Some context, I have a pretty solid background in music/I understand music theory, but I have a frustrating problem with composition.

The problem is that whenever I try to expand upon something small I’ve recorded, I get stuck in an excruciating limbo of unsatisfying progressions and rhythms.

I feel like I need a musical ‘palate cleanser’ or something like that after I move onto a new idea, because my attempts to elaborate on them always sound like a continuation of my last attempt (if that makes sense).

For example, if I play back a recording of a riff that I made, I can identify the key it’s in and try to play chords from that key before/after the riff it to form the beginnings of a chorus/verse, but my brain does almost zero passive improvisation, so it’s hard to gauge what to do next.

If anyone can empathise/has some advice, I’d be enormously grateful to hear your thoughts!

Edit: I suppose the solution to this problem is probably more nuanced than I might have made it out to be, but are there any music theory-oriented strategies that I can take to at least try to ‘brute-force’ my way to a chord progression, if only a little?