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Biggest Sticking Point


Oedo 808

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Hey, was just wondering what everyone's biggest sticking point was when it came to writing new songs?

For me it's motivating myself sometimes. I'd like to always be writing, but I have so much material already it's easy to fall back on the stuff I already have.

What thing do you find toughest when writing?

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Hey, was just wondering what everyone's biggest sticking point was when it came to writing new songs?

For me it's motivating myself sometimes. I'd like to always be writing, but I have so much material already it's easy to fall back on the stuff I already have.

What thing do you find toughest when writing?

Mine is probably keeping the ball rolling at the end of the process, the 80-20 rule.

When inspiration strikes I'll churn out a tonne of lyrics and riff ideas but then at the end of it I have a massive pile of bits and am basically left with Quality Control to make sure that it all goes together, that's when I tend to drift away and leave it almost finished for a while.

That or just plain old blank page syndrome - wanting to write but either not having that inspiration or knowing exactly what you want to write about but being completely incapable of putting any coherent thoughts on paper.

So yeah, getting started and getting finished, the bit in the middle is easy!

xx

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I always find it hard to finish a song. I've got loads of scraps of lyrics lying around in notebooks and online repositories like google docs and evernote. Half a verse here a verse and a chorus there. They never get padded out into a full song.

It's like I think of the initial idea but I just can't expand on it. Or I get bored and go do something else instead.

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my biggest sticking point is im a drummer, writing songs its a pain when can barely play guitar and dont have access to a piano!

x 2!

I know rudimentary guitar but any sort of chord progression I come up with I cannot come up with a vocal melody that is different to the chords!

So really, this thread wasn't for me because the basic answer is - I can't write songs.

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Writimg down ideas when they come to me.

I've lost count of the times I've come with a good idea (well, good to me!) and not bothered to chronicle it.

More laziness than sticking point.

I had a whole bunch of lyrics in the notepad of my phone until recently, entire songs, and I didn't have them backed up anywhere. Dropped my phone down a German toilet while hammered a few weeks ago and that was that fucked. Sickener!

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Writimg down ideas when they come to me.

I've lost count of the times I've come with a good idea (well, good to me!) and not bothered to chronicle it.

More laziness than sticking point.

Sometimes in the middle of the night, I think of something that's funny, then I go get a pen and I write it down. Or if the pen's too far away, I have to convince myself that what I thought of ain't funny

- Mitch Hedberg

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x 2!

I know rudimentary guitar but any sort of chord progression I come up with I cannot come up with a vocal melody that is different to the chords!

So really, this thread wasn't for me because the basic answer is - I can't write songs.

I did manage to write one song for Stayover years ago, but it did involve me writing what i thought was a great song, letting Bob hear it, then him making it into an actual song!

Us drummers, if only we were all like Dave Grohl.

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Using the excuse that 'ill do it later'.

In echo of most of the posts, I have trouble finishing things or ill never be completely satisfied and move onto something else. I'll work on some automation (for example) for an idea that's in my head, have a great time making exactly like it is in my head, then getting frustrated when it doesn't work, abandoning it and starting something else. I perform the mental gymnastics of one day, when i have weeks of nothing to do, finally finishing everything off and having all this glorious material to show as a summation of my abilities of a musician and progressing to a higher level of artistic and creative ability once that has all been done.

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My real downfall is being able to piece together a catchy verse and chorus, but can't think of how to change it up for a bridge/middle eight/whatever. Or I get so many bits that I end up piecing together a mishmash of parts that have no flow. I have absolutely no moderation.

I hear dat.

Number of times I've had a really simple verse/chorus type song and thought "Hmm.. it's hooky but needs a little more to keep it interesting..." then I end up shoehorning in a stupid bridge section which ruins the flow, I then decide the song is shit and scrap it.

xx

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I've also just hit a fucker of a snag in two songs at once.

I sat down with pen and paper and hammered out an amazing verse and 3/4 of a chorus which I just couldn't find a good ending line for, I then shifted my attention to another song and wrote two verses which I love, but can't fit a chorus to.

I've stopped and stepped back from both and now I can't pick either one up where I left off.

Fuck.

xx

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I've also just hit a fucker of a snag in two songs at once.

I sat down with pen and paper and hammered out an amazing verse and 3/4 of a chorus which I just couldn't find a good ending line for, I then shifted my attention to another song and wrote two verses which I love, but can't fit a chorus to.

I've stopped and stepped back from both and now I can't pick either one up where I left off.

Fuck.

xx

Mash dem songs together?

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i am actually quite good at putting the parts of songs together. In Kenetic our writer/singer only used to write tiny parts of songs, like a verse or a chorus, and then take them to practice, i used to be quite good at putting these together into a song which we could play the whole way through and then start working on it properly.

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