Getting stuck on new songs

[jeremyball]

As a lifelong musician (who's never really written until recently), I find myself getting stuck on songs about 3/4 of the way through making them up.

I think maybe I'm trying to make them too complicated, with too many complicated chord progressions. Maybe simplicity would be the way to go?

Anybody else ever had this problem? Starting the songs are easy, finishing them is the problem.

Jeremy

[mikeh]

I think is is fairly common to hit a wall part way through a song. It's often easy to come up wit a riff or two and some basic chords to lay out a verse and chorus - but coming up with a bridge or finding a way to wrap up the song can often be more difficult. This is particularly true with lyrics. It can be easy to start a "story" but finding a middle and end can be much harder.

I view this wall as the difference betwen the art vs. the craft of writing. Someone with some musical training (or even someone with no training but some basic performance skills) can create riffs, chord progressions etc. and maybe even come up with some lyrics that follow some logical frame of thought. However, to mold these various snippets of creativity into a comprehensive work that clearly reflects a beginning, middle and end, requires more skill, knowledge and dedication to the craft of songwritting than many have.

Learning the craft of songwriting can be just as long and enjoyable a journey as learning to play an instrument - and the level of committment makes the difference between someone who wants to write (or thinks they can write) - vs, someone who can write.

If you are a lifelong musician, you have shown the willingness to commit - that same level of committment can allow you to become a good song writer. So keep at it - we all hit a wall form time to time.

[azraelswings]

I agree with the above wholeheartedly, and will refrain from repeating his good advice and insight.

[ido1957]

Great post mikeh.....

I'm a lot like you jeremy - long time player but fairly new to writing.

I find that if I dwell too long on a set of lyrics (that's my starting point) I get bored with the song and drop it.

I like to finish it and nail that coffin shut and then it gives me a sense of accomplishment - however simple the tune might be.

I haven't gone back to change much either once it's done. I figure that's something I'll do after I get all these songs outta my head (the voices, the voices make them stop).

[jeremyball]

Cool, thanks for the replies. I like Ido1957 approach of finishing them and "nailing the coffin" shut. I think I could easily finish them pretty fast and they would be good songs. I think I"m expecting too much from them, like for them to complicated, "grand masterpieces".

Over the Memorial Day weekend, I'm gonna work some of these songs that have been lingering in my mind and half-way on paper, and hopefully finish writing and start recording them.

Thanks guys,
Jeremy

[Monkey Allen]

I'd guess just try not to think too much about it. If it's going nowhere you can either put it aside for a while or try to bash the square peg into a round hole...for me it's not about the where I'm going but how I'm getting there. That's why I have finished so few recordings. I just love stuffing about.

[Toddskins]

Without having heard your 3/4 finished composition, I cannot say with certainty what to think, but .... BUT...

I suggest NOT thinking it needs to be simple.

We all hear and read, everyday, how "they don't make music like they used to", and this has much to do with trying to make it simple - a formula that seems to be taught by those who are simple-minded.

The issue really is not about being simple or complicated, but (please, please, please take this to heart) about being excellent!

Excellence should be your standard.

Most think of success in so many varied ways, i.e. simple, short, catchy, cute, loud?, political, a-political, current, futuristic, etc.

Excellence is its own reward.

Simple, is..... SIMPLE. Who wants that?

Granted, most of the current songs people love are "simple", but what does that say or mean aside from the obvious? Most people's music education is non-existant, and their attention span is short (having been raised on 20 second snippets of Sesame Street?).


Anyway, sorry for the soapbox approach, but I would personally appreciate your music more if I knew you were striving for something superb, pain-staking, and worthy of getting my ear.

One last thing about Complex, because most so-called critics, i.e. Billboard and Rolling Stone Magazine, don't have a clue as to what they think they know. Complexities in music really means lots of neat "in and of themselves, simple" parts put together. Anything complicated can be broken down into basic (simple) parts.

Complex, Complicated music (many parts).... means, at the very least - INTERESTING.

Now, the real ART is to make music that also moves you.

- - - - - - - - - -

Heck, why stop....

To most, Ludwig Beethoven was the grand master daddy of them all. And there's good reason for this:

He bridged the Intellectual era AND the Romantic era of music. His music was brilliant (intellectually), and Fantastic sounding (feeling wise). He satisfied all the elements that might be possible, as an artist - intellect and feeling.

I won't talk about the spirit. <wink>

[Monkey Allen]

Hey, if the hat fits, wear it

[random.hero]

ahh the exact same thing has been happening with me, but then i merged a couple of those songs i never finish and take out and change a little and it turns out really well!

[jeremyball]

Toddskins,
Thanks for the advice, very well taken to heart

Random Hero,
That's worked for me too, merging a couple song ideas together into one complete song. Sometimes you can get an interesting twist on a song you hadn't thought about.

Once I finish some material I'm working on, I'll post it for opinions.

Thank ya,
JEREMY

[Dani Pace]

If you have a good idea, keep playing it, sooner or later the rest of the song will fall into place. If it's any consolation, I've got parts of songs that I've been waiting to finish for twenty years, some day that one more line or that bridge that makes it all fit together will happen. Sometimes that "one good line" that is the heart of a song can ride around in our minds for years before the next line comes along. Don't get hung up on finishing one song before starting another. You just have to be in the right mood, at the time when the creative force is working, then the lines will come faster than you can write them down.

[J.C. Scott]

My number one rule is not to force. The best way to come up with ideas is to get yourself 'extremely' inspired by other ideas. Passion is the grease that makes the songwriting wheels turn with ease. Have you noticed that when you're really inspired, ideas seem to just come to you? Use this to your advantage. You may consider listening to songs in the same vein as the one you're working on from your favorite bands/artists.