Getting better at making music, but I can't make songs.

[Arsov]

Yes, you are probably right. The Sequencer is only the tool. .. but it seems that Logic have everything you need included in one single package. When you got Cubase or Samp, you need quite a lot of third party things to make it happened.

Back to the topic:

I don't believe to much in inspiration. Sometimes you have it, sometimes not, but one thing is for sure - You can't wait till inspiration will come. Writing a song is a skill, same as a learning to play an instrument.
At my opinion the most important part is a structure . ( to getting the whole picture ) Making a three minute long emty space in seq and filling it with markers is a pretty good start. Out of inspiration? If you try to make instrumental song, than listen your favorite instrumental and for the start make similar structure. Same for the vocal. Choose a rhythm, type it or find some good loop, make some background progression, nothing fancy -a riff or two basic chords and start improvising around that. If you end up with endless number of loops, than spread everything through the whole song and became a DJ. Muting one part here and other part there will make some sort of a song alike structure. Latter you can rerecord some part or add more harmonies.

Regarding the song structure - It is good to start with less instruments, building a tension till second chorus. After that you need one quit middle 8 part followed with some simple third verse to make a difference when times come for the grand finale with double chorus where Russian military choir singing along with Vienna philharmonic playing in a background. That's all - It is always good to know the rule before you decide to break it.

IMHO - don't do the covers, coz I'm sure it will take you the same amount of time as you need it for making your own song. 60% of pop songs use almost the same few chord progressions anyway, so if you are really desperate, use some common chord progression from a song you already know making your own with same progression but with different melody, different rhythm.. maybe you will not like it when you'll finish it ( I really hate if I find that my song sounds like some other song ) but at least you'll make your first song.

As two fellows said in a Mupped Show when passenger ask them:" Sorry, how can I get to the Philharmony?" " With a practice man, with a practice"

[MOK19]

Thank you all for your help. I seem to be making progress. What I've been doing the past few days is a combination of a number of these suggestions.

Most prominently was the 2 hour song idea; This is a great method because of the frame of mind it puts you in to start. When I tried this out a few times, I became a little less attached to the 'quality anxiety' that I've always had, that constant need to prove to myself that I do good work. It's kinda funny how that worked - focusing on quality eventually stunted my work's quality, and forgetting about it has so far served to push me towards the next level.

Another reason why the 2 hour song idea is good is that forces you to focus on arrangement more, and sooner. I often start with drums, so instead of finely crafting my own drums, i find a cheap premade .wav loop and move on to a synth hooks and bass progressions. I can do drums later. And even then, you can't focus on finely tweaking your synth sounds. Gotta keep moving. Arrange it, don't perfect it. Thus this technique helped tremendously.

However it wasn't the cure-all. My mind still goes fairly blank when I try to think about what to do next, and arrangement. So I cheated! I loaded up a song I liked into a Cubase audio track, busted out the Marker Track, and proceeded to catalog all the song phases and changes with those handy 'lil hash marks. Mute the song, look at what I've got, and place it in the appropriate spot. Blamo, I now have some idea of context! Down the road I can change the song structure as I see fit, but that's a bridge I haven't crossed yet. Strange how I couldn't seem to imagine my context without the visual guide.....
My hope is that in time, I will have become used to the process and won't need these training wheels.

Besides the 2 hour song exercise, I also did a bit of nearly the opposite: Quick loop practice. I made a handful of quick 8-16 bar diddies, kept the sounds cheesy, didn't worry about them going anywhere, and instead focused on making them as catchy as possible. Besides making them catchy, the main idea was to do it quickly, save it, close the project, and start a new one in an entirely different style. I figure it served to help flex my imagination.

I also did my best to try to avoid allowing my music to play over and over. Even though it sounds cool and I want to listen to it, I know that the more I hear something, the less I can imagine it as something else. So that's something I'm trying to work on, to avoid repeatedly listening to things.

Another tactic was to spend more time on midi controller, and less time at the mouse. Thus I experimented @ the keys more often, playing this and that, which puts me in a position to have more happy accidents. Now, I get plenty of happy accidents clickin' away at the piano roll, but that's usually a totally different style of result. Both have their uses.

Also I tried keepin my eye out for break-points - Like when I've made a good 8 bar pattern and want to automatically head over to automating it or mixing it or whatever. Instead, I walk away and go do something that'll allow me to think. My favorite place to think is in the shower, so I took a bunch of showers over the past couple days. =op
By the time I get back to the computer, half the time I had something pretty cool to follow up with, or add, or at least some kind of extra idea or perspective. And I figure it served to keep me relaxed.

Finally, I tried to keep in mind as often as possible to change things as soon as possible. Even after devising a cool bassline or lead, I'm attempting to immediately start making completely non-related lines (But in the same key). Keep all versions, try not to lose one version by subtly fiddling with it. I don't have to use em all, not even in different song phases, but I can possibly use some in little places, like short 1 bar breaks, or other little mini sections for added twists.

The nice thing about these last few days is that none of this has ANYTHING to do with so-called inspiration, or talent. It's about perspective, method, flexibility, and trial & error. I say the final bit as a positive thing: It means that there's no such thing as 'not cut out for this.'

Thank you guys, you did it. I got that nudge I needed. KVR fuckin rules.

[JohnDX]

I just want to say that I really like this thread. I have a somewhat similar problem as the creator of the thread (who describes the problem very eloquently), though I still have a long way to go before mastering the technical side of things (got my first DAW barely two months ago, and before that knew absolutely nothing about DAWs, VSTs or synthesizers or mixing or anything, but I like technical stuff so it's a mostly enjoyable ride learning about it all) so I'm still in the position where I can easily tell myself I just need to learn the tools more before knowing how to actually create songs.

Still, I feel I should start dabble a little with songwriting.

[MOK19]

We're definitely similar then.
But what you're thinkin there looks to me like the trap I fell into. From the start, I figured if I KNEW enough, like how to do such and such techniques, or to be fast with my tools, I'd be setting myself up for success with this hobby. It's only partly true. You still have to practice the musical end of it in the meantime, despite your technical level of knowledge.

I do hope you start with songwriting soon! Perhaps it will even serve to propel your knowledge on the more technical side. True, it probably wont sound hot, maybe it'll be embarrassing, but you'll be accomplishing more in the long run.

[JohnDX]

That's what I'm thinking too, except now that I'm starting to get into songwriting I feel like studying the theory of THAT (and compiling a list of principles pertaining to songwriting) before actually trying to write anything.

Maybe I'm possessed by a songwriting-hating demon or something, pulling tricks on me to get me to delay the actual songwriting.