# Make musical ideas
A musical idea can be anything from a chord progression to a synth preset to a sample.
When you've happened upon an idea, record it somehow. You can literally use a recorder, or you can write a note to yourself, or you may even write a chord chart or sheet music transcription. Then keep it somewhere you can easily access it again, when it's time to create a piece.
Try making:
- Synthesized drum one-shots (see [[Synthesizing percussion]])
- Noise (see [[Make a mud pie|Mud pies]])
- Samples and loops from public domain recordings and movies
- Synth presets
- Bounces of old, forgotten demos on your hard drive