Am I the only one with this problem?

[Insightnsound]

Every time I try to arrange a song I end up coming up with something else, then I'll jump back and forth between the two in an endless loop. This usually happens after the basic beats have been worked out and I'm just playing around with the tune making up different parts. I'll start jamming on something else totally different than the original work and lose focus. Afterwards, it becomes really hard to choose a direction, I start to question the original piece's quality, and then I'll try to somehow work the second idea into song. This never really sounds right because they are two separate bases for a song using the same drum track.

In the past I have just trashed everything thinking that it was a waste of time messing around with something that has a perceived feeling of no direction. I don't lack ideas for songs but have the opposite problem with too many possible directions clouding the path to the end of a composition.

How does one stop from losing interest in something you’re working on? How long do other people take working out a song before calling it finished?

 

[mshilarious]

How does one stop from losing interest in something you’re working on? How long do other people take working out a song before calling it finished?

I can't reconcile those two statements . . . I have some material that is 15 years old, and I can't finish it, because I haven't lost interest. On the other hand, once I'm sick of a song, I'm done with it, flaws and all.

 

[Insightnsound]

Maybe I should just fight my way through a couple of my tunes and post them up to the mp3 forum. That way I can find out if the suckage factor is my playing or just my ears hurting from running thru a song over and over.

 

[ez_willis]

Every time I try to arrange a song I end up coming up with something else, then I'll jump back and forth between the two in an endless loop. This usually happens after the basic beats have been worked out and I'm just playing around with the tune making up different parts. I'll start jamming on something else totally different than the original work and lose focus. Afterwards, it becomes really hard to choose a direction, I start to question the original piece's quality, and then I'll try to somehow work the second idea into song. This never really sounds right because they are two separate bases for a song using the same drum track.

In the past I have just trashed everything thinking that it was a waste of time messing around with something that has a perceived feeling of no direction. I don't lack ideas for songs but have the opposite problem with too many possible directions clouding the path to the end of a composition.

I've spent a lifetime doing this. I've heard Ritalin helps but I haven't,................

wait, what were we talking about?

 

[Tifstorey]

I do the exact same thing mate. I start a tune and when im thinking of, lets say a bass line, ill think of a really good bass line which just WONT work with the song im working on at that time, so i quickly save that bassline and save it for later. Then i think the song im working on sucks so i go to the bassline and get some drums on that. At the moment i have about 6 tracks i have in Cubase unfinished, but once you have the base tracks down like i do, you can slowly work on them one at a time and you come out with 6 solid tracks.

Just keep at it mate, youll work out a regime for which you can get great tracks! Trust me, keep at it

Good luck!

 

[Dogman]

Happens all the time. I have 10 times more unfinished material, than I have "almost" finished.

Ritalin, heh?....
Ed

 

[Fetusborg]

you need a band

bandmates check you. or at least they should.

 

[Dogman]

you need a band

bandmates check you. or at least they should.

This is so true. Other input always keeps you honest.
Ed

 

[Rokket]

This is so true. Other input always keeps you honest.
Ed

I thought that's what he was doing here.

For me, I always get that way when I am forcing it. I find that if I am trying to hard, I can never focus on one thing because the ideas flood my head. Best to put it down for a bit and then come back to it. Just don't put it down too long...

 

[jfrog]

Maybe I should just fight my way through a couple of my tunes and post them up to the mp3 forum.

I think you sort of answered your own question here...fight your way through to the finish. It takes discipline, especially if you're recording at home and don't have the constraints of paying for studio time or a record company breathing down your neck demanding a release.

What I'm finding out is that I'm way more enthusiastic at the first half of the song recording process than putting it together as a finished product. Come to think of it, I'm like that on any kind of project, music or not.