For every song that comes out easy........

Mike J. 53

New member
.....how many do you struggle with? I wrote one last week, worked out all the parts (drum beat, bass, guitars and keys) and recorded it in just under a week working on it for about three hours a day. Not saying it's great or anything like that, but it was very easy to do. Everything fell in place real nice.

Two nights later I had an idea on guitar and got thru an intro, a verse and a possible chorus and I keep hitting a brick wall. I just cannot seem to get past where I am on this one. That tells me it's either not worth pursuing, or maybe I have to look at it from a different angle, or I need help with it of which is fine with me.

How about you? How many do you struggle with and how often?
 
Since I don't do this for a living I don't have to push it. If something comes to me, I record/write a scratch until there is nothing left, walk away. I am reworking one now I started a year ago. Fresh view helps a lot. Have my words and some duh, duhs, hum, hum, oh yeas in place. I will work the arrangement and then start writing.

I really don't think a good song just comes out but on rare occasions. Just have to go with the flow of your muse.
 
I struggle with every song I write. I get the finished version running though my head and then try to get it down. In the process it almost always changes from the "perfect version" that I originally heard.
First song I wrote, I heard it in my head and sat down and played the piano part. It was so pretty by itself I sang and played it just that way for 10 years. Just now getting it to sound like the original thought. Got another one I'm still working on getting "right" too. Don't normally have easy ones, but did one last month. :D That was a nice change.
 
Maybe 1 in 20 come out "easy" - although I still spend a fair amount time in the re-write process trying to improve them.

To me "easy" means, the chord progression and melody seem to present themselves as one in a relatively easy flow and whatever guitar riffs form the "hook" fall into place quickly - which in turn allows the lyrics to create a story line that simply seems logical to the music.

The ones I struggle with tend to be normally in one of three things: 1) I have a hard time developing the chord progression - in particular an effective bridge, 2) I have a chord progression, but I can't find a strong guitar riff to driver the song, or 3) I have the music parts developed - but I simply can't develop the lyrics well enough to create a story for the song.
 
Yeah, it's nice when it just happens, but it doesn't always. I'd say for myself, 1 in 5 take very little effort, they just flow. The others start with a good idea or 2, but need developing. Often, that means leaving it a lone for a while. Other times, it means spending as much time as I can in silence so I can do a lot of "head writing". I do my best writing away from any instruments, just riffing in my head.

Hey, if you look at some of the Beatles best tunes, Like "Strawberry Fields", the final version is often "Take 132" or whatever. If it worked for them, it's good enough for me.
 
None of them come out easy. Ever.

They all take all my reserves of patience, effort and limited abilities to complete and I hate them all for at least a month after finishing. I can generally appreciate them a little better after a few months distance and re-visit the bits that overfamiliarity overlooked.

They do tend to originate from a spark of an idea that came easy though - some idea that came to me naturally from somewhere. Usually a bit of a guitar pattern if it's a musical spark or a phrase I heard/thought somewhere if it's a lyrical one. I write them down on scraps of paper or record them in rough to return to at some future point. I'd never sit down with a completely blank sheet in front of me and try to force something to come out.
 
Yup......some of them just sort of write and play themselves.................and some of them don't. I do know one thing though. When a song gets stalled for any reason.........writing the music......the words.......getting the sound......playing the parts.......recording the tracks......etc.......I don't obsess over it. I just come back to it later. In the meantime.......I go back to a previous song if I have one still waiting.........and work on that.
 
If we can't finish the basis of the song in an hour or so we drop it and move on. Many times in the past we tried to keep forging ahead with an idea and wasted a lot of time just to decide that it wasn't worth pursuing anyways.
 
Since I don't do this for a living I don't have to push it.
Ditto.
I do push quite a few though !

Maybe 1 in 20 come out "easy" - although I still spend a fair amount time in the re-write process trying to improve them.
The only time I found it hard to write songs was when I started. Once the first few pieces were done, it was easy.
What isn't easy, but is one of the more enjoyable bits is the working out, seeing what can stay or go, meshing the harmonies and whatnot. I never truly know how they sound until I'm done recording.

The others start with a good idea or 2, but need developing. Often, that means leaving it a lone for a while. Other times, it means spending as much time as I can in silence so I can do a lot of "head writing". I do my best writing away from any instruments, just riffing in my head.
I would say the majority of the writing I do is head writing. Once the basic song has been worked out or recorded, all kinds of instrument lines come to me. That's why a dictaphone is crucial. I'd never remember any of it otherwise.

If we can't finish the basis of the song in an hour or so we drop it and move on.
The reason I wouldn't do that is because I feel that if there is an idea, sooner or later, it can be fashioned into something.
That "sooner or later" might be 20 years, however !
 
I cannot tell that there is a rule for this in my case. I write songs since 30 years ago and I already spit out dozens of them. Some has came easier than others, but it never is straight like a fart. It always demands some working and polishing. Sometimes I just play/sing the song the day after to see if it sounds as nice as I thought it was when I gave it as finished.

These days I had an interesting case here. I started writing a song, and, as I usually do, I recorded what I already had to not forget it. But I just had written the first and second parts (I didn't have the chorus, no bridge, etc, yet). Even before to write the rest of the song I had a fancy idea for an 'underground' arrangement with some lo-fi elements, etc, and started working on it. Then a couple days later I finished the song and added a chorus and a bridge to it. The problem is that while singing and playing it with the guitar it sounded awesome, but for some reason the new bridge and chorus simply didn't fit in the 'underground' arrangement. And also I didn't want to dispose the 'underground' thing because it was too cool.

