Obsessing over song writting....

[Nick]

So i write a lot of the stuff for my band which you can hear in my sig (room recordings only till our drummer gets his recording studio up and running in a new building in a month or so)

we have 6 songs now which ive probably muisc wise contributed about 80% of the material.

Im working on our 7th song and having some issues getting anything i think sounds good. im coming up with loads of riffs but really not anything i think is of the same standard as our other songs.

problem is i cant actually stop thinking about it!

AHHHHH!!!!!!!

 

[loktide]

you need to take a break. distract yourself. inspiration mostly comes when less expected.

 

[Nick]

yeah thats the funny thing i KNOW i need to take a break but even when i do im constantly thinking about it.

Maybe i need to buy Farcry 2 today or something haha.

I've gotten to the banging my head against a wall stage!

 

[loktide]

Maybe i need to buy Farcry 2 today or something haha.

i wish i had a decent PC to play that

 

[Nick]

xbox is the way forward

also just noticed i put a double T in writing in the thread title ai kant spel.

 

[Ze Kink]

Shit, I know what that feels like, I'm the only guy who writes songs in one of my bands, and last year we booked our first gig before we had any songs finished, because our other guitarist was going to the army. I had to write all the songs in a hurry and they didn't feel up to par with anything, and they were too different too. It bothered the hell out of me, but the gig luckily went fine.

I've written only two songs after that, I guess it burned me out pretty bad. And the gig was almost exactly a year ago. Our drummer is in the army now though, so we haven't practiced since summer, and our bassist is going in a week.

 

[poopyalligator]

most of my best stuff comes out when im just messing around and noodling.

 

[Demeyes]

I'd love to really get better at songwriting. I find it hard to put a string of things together on my own without people to bounce ideas off and to jam with. I could do it in software but I find it takes too long and it kills off the spur of the moment magic.
I thing I might start making music in a more bare style first and then making it more metal when adding drums and other instruments.

 

[grosslyobscure]

You have the curse of a musician. Embrace it man. I can hardly sleep after i work on a song i'm thinking about it so much. Hahaha. The best advice i can give you, when you can't stop thinkin' about it, but kinda run out of good ideas, just switch to working on the quality of your mix. That way, your productive and get the shit done that's not fun, so that way you don't have to wast the time that you're inspired workin on the mix.

 

[TimSE]

i do that alot
i just write the song as i feel it should be and decide after its done if i wanna use it or not
iv ditched about 5 out of 14 songs iv written in teh last few years or so

good thing about that is u have riffs from thoes unused songs that u can using in better newer songs when they come along

 

[DaveCarter]

Agreeing with Loktide, the best stuff Ive written has come from just randomly sitting down with a guitar playing random chordage/scales and some riffage just came to me straight away

 

[Nick]

Funnily enough i got farcry 2 and played it for 30 mins then picked up my guitar on sunday and pretty much just clicked with the exact song i was trying to write!

moral - computer games are good for songwriting....

i do that alot
i just write the song as i feel it should be and decide after its done if i wanna use it or not
iv ditched about 5 out of 14 songs iv written in teh last few years or so

good thing about that is u have riffs from thoes unused songs that u can using in better newer songs when they come along

ive ditched about 3 in the last month haha

 

[TonalArchitect]

Computer games are good for songwriting

They can be another source of inspirtation just like films, other music, literature, poetry, or walking in nature (like Beethoven did).

 

[ILdÐÆMcº³]

LOL, I'm having the same problem. I'm actually dreaming about our songs on a nightly basis.

 

[Anthony]

Yeah, seriously, just play some video games.

I came up with so many riffs the past week, just from playing Fallout 3.

 

[MFB]

I just ended up writing about another 45 seconds of a song by messing around with tremolo picking/octave harmonies (ala Amon Amarth style)

Best stuff does come from nothing I guess

 

[_detox]

Glad I'm not alone here. This thread made me feel a hell of a lot better.

I write most of the tunes in my band as well, and I always get pretty pissed because I've been stuck with chord progressions that I think are way too similar and it trips me up.

And funnily enough I've been talking to myself about finally getting an Xbox 360 to take my mind off of trying to write. We musicians think VERY similar.

 

[Leec]

iv ditched about 5 out of 14 songs iv written in teh last few years or so

good thing about that is u have riffs from thoes unused songs that u can using in better newer songs when they come along

That's very true, I have finished songs that will never be used by my band, but I cherry-pick from them when I'm stuck.

Nick, are you writing for every instrument, too? In my band, the only thing I don't write are the vocals, even though I've even branched into that, too. But I write all the drums, nearly all bass, and most of the keys. I give whole songs to the band. It takes me a very long time to finish songs recently.
The only advice I can think of is this; before I was writing the kind of songs I wanted to write, I was writing songs that, although bore some resemblance to what I wanted to do, the bassist wanted written. I mean, this went as far as working out an arrangement of a Backstreet Boys cover that we played live and recorded
I found when I had to write to a brief, with the challenge of doing something more inline with another band member's ideals than my own, that I was more prolific. I'd stick in bits that kept my interest, too, but I'd limit those.

Sorry for the lengthy post. Reading your post got me thinking about my own recent slowdown, and the above has only just occurred to me. I'm forced to admit I was more prolific then. A little depressing, frankly.

 

[RICHARDHORSE]

The same thing has happened to me in every band I have been in. I call it the 5 or 6 song plateau! I usually book a show at this stage of the game. Chances are 5 or 6 songs is about 20 mins to a half hour. Usually you dont get much more of a time slot than that anyway for a debut show that you are probably opening for a bigger band.
I use the audience reaction for further inspiration. It adds some motivation to see your hard work begin to pay off a little!

 

[eegor]

The main problem I have with writing is that I have a really hard time translating thoughts to the guitar and turning my ideas into reality. I've gotten better at it, but, as a beginning songwriter (relatively), most of my stuff comes from messing around and mindless riffing.