Every time I have a great idea, I end up with a breakdown or a drop that was in my mind. Then I leave it a day to see if it really is worth finishing, but then the moment I want to continue, my mind drops blank in finishing the song. It is driving me nuts. Anybody got some tips? I really want to finish songs that I like and the way I want it to.

Don't force it, enjoy the journey and have fun.

Yes I really enjoy making it, but sometimes it is really frustrating because I have/had so many unfinished projects, that I wished that everything I start, I also finish.

Wise old Chinese proverb: "Don't start composing vertically until you've finished composing horizontally"

el-bo (formerly ebow) wrote:Wise old Chinese proverb: "Don't start composing vertically until you've finished composing horizontally"

I had the this problem for years.

It's like building a house.

What really helped me: I decide as the first step what structure the whole song/track should have.

By analyzing "popular" existing songs/tracks I got better at it. So I don't fall into the trap trying to reinvent the wheel.

So you start out with putting markers on the grid? For example intro: bar 1 till 17 , chorus, bar 17 till 33, etc etc ?

Kelvin92 wrote:So you start out with putting markers on the grid? For example intro: bar 1 till 17 , chorus, bar 17 till 33, etc etc ?

Personally, that's the last thing I'd do. I don't want to put any boundaries on where my music will go. Of course, if you have the intention of composing in a style or genre that has an expected, strict conformity in arrangement, then it might serve you.

The idea of not getting stuck vertically, is to avoid spending hours stacking and layering your loops. Stacking vertically gives the feeling of making progress (a procrastination, of sorts), when, more often than not, you spend so long burning that loop into your brain that it becomes almost impossible to conceive where it could go next.

For me, I try to strip the composing down to one simple, yet flexible, sound. This would normally be a piano sound, or something similar. That way, if the piece sounds interesting with just a piano, it will likely do well once the rest of the arrangement is built.

Of course, you can start with any instrument you like. Just keep in mind the forward progression.

Etienne1973 wrote:

el-bo (formerly ebow) wrote:Wise old Chinese proverb: "Don't start composing vertically until you've finished composing horizontally"

I had the this problem for years.

It's like building a house.

What really helped me: I decide as the first step what structure the whole song/track should have.

By analyzing "popular" existing songs/tracks I got better at it. So I don't fall into the trap trying to reinvent the wheel.

Yup! Like building a house.

As for not reinventing the wheel. Sometimes wheels need to be reinvented, lest they become stale. Not sure which metaphors are being mixed, there

Kelvin92 wrote:So you start out with putting markers on the grid? For example intro: bar 1 till 17 , chorus, bar 17 till 33, etc etc ?

Exactly. For the whole song/track first structure.

Again: I don't try reinvent the weel. For structure I copy existing songs/tracks.

Then next I compose mostly a lead melody for chorus(es) with only basic rhythm groove section (drums and simple bass).

el-bo (formerly ebow) wrote:As for not reinventing the wheel. Sometimes wheels need to be reinvented, lest they become stale. Not sure which metaphors are being mixed, there

Sure. It's just harder to do for me personally.

el-bo (formerly ebow) wrote:

Kelvin92 wrote:So you start out with putting markers on the grid? For example intro: bar 1 till 17 , chorus, bar 17 till 33, etc etc ?

Personally, that's the last thing I'd do. I don't want to put any boundaries on where my music will go. Of course, if you have the intention of composing in a style or genre that has an expected, strict conformity in arrangement, then it might serve you.

The idea of not getting stuck vertically, is to avoid spending hours stacking and layering your loops. Stacking vertically gives the feeling of making progress (a procrastination, of sorts), when, more often than not, you spend so long burning that loop into your brain that it becomes almost impossible to conceive where it could go next.

For me, I try to strip the composing down to one simple, yet flexible, sound. This would normally be a piano sound, or something similar. That way, if the piece sounds interesting with just a piano, it will likely do well once the rest of the arrangement is built.

Of course, you can start with any instrument you like. Just keep in mind the forward progression.

That is something I mostly do, finding a nice melody/chord progression and then I try to layer it with some sounds to make it thick.

Will try making it with one instrument in the beginning, and then the layering stuff.

Etienne1973 wrote:

Kelvin92 wrote:So you start out with putting markers on the grid? For example intro: bar 1 till 17 , chorus, bar 17 till 33, etc etc ?

Exactly. For the whole song/track first structure.

Again: I don't try reinvent the weel. For structure I copy existing songs/tracks.

Then next I compose mostly a lead melody for chorus(es) with only basic rhythm groove section (drums and simple bass).

Will try that also, I tried that before sometimes, but it didn't worked out and fell in old habits. But will try it again.

Having a release schedule helps me get focused on finishing tracks. Without one, why would you bother? (other than for fun). Book some gigs ... then you have to finish some tunes.

Another option ... don't start a new tune until you finish the last one.

Kelvin92 wrote:Every time I have a great idea, I end up with a breakdown or a drop that was in my mind. Then I leave it a day to see if it really is worth finishing, but then the moment I want to continue, my mind drops blank in finishing the song. It is driving me nuts. Anybody got some tips? I really want to finish songs that I like and the way I want it to.

do you get ideas for other tracks while not finishing the first one?
if so, go with it. get each idea down, at some point you will move past it. when you start having less fresh ideas (ie new starting points) and ideas will start coming for the parts you already have as you learn more.

if all else fails, add all your parts in to a sampler and mash it up in to one track.

thecontrolcentre wrote:Having a release schedule helps me get focused on finishing tracks.

i need a manager
one who pushes me, im too laidback and people around me have given up trying to push me to do anything

but, how do you get a manager, when youre offering 10/15% of nowt