The solution was to make two versions of the song: an 'underground' version with only the first and second parts and an 'acoustic' version, complete, played only with guitar and percussion. At the end it resulted as two completely different songs because the underground version is a partial of the acoustic. Isn't interesting?

What I mean is that this song writing world is so complex and magic that sometimes you don't have a clue to where it will bring you!

:)
 
Some take days, some take weeks, and others take a couple of hours. Some I work through a verse, then nothing comes to me and the proper continuation comes a couple of weeks later.

I've found that when I'm on a deadline, I push it enough to make it happen.

Every song is different, and I still have a few unfinished that never took me anywhere.
 
I've found that if it doesn't click with you early on you should just drop it. Maybe come back to it in a few months. It's not worth stressing out about. I figure if you work on something every day just by sheer probability you'll have some good songs, and that's comforting for me.
 
I have probably 50 "ideas" on my hard drive that I've never finished. Yes, there are times when I'll hear one and something will come out of it, but just as often, I hear it and think, "What in the WORLD was I thinking, that sounds awful!" Yet, I never erase them...
 
I've found that if it doesn't click with you early on you should just drop it. Maybe come back to it in a few months. It's not worth stressing out about. I figure if you work on something every day just by sheer probability you'll have some good songs, and that's comforting for me.

A couple of people has indicated if a song doesn't start to click early - move on. That is good advice but also a very difficult discipline to learn/abhere to. Like many writers, at any given point I have a few chord progressions or melodies or snipets of lyrics floating around, so if I can't see progress with one song, I can and do often move on to something else.

However, on the other hand, part of the craft is having the skill, knowledge and disipline to turn an idea into a song (some songs deserve the chance to develop, even if it takes work).
 
I totally disagree with "If a song doesn't come together right away, scrap it". That's ridiculous if you ask me.

Go look at the history of some of the greatest songs in rock history, including many Beatles tunes. They were worked, re-worked, re-arranged, re-written, re-named, re-everything, and some of them have about 185 known recorded takes, with different arrangements, tempos, lyrics, etc.....A great example is "Sympathy for the Devil" by the Stones. Some songs just need more elbow grease.
 
I totally disagree with "If a song doesn't come together right away, scrap it".
Agree. In 30 years writing a few songs, I have learn something about this and I have two good examples. First one is about that songs that doesn't work but that instead to scrap them I just 'archive' it. It is not rare that I revisit my archive when I am running out of ideas and recycle some stuff turning it into a nice tune. I already had a couple times when I merged two or more archived pieces into an unique song. The other example happened to me last year. I had written this song in 2002 and it actually turned out OK but I never used it. Then after more than 10 years after I decided to use it but rehearing it there was something that wasn't sounding as good as before. Long story short, I rewrote half of the lyrics and remade half of the melodic theme and then it finally became what I expected for.

What is the conclusion? For me is that there is not a rule of thumb, a right technique or a proper approach. That's sure that there is a couple tricks that may help you once in a while but actually the creative process is different for every one and it is just a matter of figure out what works for you.

:)
 
I totally disagree with "If a song doesn't come together right away, scrap it". That's ridiculous if you ask me.

Go look at the history of some of the greatest songs in rock history, including many Beatles tunes. They were worked, re-worked, re-arranged, re-written, re-named, re-everything, and some of them have about 185 known recorded takes, with different arrangements, tempos, lyrics, etc.....A great example is "Sympathy for the Devil" by the Stones. Some songs just need more elbow grease.

I think there is a difference between re-writing or re-arranging a song that has some potential vs. walking away or taking a break from trying to force the creation of a song when the muse simply is not there.

I beleive at times, writers try to force the process, hoping to turn a sows ear into a silk purse. This can result if much time spent on a potentially fruitless effort and possibly a weak song. At times like that, it can be better to walk awy, give up, catalog whatever you have for a later date, etc. - and see if something else can be developed.

Over the years, I've had several molodies, chord progressions and/or lyrics, that were put aside becuase I simply could not develop them (at that time). I was able to move on, write a different song that the muse was cooperative with and/or worked on re-writes of other songs - time spnt much more effectively than trying to force a song because I could not come up with decent lyrics, etc.

I fully agree that once a song is "written" it may only be 60% complete - and then the re-writes, arrangements, etc. can turn that partial song into a complete work - that is where the dicipline and knowlege of the craft comes into play.
 
when the muse simply is not there.
I don't believe in "the muse." There are so many different ways of writing songs, ranging from the one that literally tumbles out pretty much complete to the one that comes in a dream to the one that is sparked off by something random to the one that begins with a tiny bit you like that you develop and clothe to the one that's like pulling teeth and is forced out like constipation........
The interesting thing about these and more is that none of the methods used to bring the thing to completion are a guarantee of a good song.......or a bad one.
 
I just wrote a blog post about this. Had a song that I was struggling with for weeks and ended up pulling out bits and pieces to create entirely new songs from.

Sometimes the songs write themselves… « Laura Bates Sterner

Now and then they do come out as though they're writing themselves, but that's mostly when I'm just writing for the fun of it. When I'm trying to actually write to a specific idea, like putting something into a specific genre as an exercise, then it's always much harder.

And yes, I have many bits and pieces of songs that I don't finish, but sometimes I can come back to these and pull things out that still have promise. You just never know.
 
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