So Many Song Ideas...

[The S]

…and so little time!

Where's discipline when you need it?!?!

That is by far a constant uphill battle for me. When I do get around and have time to sit down and play some, that's what I do mostly, I sit down, and just play?!! When what I should do instead is immediately push that rec button and get some great stuff done. I have the motivation, the songs, the will, but with so little time to execute my ideas into recorded songs I need a huge dose of discipline to pull it off. I don't lack discipline, it's not that, I just constantly find myself struggling to solve the equation; less time you've got, more discipline you need. I'm at that place where, if I want anything done I need to stop the random playing and record only, while at the same time a huge part of me also just needs to sit down and get it out of my system first, and after that my time's up…sigh, my catch 22 I guess.

Frustration aside, at least I'm enjoying myself while I'm battling this problem, it's not all bad. ;-)

Needed to vent that's all. Y'all have a fine Monday now. =)

/End rant

Cheers,

S

Edited September 8, 2014 by The S

[Just1L]

I too am in your boat and it is a very frustrating thing. I'll tell you how I do it. If nothing else, I've gotten songs finished. The first thing you have to do is have an idea. A lyric, a melody, a riff … anything. After you have something to start with, and since you're a guitar player I'd guess it is a guitar riff or progression, here is what I'd suggest doing.

 

1. Open up your program and find a drum loop, click track or beat to play with and get it set to the exact tempo you want. It is important to record and play with a click track/metronome/etc… It'll never sound right if you don't. Unless you plan to play and sing through it all in one take as a vocal and acoustic track.

2. Hit Record and with the loop playing, play the riff you have. Play it more than you envision it happening in your song. When a change comes, go to what comes naturally and sounds good. 

3. If you spend 30-40 minutes doing step two, you should have enough to get you going in the right direction.

4. Save it and export it to .mp3.

5. Listen to it as often as you can and eventually things will pop out, a chord progression, some lyrics, etc… I find when doing this that what pops out seems to be what my mind "naturally" wants to hear. 

 

I go back between steps 3-5 sometimes for a month or two. I will sometimes listen to a song and not be able to get back to playing or recording it for a few weeks but, if I've been listening to it enough, when that time comes to record I know what I want to do. I'll go back to that recording and add to it with a new track. Back and forth, back and forth. Eventually you will get to a point with the song that you don't need to spend as much time listening to it because you have a lot to do, but not a lot of time to do it. So when you go to record, you have something solid to work on.

 

It is a frustrating method but the only one that I can currently use. I come home excited to work on a song, day after day, sometimes for a few weeks, frustrated every day that I can't work on it. But eventually I will get to work on it and it feels great once you get some new stuff down and recorded. Long process, but it works. 

 

Yes, discipline is the key. I haven't just sat down and played guitar in a relaxing way, without recording in mind, for quite some time now. When the song is finished though it makes it worth it. Good luck.

 

Randy

[The S]

Hey Randy!

Sound advice! (Pun intended) ;-)

I just need to stop that enjoyable random playing which is like therapy for my soul. I sort of do what you suggest but I need to add an ounce of discipline to the mix before it will work as intended. I'll give this a try. Thanks buddy for responding to my rant. Appreciate it! =)

Cheers,

S

[Zed McJack]

I have a bit different situation.

I usually play guitar repeating piles of ideas I collected over the decades. I probably forgotten triple of that number so recently I started recording every new idea I got. It was at first on a phone, but then a couple of moths ago I bought cheap mic and from that time I record all ideas directly in my DAW(Mixcraft) on computer.

 

To record idea I dont need perfect conditions as my house is pretty busy and there is almost always some noise. For just ideas its ok to have background noise, but to complete the idea to full song I have to wait till everyone is asleep in the house and in neighbourhood which is around midnight. The I can work on the song and record it. Of course its not proffesional sound, but I am not professional so I recon its decent for what I can achieve.

[MikeRobinson]

Here's a practical suggestion:  "separate the two concerns!"

 

Anytime "Your Muse" wanders by, have two important tools ready:  the "Song Recorder" application on your Favorite Phone, and the "Note Pad" application on the same device.  "That idea" is a Moth, and "that technology" is a push-pin and a mounting-board.  "Grab that sucker, before it has a chance to get away, and stick it with a push-pin!!"

 

Dutifully and very-carefully backup and preserve these precious things:  recordings of "the things that you hummed," and notations of "the lyrical ideas that came to you at that moment."  Once you've captured them, then you can of course examine them at your leisure.

 

What's next?  Heh...  "That's where the work begins."

 

That "groping, feeling-your-way, uncertain" moment that you find yourself in ... i-s "The Creative Process"!!

 

No, you are not "off base."  You just don't yet realize that you are where you want to be ... and that there is much work ahead of you with no one to tell you whether you are "right" or "wrong."

 

You see ... at this point, there is no "right" or "wrong."  No one can tell you what "your song" ought to be, because there are no absolutes.  "Your song" will be finished when you decide that it is finished ...  and the market-quality of your decision depends upon your craft.  (Or, if you are not pursuing "markets" at this point, then the decision is:  Yours.)

 

Any "assessment" that you may ever read, of any creative work, is by-definition "ex post facto":  after the fact.  By that point, the creative process is already done.  The creative process, furthermore, did not stop when "some celestial voice from heaven" started making funny-noises.  No, the creative-process stopped because of a creative choice of the creator.  (Which choice was, shall we say, "a calculated risk.")

[Jim622]

I suffer from the same affliction as S. Lots of good stuff here. Good thread.

 

Thanks

 

Jim