Members A Happy Crowd Posted November 2, 2011 Members Share Posted November 2, 2011 I came up with the skeleton of a new song last week. I didn't have any lyrics yet -- just a wordless melody which I intended to go back and fill with words -- but the vocal melody was really good and I was quite excited about the song's potential. I played it a bunch of times to commit it to memory and I even played it again the next day. Then I went a full day without being able to play anything and when I picked up the guitar again the day after that, it was gone. I've spent the past few days trying to get it to come back, but instead all I have is another melody which is okay but not as good as the original. This is so frustrating! I never record anything until after I consider the song to be finished, but this is the first time I ever wished I had recorded something sooner. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moderators Lee Knight Posted November 2, 2011 Moderators Share Posted November 2, 2011 I hate when I lose data and some guy tells me to back up in the future. Yeah... that's the future and I'm hosed now! But it might be worth your while getting a little hand held, 30 dollar, digital recorder. Like you get at Best Buy or Target. Seriously, you can't trust your memory with this stuff... But beside all that^, I'm sorry to hear it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members LeonardScaper Posted November 2, 2011 Members Share Posted November 2, 2011 I keep a microphone set up at all times. I can slip in to the studio at any hour....quite often very early in the morning....and capture a song before it slips away. All of my projects have a mono track at the very top of the project that contains that very first playing of the song. Yours will most likely return to you at some point. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members stickboymusic Posted November 2, 2011 Members Share Posted November 2, 2011 Yeh make a recording of it somehow straight away! I have a little recorder thing built into my phone and it has hundreds of ideas recorded on it.... there are some where you here me fumbling then the melody starts.... usually as im driving at the same time! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members LCK Posted November 2, 2011 Members Share Posted November 2, 2011 Yours will most likely return to you at some point. That happened to me once. I spent hours and hours trying to figure out and remember a cool melodic figure for part of a song I was working on. The next day, it was gone. Phhht. Toast. Thankfully, it showed up again two days later. I immediately wrote it down. LCK Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members rhino55 Posted November 2, 2011 Members Share Posted November 2, 2011 iphone I feel your pain. I usually chalk it up to it not actually being that great, and my brain subconsciously letting it go Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members A Happy Crowd Posted November 2, 2011 Author Members Share Posted November 2, 2011 When I was really young, I read an interview with some guitarist who said he never recorded any of his ideas -- his reasoning being that if it the idea was good enough, he would remember how to play it again in the future. I must've internalized that line of thinking since that's been my approach ever since I started writing. I've always relied on mnemonic devices instead, but this time it failed. I'm still hoping it will come back to me. I think I'll leave it alone for a bit to clear my mind and then try again later on. In the meantime, I should probably figure out where my hand held tape recorder is hiding. The same night I came up with this song, I also came up with another song. I'm not in love with the second song, but of course, I can remember that one perfectly... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members LCK Posted November 2, 2011 Members Share Posted November 2, 2011 I'm still hoping it will come back to me. I think I'll leave it alone for a bit to clear my mind and then try again later on... Sometimes being in the same place that you had the song clearly in mind, at the same time of day, can help. LCK Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members bee3 Posted November 2, 2011 Members Share Posted November 2, 2011 When I was really young, I read an interview with some guitarist who said he never recorded any of his ideas -- his reasoning being that if it the idea was good enough, he would remember how to play it again in the future. I must've internalized that line of thinking since that's been my approach ever since I started writing. I've always relied on mnemonic devices instead, but this time it failed. I'm still hoping it will come back to me. I think I'll leave it alone for a bit to clear my mind and then try again later on. In the meantime, I should probably figure out where my hand held tape recorder is hiding. The same night I came up with this song, I also came up with another song. I'm not in love with the second song, but of course, I can remember that one perfectly... I think Paul McCartney said that once. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members A Happy Crowd Posted November 3, 2011 Author Members Share Posted November 3, 2011 It came back! It turns out I was playing the wrong rhythm on guitar and that was causing all the confusion. Now the song's been running through my mind repeatedly since last night. I hope I'm not sick of it by the time I finish writing the lyrics. Thanks to everyone for your suggestions. I don't think I'll forget this one again, but I'm still going to make a quick recording of it... just in case. I think Paul McCartney said that once. It seems like something he would say. It's also practical, I suppose: in the late 50s/early 60s when he started writing songs, there probably weren't many options, if any, for an amateur songwriter to record their ideas (other than writing out notation).I, however, didn't pick that up from Sir Paul. I wasn't much into the Beatles when I was 12 years old. I think that interview I read at the time was with the guitarist from White Lion. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members playlikedanko Posted November 3, 2011 Members Share Posted November 3, 2011 Glad it came back to you. There's nothing more frustrating than that. I think every songwriter on every level can relate, and it's probably what inspires most of us to be a bit compulsive about recording scratch ideas. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members honeyiscool Posted November 3, 2011 Members Share Posted November 3, 2011 If nothing else works, use voice mail. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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