Oedo 808 Posted August 12, 2011 Report Share Posted August 12, 2011 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? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stroopy121 Posted August 12, 2011 Report Share Posted August 12, 2011 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 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chris Posted August 12, 2011 Report Share Posted August 12, 2011 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. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stroopy121 Posted August 12, 2011 Report Share Posted August 12, 2011 Nothing worse than getting an amazing piece of inspiration and not being able to make it into a full song. I've got pages of scribbled notes and ideas that could be developed but nothing ever came of.xx Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Milner Posted August 12, 2011 Report Share Posted August 12, 2011 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! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lemonade Posted August 12, 2011 Report Share Posted August 12, 2011 Motivation. And a lack of spare time. It's a big struggle for me to go and sit in a room by myself with a guitar and a sheet of A4 when there's DVDs and Xbox's and pubs distracting me. In 3 years of Cobra Kai I think I only wrote about 15 songs. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shaki Posted August 12, 2011 Report Share Posted August 12, 2011 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. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Diesel Posted August 12, 2011 Report Share Posted August 12, 2011 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. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lemonade Posted August 12, 2011 Report Share Posted August 12, 2011 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! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shaki Posted August 12, 2011 Report Share Posted August 12, 2011 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 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Milner Posted August 12, 2011 Report Share Posted August 12, 2011 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. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MC Nice Andrew Posted August 12, 2011 Report Share Posted August 12, 2011 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. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MC Nice Andrew Posted August 12, 2011 Report Share Posted August 12, 2011 Does anyone have any remedies? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pierre Von Mondragon Posted August 12, 2011 Report Share Posted August 12, 2011 Turning the fucking sequencer on. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Old Gold Posted August 12, 2011 Report Share Posted August 12, 2011 I get bored writing by myself. Nothing wrong with a bunch of 2 minute songs though.My lyrics are fucking appalling too. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Soda Jerk Posted August 12, 2011 Report Share Posted August 12, 2011 Making the sounds that come out of my amp sound like the songs in my head. My brain constantly produces the greatest songs of all time, by the fucking lorry-load. I just can't get those seminal anthems from my brain to my fingers. Crud! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Old Gold Posted August 12, 2011 Report Share Posted August 12, 2011 I often feel like I skipped a big section of How to Play Guitar. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
neepheid Posted August 12, 2011 Report Share Posted August 12, 2011 Getting started - I have never written a song in my life. Wouldn't know where to begin. Too old to make young people's mistakes now without feeling incredibly stupid. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MC Nice Andrew Posted August 15, 2011 Report Share Posted August 15, 2011 Turning the fucking sequencer on.Sake. Mine was always set to 'off' Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Soda Jerk Posted August 18, 2011 Report Share Posted August 18, 2011 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. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stroopy121 Posted August 18, 2011 Report Share Posted August 18, 2011 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 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest E.C Posted August 18, 2011 Report Share Posted August 18, 2011 Im shit hot at writing 'parts' but cant for the life of me formulate a flowing 'song' from them.NOT THAT SONG STRUCTURE HAS ANY BEARING ON ART FORM. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stroopy121 Posted August 18, 2011 Report Share Posted August 18, 2011 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 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MC Nice Andrew Posted August 19, 2011 Report Share Posted August 19, 2011 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.xxMash dem songs together? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Milner Posted August 24, 2011 Report Share Posted August 24, 2011 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. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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