have you ever composed in your sleep?

paganjack · #1 08-06-2008, 12:01 PM

so a lot of the times, my brain gets all crazy on me when i sleep- like dreaming in other languages and stuff. but last night, i dreamt up a whole new prog song, that was totally sweet. i think it was mostly in 9/4 with breakdowns in 7/4 and a straight ahead part in 4/4...

but now i can barely remember some of it...i am going to do what i can to remember it fully when i have a chance to practice.

anyway i thought that it was awesome, but i was dreaming...

has this ever happened to anyone else?

ZonGuy · #2 08-06-2008, 12:12 PM

Compose in sleep. Absolutely. Keep a cassette recorder by the side of the bed with a bass. Sing it or play it. Go back to sleep. Resume when I wake up.

The compositions came quicker while I was taking a college jazz composition course and had to produce two pieces a week.

Elrend · #3 08-06-2008, 12:23 PM

I composed a piece in 29/16 for 6-string bass, vipraphone and drum machine partially in my sleep once

sonicvi · #4 08-06-2008, 03:18 PM

I hear our brains block out memory of a lot of the terrible things we dream

HaVIC5 · #5 08-06-2008, 10:06 PM

I compose mainly when I'm falling asleep. I'll hear snippets of a composition in many parts and I'll have to get up and write it all down. Some nights it'll be a while before I actually fall asleep.

Matt Till · #6 08-07-2008, 05:48 AM

Only once, it was in a state of half sleep. I was sick, REALLY sick, it was the worst cold I had ever had. I slept for 14 hours, and for 2 more hours, I was laying in bed, I don't know, it was like I was asleep, but awake at the same time. It was almost like an out of body experience, and I was hearing this music. It kind of sounded like a less heavy Meshuggah, real riffy odd timed stuff with a horn section defining the melody playing these strange harmonies. Some floaty synth stuff over top as well.

I couldn't reproduce it if I tried.

Matt Till · #7 08-07-2008, 05:49 AM

Keith Richards composed the main riff to satisfaction in his sleep.

Ramstien · #8 08-07-2008, 07:02 AM

I came up with this really awesome BM song just before I went to sleep. For some reason, I saw the colour green and it had an earthy feel to it.

spambot772 · #9 08-07-2008, 08:19 AM

freaky thread, cuz last night around 2 in the morning, i woke up and a song just hit me. wrote 2 verses and a chorus, and went back to sleep.

Bassenstien · #10 08-07-2008, 08:22 AM

I wake up frequently in the middle of the night and just start playing, but mainly only if I go to bed early. Got some good riffs that way though.

mrokern · #11 08-07-2008, 08:25 AM

Crap, I WISH I could have composed in my sleep last night. Spent 4 hours beforehand trying to flesh out an idea, got all excited, took a half hour break...and realized it was total garbage when I went back and listened to it.

-Mark

Bassman316 · #12 08-07-2008, 08:31 AM

I wish I could compose while I'm awake!

Arsenal_Fierce · #13 08-07-2008, 08:55 AM

I once came up with a chorus while asleep, lyrics and melody. I woke up with it stuck in my head and wrote it down. For the most part it made sense, except for one line:

"Just like a hidden staircase, you always smelled like home."

Don't ask me why hidden staircases smell homey.

DudeistMonk · #14 08-07-2008, 11:28 AM

Quote:

"Just like a hidden staircase, you always smelled like home."

Lol, makes more sense then Beck lyrics.

I fell asleep on the couch after a wedding once (the important thing here being I was trashed) and woke up an hour later to this 3 note pattern that was so loud in my head that I swore is was real and woke me up.

ric1312 · #15 08-07-2008, 03:43 PM

I dream whole songs when I sleep. Often I dream of my band on some stage playing them. when I'm sleeping and barely waking up they seem really awesome. As soon as I'm tottally conscious they are gone, like trying to grab smoke.

moody · #16 08-07-2008, 07:19 PM

I have once dreamed of a melody in my sleep.

Woke up, went to a keyboard, figured it out and wrote it down, went back to bed.

Looked at it later and it was woefully boring.

McThumpin · #17 08-07-2008, 07:24 PM

That's so funny. I write entire songs in my dreams all the time. Music, lyrics, verses, choruses, bridges, solos... the whole nine. Instant classics!

BUT I CAN NEVER REMEMBER THEM!

Arrrgggg.

mrjim123 · #18 08-07-2008, 07:28 PM

I composed a symphony in my sleep once, but when I woke up I discovered it was all in the key of Z, so I had to scrap it.

BurnBass57 · #19 08-07-2008, 10:23 PM

In my dreams I come up with the best songs ever!

Seriously though, nothing ever any good.

Maybe One day I'll strike gold. I remember seeing or reading somewhere that McCartney came up with "Yesterday" in his sleep or something like that.

McThumpin · #20 08-07-2008, 11:55 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by BurnBass57

I remember seeing or reading somewhere that McCartney came up with "Yesterday" in his sleep or something like that.

Right. Only it wasn't "Yesterday," it was "Scrambled Eggs."