Members cavemanic Posted August 8, 2007 Members Share Posted August 8, 2007 I have like 30-40 unfinished songs ...its a disgrace:mad: some are about 80% of the way done but I think I either have ADD of fear of the song not living up to the parts (riffs etc) how do I get over this hurdle!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members bluesway Posted August 8, 2007 Members Share Posted August 8, 2007 wow...this is one of the HC songwriting staple subjects. i know what you mean about the fear of finishing; i have that, too. (my number of 'unfinisheds' is up closer to 300 or so.) thing is, there's no 'disgrace' in not completing something because you're not happy enough with it [yet]. in fact, i think it can actually help. how many times have you written a song in one or two days, only to come back to it and be dissatisfied? for me, it happens more than alot. new ideas need testing - and also what i like to call the 'marination' period! let 'em sit. all i advise you to do is to make sure all your ideas are well-documented and safely saved and to move on to the next one. you will come back to them. some of my best tunes were the result of an 'on and off' attention span. some grew as a result of my listening to different music; some stayed the same, but had little evolutions from putting them down. bottom line: if you're not a staff-writer for a publishing house, don't sweat it. just keep creating. in time, your ideas will find a way of finishing if you persist. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Chicken Monkey Posted August 8, 2007 Members Share Posted August 8, 2007 I haven't had a problem finishing songs in a while. I think that my problem in the past was that a finished song is almost inevitably a disappointment. It's the nature of the writing process--you wouldn't be motivated to start a song without a killer line/riff/lyric, but the rest of song often has to play a "supporting role" to the centerpiece. An unfinished song has unlimited potential for greatness, but a finished song is just another song. I have a slow enough "need" for new songs at this point (my band wants fresh material/I have time to play in the studio) that I know that I'm able to write faster than I can use the songs. Knowing that there's two more songs on the burner makes it easier to toss one off. If I'm qualified to give advice, it would be to assume that your greatest songs are unwritten, and the songs that you're working on now are "dry runs". Finish a song, play it for others, put it up for review, whatever, and learn from it, so that the next time you get that killer line/riff/lyric, you'll be better able to handle it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members ido1957 Posted August 8, 2007 Members Share Posted August 8, 2007 Good advice above so take heart that you can have unfinished songs and not feel guilty. It's a tough call deciding when a song is "finished". I try to wrap up a song and though it may not be a classic, it's done and I can move on to the next one-which hopefully will be better each time. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Geno_xl Posted August 8, 2007 Members Share Posted August 8, 2007 I've noticed lately that I'm sort of the opposite on this subject. I used to worry about getting every part of the song perfect, or trying to use the parts in the correct pattern. Lately, it seems that I've gotten a little lazy. I've most recently been focussing more on the recording side as I'm trying to learn the do's and don'ts of recording. So I think some of my songs maybe needed a second or third verse-and I might have either reused parts from other verses or just shortened the song-just being lazy. One of my most recent songs I actually couldn't come up with lyrics so I just made 2 very short verses (mostly so that I could hurry up and record. When I listen to the song I can tell that they are a bit short, but I don't think it's much of a problem. In short, I think it's best to get as much done as possible and record the song (however possible). You can always go back and make changes as needed. I'm not sure if this really helps or not-but I see where you're coming from. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Geno_xl Posted August 8, 2007 Members Share Posted August 8, 2007 I just remembered. I use to have a friend you had a ton of ideas but could never complete any of them. I don't think he ever wrote 1 song by himself. We used to get together and I would basically finish his songs, just by adding 1 verse, or chorus. Typically I would just put all his pieces together for him. Anyways, you may try showing your ideas to 1 of your friends/fellow musicians, they might be able to help. Or you could always put your ideas up here. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Rudolf von Hagenwil Posted August 8, 2007 Members Share Posted August 8, 2007 how do I get over this hurdle!! I look at them as a reservoir of unfinished ideas I can go thru with artists, and see if some react on this or that, and then may finish a particular idea very quick . Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Fr0zensm0ke Posted August 8, 2007 Members Share Posted August 8, 2007 Writing music is about expression and channeling emotion. sometime you start a song with an idea or a perspective, and it changes, you go back to finish writing and say... well this isn't really what i want to write about right now. Writing lots of unfinished songs is very helpful for wordcraft and just getting ideas out there tht you can combine and play around with. If i want to finish a song, i make sure that I finish the first draft of the lyrics in a sitting ... then at least its mostly out of the way... