period of interbreeding and refinement- This applies to music as well.

The best information I can personally give you is to diversify the music you listen to. Once you do this- analyze the new music and find how it works- You can combine even small elements from other music into your own music and be very original.

With King Crimson for example- The instruments and knowledge of classical music & folk had been around, as were the instruments of rock- it was all a matter of smashing them together in a certain way.

I've always thought that everything in music, apart from maybe new technology, is always there- it's just a matter of doing something different with the same things.

StyLaZyn wrote: Playing out of 3/4 or 4/4 naturally takes special creative talent that one is born with. Also, recognize that the generally speaking, from childhood, we are exposed to 4/4 and 3/4 rhythms only.

I disagree, and this "certain people are born with" thing can only lead to hero worship. ;P any idiot can become adept at playing in any signature, all it takes is practise.

timesignature wrote: Why do the drummers where I live suck! They just bang around and the only time signature they can play is 4/4, most don't even know what a time signature is! Everyone here is tonedeaf and they know absolutey nothing about music theory! Maybe it's normal to be the only one who knows anything in your local area... My dad has his masters degree in music theory, and I used to live in knoxville, Tennessee where there are schools of the arts where I studied classical and jazz piano... maybe I'm just lucky to have had some musical education.. but I want to know more, and no one here can teach me. I want to know new ways to experiment with my music. Irregular time signatures, polytonality, and poly rhythm have already been done... I need a new unique idea.

Edited by Slartibartfast - April 29 2007 at 10:16

You really remind me of an Italian contemporary painter, widely considered a master in abstract or informal art: Lucio Fontana. After experimenting several new ways in painting and sculpture, he found his own successful one - the "Concetto Spaziale" (Space Concept) - just by cutting or punchind the canvas directly. That's just to say: do you really need "irregular time signatures, polytonality and poly rhythm" to make something new in music?

Why do the drummers where I live suck! They just bang around and the only time signature they can play is 4/4, most don't even know what a time signature is!