Why do I have trouble finishing my songs?

[PurpleSunray]

Yeah I use Bitwig, but not it's clip view haha. Im a arranger view guy, it feels like clip view slows me down. But maybe it's worth a shot to try it again and see what happens.
..
Also im trying to keep my favourite synth's, samples and other stuff in a click away for easy producing.

Clip view is perfect for that, try it again.
I was an arranger view guy too (I use Ableton) until I found out huch much easier it is on clip mode to keep & try your favourite stuff.
On arranger it is always a heck lot of click&drop until someting plays. I need to load new synth, new midi, arrange it, do some animations, change loop ....
On clip view I simply load decks of my favorite clips, that include midi, synth, fx, and modulations. Let's see if it works, if not, load next. If it works, let's change a little and record a new clip (your deck grows from day to day).
Clip view is soo much easier for jamming once you are used to

[bearstakemanhattan]

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I work in EDM and I can totally relate to how hard it sometimes is to progress an idea. Someone else in this thread mentioned that humans are creatures of habit. Well, that applies to not finishing music as well as finishing. I disagree with those who say that musical ideas should always form organically or "write themselves." Not everything you make is going to follow that best-case scenario, so it's important to develop a habit of finishing things regardless. Let me provide a trick that I've found helpful for when I'm totally stuck in "Loopville:"

Take an audio file of one of your favorite songs in the genre you want to make and load it into your DAW. Find the tempo of the song and set your DAW’s tempo to match it. Now, find all of the different sections of the song and mark the bar on which they start in your DAW. Apart from the usual suspects—verse, chorus, bridge, intro, outro, you get the point—you could also get more specific. Where do certain elements come in and drop out? Where does the beat change? I might mark those things down, too. Now, use those markers that you made and make a song that follows them exactly. It sounds pretty crazy, but I promise that by the time you finish you’ll have a song that sounds entirely unique.

The lesson to be learned is that restrictions breed creativity. I read an online article a while back that gave me some good perspective on arrangement in EDM. I'll share it with you here (https://hyperbitsmusic.com/the-art-of-arranging-a-song/). Hope I could help!

[TomTom79]

If you need more informations about voicing, or how a song is built (chords, bassline, rhythm keys, verse, chorus...) there are hundreds of midi files in the web, of more or less famous songs - completely separated into tracks. Import a song into your DAW & you can see, what which instrument does.

[excuse me please]

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=NwTPqJKoFW8

[Stamped Records]

1. Create a complimentary section (as in a verse/chorus type situation). If you can write a second chord progression in the same key, you're on the move again.
2. Arrange by reusing what you have,
got chords? add another synth and swap the patch along your arrangement, maybe find an arp. If
you're lucky, your new patch will go well as a layer for your other original chords and you can get
more distance in your arrangement than you bargained for (patch 1 solo, patch 2 solo, patch 1+2). If
you work at a tempo of 120 bpm and play each of these sections for 8 bars each, that's 45 seconds out
of a 15 second idea.
3. Try your bass up high, try your melody down low, try a synth stab using your percussion rhythm etc.
4. Don't be lazy, experiment!

[DJ Warmonger]

Well, as I do keep finishing tracks I already started, here are some tips:

- Start with a general idea of what you want to achieve. The more details, the better chance you will get somewhere
- Write down TODO list, that is each and every element you need to have a complete track. Then, keep working down the list.
- Generate lots of content - melodies, layers, FX, drum patterns.
- However, don't stick too close to what you already have. Some ideas just don't work, or some material just needs to be scrapped.
- If you're stuck, or get tired - take a break. You can work on another track in the meantime. If something is too difficult right now, leave project for now and practice or look for inspiration.