[jaywar76]

I've been Songwriting Since 2004,I've been learn a lot of stuff myself,through books,Studying and listening to artist and some of the stuff they done.

But i have a lot of Parts,Bits and unfinished songs,some with lyrics only,some melody's,some with half chords or 2 to 3 verse no Chords or Bridge.
I don't Know if sometime,its stop from moving on.I mean,My songwriting got a lot better,
But i feel like something holding me back.

In Dec 2014,I have so many pieces of paper with lyrics,and chords progression,I have about three or Four Folder of stuff.I Lost my mind a bit,and decide to burn most of it,Because i fell more under pressure for some reason.I Took a break from it all,and in march 2015,i start writing again.
Between March to April 2015,i started to write a lot of lyrics,because of the job i was doing was driving a lot,i had a lot time to write.

To Speed things up,i don't know i should go back and work on stuff or try work a time each day to working on some of them.

Since 3rd August 2016,I've wrote two songs in collaboration with other people,and i've wrote a song 3 or 4 days ago myself.Ive been laying the song out and completing.

If you got any advice would be good.

[Boydie]

My advice would be to try to attempt to complete the "half finished songs"

They don't have to be brilliant but just get them WRITTEN

Then you will at least clear them from your mind and will have something complete that can always get re-written

A great mantra for many songwriters is: Great songs are not written, they are re-written

I think this applies in your case - get the songs finished, even if they end up a bit crappy in your opinion at the very least you will have something you can review, get feedback on here and most importantly of all IMPROVE your songwriting for your next song

You can still borrow bits and pieces from these songs for future songs but having them finished will help you build a catalogue of completed songs

[Helena4]

I feel ya, definitely. I think I'm just gonna have to start locking myself away on Sundays or something and try and wrap my head around a song each week and get through the madness.

[jaywar76]

thanks you both,
i have thought about setting a day each week to do some,
but i do like Boydie idea,might spend a couple day,doing as much as i can.

thanks again

[Viva La Stereo]

I have a similar problem to you, though mine aren't organised in the slightest. Just strewn about the place like the notes of a madman.

What I like to do though is sometimes skim through them all, I'll find something I like, I'll jot that down, mix and match. I'll form a new song out of the old discarded songs, as it were. A bit like the Burroughs cut-up technique, but just done over a longer time period.

I certainly understand your frustration though.

[Helena4]

I have a similar problem to you, though mine aren't organised in the slightest. Just strewn about the place like the notes of a madman.

What I like to do though is sometimes skim through them all, I'll find something I like, I'll jot that down, mix and match. I'll form a new song out of the old discarded songs, as it were. A bit like the Burroughs cut-up technique, but just done over a longer time period.

I certainly understand your frustration though.

Yep, I've definitely done that a few times.

[PopTodd]

You can always take a bunch of those half-finished songs, and mash them all together into a McCartney-esque "suite."
Just sayin'.

[ScottLevi]

You can always take a bunch of those half-finished songs, and mash them all together into a McCartney-esque "suite."
Just sayin'.

Sounds a little silly but I've done previously what PopTodd said and created a truly horrible, disjointed and unintelligible song by simply smashing together any incomplete lyrics. This didn't give me any satisfaction or pride for the lyrics, but it did help me close off that chapter and start fresh - which was what I was looking for at the time.

Otherwise yeah, I'd suggest looking through them and trying to prioritise, and make sure the ones you'd like to complete the most are visible. I wouldn't go finishing them for the sake of it but as long as they're readily available and in the back of your mind it'll be easier for inspiration to hit on the relevant topics.

[diademgrove]

I think this one is horses for courses. I usually just abandon my unfinished work. I occasionally go back to look at it. Usually the reason I abandoned it was it wasn't very good. If I find a line I like I'll put it in my phrase note book for future use on something else.

Before burning your old ideas I'd go through them and see if there's anything there that gets the juices flowing again.

Hope this helps,

Keith

[hardtwistmusic]

I am never "finished with" a song.  And I have a lot of songs that are "finished enough" to leave alone until some better ideas come along.  All told, probably 800 songs.  .  .  of which at least 500 are waiting to be improved before submitting them for anyone's perusal. 

I throw NOTHING away.  I've taken a twenty year old lyrical snippet and very effectively used it in another lyric.  I have lists, and catalogues, but interestingly enough, I seldom use them.  When I need a snippet to improve a lyric, the one I wan't will almost always be a hook that I can remember. 

Songs are another matter.  I'll find song lyrics on the hard drive that I have no recollection of.  Most of them aren't good.  But some have an element in them that is worth re-writing the lyric around.  I have been consciously avoiding writing new stuff for at least the last eight months.  Trying to force myself to go back and get more "nearly finished" songs. 

BTW.... if you have writer's block. . . the sure fire way to get around it is to decide that (no matter what) you will NOT write something new.  Suddenly, the new ideas are knocking down the door.