Songwriting is like running water. If you stop the process and things become stagnant, it is not easy to get back in the groove of putting new ideas together. Like plumbing, we can get stopped up and blocked in our creativity. Musicians are sensitive souls, so our process is discouraged as we beat ourselves up for not being productive. I want to make an ongoing living at what I do, so I like to apply myself to what I do to stay in the game.
Here are 5 common reasons why we disengage from finishing songs and some rebuttal:
1) It wasn’t on target with what I was thinking.
What can be a very stimulating exercise is discovering that we can write outside of our little box. Go with the flow and finish something that is outside the lines of your original goal!
2) It doesn’t sound any good.
Our own perceptions of what “sounds good” are not always accurate at all. They can be based on comparing our work to someone else’s standard or our own personal prejudices. What if you finished a song that “didn’t sound like a track you would perform,” but someone else heard it and recorded it. Would that be so bad? Personal note: The day I brushed off musical prejudices of styles and genres was the day I became comfortable in my own skin and broadened my capacity to be diverse as a writer
For more songwriting and composing tips from Rob, check out this post.
“I wish I were one of those people who wrote songs quickly. But I’m not. So it takes me a great deal of time to find out what the song is”
3) It doesn’t seem useful
A good friend and mentor assured me that every idea has the potential to find a home somewhere, even the most unlikely tracks. Something that sounds quirky or weird to us may be just the unique sound that an artist or an ad agency is looking for. He remembered a track he wrote which, in his opinion, was completely unmemorable. Yet, that track has had hit after hit in TV music placements because of the “Je ne sais quoi” element.
Finish it and see what happens.
BTW, not every track you write will be a massive hit. Focusing on being a “hit” writer may become a very discouraging path. Instead, seek to affirm yourself in being excellent at what you do no matter what you create. The good ones will come if you keep the process flowing.
4) I am stuck and can’t finish this myself
Perfect! What an opportunity. One of the most significant revelations we can have in the musical community is that we cannot do everything independently. Sometimes a collaboration is just what a song needs to bring it to full life. We all have blind spots where our ideas end and someone else’s begins.
I want to challenge you to let go of your ownership of a concept and allow another writer to bring a fresh perspective to a piece. Set up agreeable cowriting shares before you get into the process so that there are no misunderstandings when publishing. Brent and I enjoy an ongoing cowriting relationship. He brings his excellence and unique expression into everything we do. The sum of our efforts far exceeds where I might try and take the track on my own.
Listen to a collaboration Rob and Brent did here
“All I can be is me – whoever that is.”
5) If I don’t finish this sub-par track, I risk not writing a better one later
Let me come back to where we started. Writing is a discipline. Finishing your ideas will help you “purge” (get a song idea out of your system) so that you can come to the table with a brand new and fresh perspective for your next song.
Also, don’t downplay the positive effect that “finishing what you started” has. It will leave you with a sense of accomplishment that energizes you to enjoy moving forward as a songwriter.
Still need some help getting your tune finished? Check out this post on the Top 10 theory tips all musicians should know
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