Cannot finish a tune

[deastman]

I think you know when you have a really good track on your hands because it seems to finish itself if you know what I mean... You don't need to think too much about arrangement etc, just sit down and it all falls nicely into place.

Tunes that seem impossible to finish are usually just not meant to be, what I often do in that situation is steal all the good bits and start again, otherwise you get so frustrated...


6.

My experience is exactly the opposite. I have several tunes which I know are so fantastic that I'm afraid to rush them. I have one which I wrote the words and chords to almost 20 years ago, and I have yet to fully produce it for fear of screwing it up. I have another one I've been working on off and on for 3 years now... its turning out great, but I'm not going to rush it!

On the other hand, the songs which I crank out quickly and effortlessly are generally worthless. Hence the quote in my signature!

[munchkin]

I think it's worth finishing a song even if you're not completely happy with it. It's about getting practise with creating song structure. There's nothing wrong with having a collection of ideas to refer to when creating but if it results in only unfinished songs then that's not useful for learning song structure.

I disagree with the notion that better songs have taken longer. I think it depends on the musician's involved, the level of inspiration and the environment where the songs are created. Try collaborating in a studio where time = money and the other musicians are feverishly contributing ideas that move the project along. Some great music has been created this way. One example is Motown - set 'em up and churn 'em out - that was their philosophy. There are many examples of teams of songs writers churning out exquisite melodies for cash in record time.

Having said that, there are some great songs that have taken years to form fully. There is no one answer I think. Just what suits each musician at the time.

I definitely believe in cultivating the discipline to finish a song, even if it isn't perfect. I'm sure Lennon & McCartney dropped loads of tunes before they came up with their classics. But if they had left the verse of some of their best works without a chorus then we wouldn't be able to enjoy them today. They also wrote some shite tunes and recorded those so it's not worth being precious about it IMO. Just bang 'em out, mate! You can always redo them at a later stage. Nothing's set in stone.