Why It’s Hard to Finish a Song
Music takes a long time to make. But we are always stuck in a single moment of time.
It’s like painting a picture but you have to decide the color of each pixel, in order, and you can’t go back for any do-overs. That would require the painter to have the entire picture fully formed in their head so they could “look” in their mind’s eye as they go.
The experience would be less that of a painter physically applying paint to the canvas - and more like a programmer executing a script to get a result.
For most of musical history, “composers” (songwriters/producers/arrangers/etc) have had to imagine the songs in their heads. It’s a little bit like painting one pixel at a time, except instead we compose one note at a time.
Rock bands avoid this because each musician just focuses on their own part. I deal with drums you deal with guitar etc. But that was a fluke - other than these collaborative songwriting situations, music is written “pixel” style.
And we are stuck in one moment, one pixel of time.
Recording Songs Solo
I have so many ideas kicking around - songs written, but not recorded.
Like here, I just dug out one random example - this is a piece of a song I’ve had kicking around for about 6 months if not longer (note: volume is quiet on this)
and here’s another one lol, some -00s decade math style:
There are so many songs floating around in my life… At this point, I know that I have a record’s worth of material in this style. It’s somewhere between indie rock, math rock, and with some electronic influences.
I just gotta make the music!! But the hard part is coordinating everything - learning parts, recording, production, artwork, it has all been overwhelming in the past.
I think now I am getting better at handling the process. It’s less about the fun crazy energy of making music, and more about the slow and difficult mental task of organizing the logistics of making music. Logistics might be the real key for the whole thing.
We Don’t Do It Because It Is Easy - We Do It Because It Is Hard
One part of what makes music so beautiful is specifically the fact that it is so hard. In making music, we challenge ourselves to become better people.
I know now that it’s important to stay optimistic. It’s just a matter of starting and pushing forward and basically figuring it all out as you go because there is never a clear path towards a big goal.
Making music is a worthy challenge for us all.
great post bud!
"I just gotta make the music!! But the hard part is coordinating everything - learning parts, recording, production, artwork, it has all been overwhelming in the past"
This is exactly how I feel. I have a ton of unfinished songs on pro tools on Logic in a voice recorder. For me the ones I get done are usually the ones I have less emotional attachment with. The ones that I am really invested in, are hard to finish because it sometimes is too emotional. I think that will make sense to musicians. Either way I agree, just write, get some type of scratch copy down and go from there!
Ahh very interesting so you end up with the songs that aren't as scary to finish. I understand that. When I have a really great song that I am working on I get super nervous/intimidated about my ability to finish it without messing up the track.
If you are worried about messing up the track, I would just save often and also save as like song1, next save is song 2 ect, so if you
Mess up you can go back.
I think the discipline in any creative pursuit is frustrating. The problem with having too much discipline is you tend to lose some of the intuitive magic. I was listening to a podcast recently discussing the two different types of MMA fighters. The perfectionist that have the discipline down and the cowboys that do whatever they like but come alive in the cage. The greatest possess both qualities they can handle all of the discipline but if something weird happens they also know how to adapt. I think this wisdom is applicable for all creatives.
You're right that MMA is a fascinating place to look at to see the different disciplines. There's that one MMA guy, I forget his real name but he goes by "The Cowboy" and was on Joe Rogan's show talking about how he just trains and fights and doesn't have any strategy.
It sounded cool, although he got wrecked in his next fight after that episdoe lol
Right, Donald “Cowboy” Cerrone didn’t do well against Darren Till. He could of waited out for a title shot but rushed in there with a realivily unknown guy. Similar to one of my favorite rappers from the 90’s MC Supernatural, he was an amazing freestyle rapper, but lacked the discipline to transfer that energy into actual songs. He had nothing but respect from his peers, but fell into obscurity due to lack of discipline.
Hey! This is so true, I have carried around songs for years without being able to finish them, either because I don't feel inspired or it is not "good enough". I keep waiting for "something to happen", for a magical day where I will wake up and know exactly how the song is going to end.
There are other times though, where I get this crazy moments where I can write an entire song in an hour. I don't know how this works, but it's beautiful to see it happen. I think that those moments had something to do with feeling absolutely free, with accepting the way my fingers want to move and never judge it as wrong. I feel like a child, like there is no limits and no wrong key to press anymore. It is a game, and it is not important to know how is going to end, it just will, and I am enjoying the process.
And you are right, coordinating all that involves putting a song out in the world is crazy...but the good part is that the more we do it the better we get at it, and as we get into the music world we start to build communities and make friends who can help in this process.
I love being a composer and create something from nothing. We artists get rewarded in a way that no one else does. It is those chills I get when I hear a beautiful composition, or when I am performing or composing.
All the best for you!
When you can write a song in an hour, you know it is the good stuff :-D. Me and my friends used to do a songwriting club called "One Hour Songs" where one of us would pick a theme, and then at exactly the start of the hour the theme is revealed and everybody (at their homes) writes a song on the theme in one hour and uploads it.
It's crazy!!
Sounds like The Openmic Songwriters Challenge without the one hour limitation :D...
Indeed making music is hard, especially as a solo artist. Songs come about in different ways to me. Sometimes I'm improvising on the guitar and hit a tune that I feel I could expand on and go from there. Sometimes I just suddenly come up with a tune in my head. Sometimes lyrics pop into my head first and have to come up with the tune later. Any way that I write a song it all ends up in my head. Then I am faced with the daunting task of learning it. Sometimes I succeed in matching the vision in my head, other times I stray from the original vision completely. Either way a song is born out of it. Then comes the task of recording and editing, in which, often new ideas are born. All this combined makes it hard to ever consider a song complete. It seems there is always something to add, take away or rearrange.
Hmmm a lot of people think like you do that a song is never really done. I can't agree with it... for me it is a great relief to finish a song. Otherwise I would be considering new options for it forever
Interesting article and some excellent additions to your point in the comments. There wouldn't be a million "how to get inspired" articles out there if it wasn't a common problem, right. I dunno, for me writing for the bin, writing "sketches", doing jams is all a less intimidating way of doing something music related. But then if you take it too easy like that, I dont end up having much finished stuff, because I am just cool with doing a sketch and not taking an idea further. But from other point of view, maybe that in itself is ok, just tons and tons of sketches, still practicing your hand, right, and whenever you feel "inspired" or discipline yourself to finish a track, at least you got more practice compared to if you would just always do nothing at all because you're not ready to work on something. So yea its definitely a balance that is hard to achieve :)
Do you ever regret not finishing a song? Sometimes my songs stay in my head for years and I keep thinking how I would finish them, but I don't, and then they linger in my brain too much and it makes me crazy.
I save those aforementioned "sketches" all the time, but I have never returned to work on them, to me the ideas themselves sometimes are short lived. But most definitely I have several saved ideas that I think I would love to extend on, but never get to. Hope that makes some sense :)
I did compose one on a guitar and recorded it on a basic phone that has recorder and then sent it through email. Unfortunately, that was long ago and both my email and the recipient's email no longer exist, and the phone as well. That was my first and last composition.
lol. Oh well. Maybe it sounds better in your memory than it would in real life anyway :-P
lol. maybe you're right :D
Success is not final. Failure is not fatal. It is the courage to continue that counts..
Very true.
Really interesting piece man! I think all of us have experienced your struggle. It is very relatable. Similar to my latest blockchain where I highlight another struggle of many musicians, making a good living. Be sure to check out [my post](be sure to check out my post on how musicians can start making money today through blockchain!) on how musicians can start making a lot of money today through blockchain! Good luck man!