Hey guitarists, producers, and songwriters,

I’m a producer that has been told I make “guitar based music” (indie pop, anti pop). I was doing really well and having success with my music and my business, but I fell into a depression and took a year off of making anything and playing my instruments. Now, I feel like I’m learning how do everything all over again.

One of the challenges I’m facing is writing better guitar parts. I tend to play 4 chord progressions over a basic eight note strumming pattern, then stack a lead line or two on top. This isn’t wrong or bad, but I’ve been stuck in this cycle and it’s getting boring. I’ve tried arpeggios, inversions, weird tuning and chord shapes, but I still end up doing 4 chords and eight notes, just differently lol.

I’m wondering, how do you guys escape basic strum patterns? How do you make parts that serve the song better, and/or are more engaging and interesting?

I’m a bassist first, which I think is one of them origins of this problem. I’m inspired by artists like Jean Dawson, Dominic Fike, Sam Austins, spill tab.

Thanks!