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members blue2blue Posted August 8, 2007 Members Share Posted August 8, 2007 ... If I'm qualified to give advice, it would be to assume that your greatest songs are unwritten, and the songs that you're working on now are "dry runs". Finish a song, play it for others, put it up for review, whatever, and learn from it, so that the next time you get that killer line/riff/lyric, you'll be better able to handle it. I think this is very good advice... It can help keep things flowing. I have a pal (who's as old as me who I've known since college) who the whole time I've known him (God love him) has been complaining because he can never commit anything to paper or tape (he's got a computer but he's always resisted figuring out how to use it -- even though he went back to school a few years back to one of those loan-mill schools and took an extra BS in "computer science" (oh ho -- about all he can do is send email, I swear, but it cost him something like $40k in loans to learn that). Anyhow, the SOB can make up lyrics on the spot like nobody's business. I've got some hilarious (and a few quite touching) recordings of lyrics he's come up with in the middle of jams and just started singing... he's really a funny, clever guy -- but he's the worse self-censorer I've ever run into when it comes to actually committing to something... Don't be like him... you don't want to force your friends to follow you around with a tape recorder hoping to capture your genius. Not everything we try is successful and --by and large -- few things come out the chute 100%... it's a matter of adjusting to imperfection and realizing it's part of creative life... [Now... I've said that to my pal a thousand times in a hundred ways... and for all I know he's reading this right now, I've suggested he drop in here -- and for sure he'd be recognizing himself (I love ya, buddy!) -- but... well, maybe it'll be easier for you to get through. But I still have hopes for him, nonetheless... ] Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members DougH Posted August 9, 2007 Members Share Posted August 9, 2007 If I can't finish a song sometimes I delete it. I jsut let it go unless it really has something. Sometimes I still do though. I have lost some loop source material that could have been fun. I think maybe one solution is the online websites for collaboration. You post a unfinished track and then others add parts. But if all you have is a the verse chorus and no bridge and you want s bridge...that is another story. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members attic Posted August 9, 2007 Members Share Posted August 9, 2007 If I can't finish a song within the first two weeks, I just put it in a map and forget about it. Rarely it happens that I accidentally find something and use a part of the old, unfinished songs to go with it. All very impulsive. I think that unfinished songs are unfinished for a reason, and if you try very hard to make it a complete one, it'll suck IMO. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Tullsterx Posted August 12, 2007 Members Share Posted August 12, 2007 I think an "unfinished" song. . . is not a song. Songs are finished. "Unfinished songs" are snippets of something that might become a song one day. For me, the recording process forces the issue of finishing songs. Put something down, think "this is gonna be it" and finish it. Plus, you can post your "finished" song on here and people can give you advice on what works and what might need to be changed. Personally, none of my songs are finished until I decide to record them. I leave lots of stuff "in the air" until I hear how things are going to work out by starting the recording process and listening over and over and getting advice. Even then I have recordings of unfinished ideas that didn't turn out like I imagined. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Donkey Fly Posted August 12, 2007 Members Share Posted August 12, 2007 I'd say the best thing to do is have like 3 projects on the go. When you get stuck on one - goto the other and then after a while go back to the first one. You should have some new ideas. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members eddieboston2 Posted August 13, 2007 Members Share Posted August 13, 2007 Can any song really ever be considered "finished?" Sorry, didn't mean to get metaphysical on you there, but I have songs that I have thought were done for years at a time before realizing they needed a complete rewrite or a new verse or something along those lines. By the same token, I have hundreds of "fragments" lying around, that never quite coalesced into a complete composition, but come in handy when I need a change-of-pace bridge for another song later down the line, so I never throw them out. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members imusicscene Posted August 13, 2007 Members Share Posted August 13, 2007 Some great advice on this thread. My two cents... What is your current writing structure? Maybe you need to change things up a bit? I also feel that if I am not able to complete a song in a timely fashion, it is not a good song. I find that the better songs flow effortlessly although it could just be me. Lastly I agree with the comments "are they ever done?" I can't tell you how many times I have listened to a tune and said yeah it is done. Then listen to it again a few weeks later and hear a mistake in it or something that bothers the hell out of me. We hear it, but most listeners completely miss it. I think it was Zappa who said make the same mistake three times in a song and people will call you a genius. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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