Incomplete Songs

If I try to come up with some musical ideas that aren't inspired by the drum track, I keep it very simple. I just create a simple hi-hat pattern and play/improvise to that. When I have something that sounds like a song or a riff to me, then I add more elaborate drums - either by playing on the MIDI controller or combining from MIDI library or just drawing in the piano roll. Other times I create an interesting rhythm before and see what it makes me play.

broke my own long distance record this year. finished a song I started some time in 1976/7 and still havent recorded it properly!

We really need to help you speed up your workflow Ivan. Short answer to OP: there are no rules, do whatever works for you. A notepad, guitar, piano, dictaphone, 4-track -if it gets the ideas going then it's ok. If you dry up, leave it and return at a later date. >

Great replies here. I myself am also a "do-it-all-yourself" guy and at first just the thought of the workload seemed unbearable. Here are a few things that helped me out: 1. Coming up with some sort of songwriting/recording "system"...certain habits if you will. I'll play or come up with the riffs and I write them down and record them asap even if not perfect. Experimenting to find your system or method is key 2. Stick with every idea to some extent. I have tons of ideas and a week later if I drag my feet I'm like "eh...don't like that anymore" and scrap it. I try to create a feel or vision for each song even if you record or write parts on multiple projects, (or change parts here and there) this can help. 3. MIDI Drums! Yes lol! This is the reason why my album is almost finished. Before not a chance, because it would seem impossible to program every part much less sound realistic. You can buy MIDI packs from Groovemonkey, Oddgrooves etc. I swear by them. And if you have to have a completely custom drum groove they are easy to edit. And it doesn't take forever! :) 4. I read this online in an article somewhere and it was awesome advice that helped me: if you don't have a deadline, make one. Pretend that you are under a producer's thumb and he has set a deadline for a song to be finished. Obviously you want the tune to be perfect as much as you want, but spending too much time on a song can end up as nothing getting done and can kill the initial idea of the song as well... Sorry for that long post but just wanted to throw these ideas out there that may help...

Get Addictive drums or the like and put down a drum track. You can just drag it over to a track. They have ready-built rhythms for verse, middle8, chorus... add a basic bass for each verse, chorus, etc... add your guitars... then think about vocals... I've got stuff ten years old i've revived... my next cd is going to have one song I started in 2004 and two in 2007. Sometimes they stick with you and you bring them back and think, "wow, i can so this and change this and add this..." Some i started and forgot about, then listened to what i've done and think how cool that is now... I start maybe a 10-20 or so partial songs a year, and maybe half turn out into something for me eventually... and some just suck. If you want to produce songs, you need to keep the ideas coming out...

Steve - I wrote a song called "Duck River Tennessee" after my first visit to Nashvegas to visit my family. Now I swear to (insert name of preferred mythical deity here) I had never ever heard "Sweet Home Alabama" but I even had the little guitar licks in my song note for note... Only the lyrics and melody were different. (blush)

Get something like Toontrack's EZ Drummer and some of their songwriting midi drum packs. They can be really helpful in coming up with ideas while you're jamming. I just use a basic Reaper template with EZ or Superior drums and a 4/4 kick pattern to come up with ideas (usually dealing with finished drum parts last), but it's best (like you mentioned) to work out the *entire* song before you start to actually record. I have (as i'm sure many others here do) tons of incomplete songs. It's a habit i'm trying to break, and it's always because i start tracking/recording before i have written the entire song. As far as originality, especially in blues-rock type stuff, i wouldn't worry about it too much. It's all been ripped off from the old blues guys for years, sadly, and it's pretty much the same 3-5 chords. As was mentioned before, all good artists steal a little here and there. One way of coming up with more original stuff is to try working with alternate tunings. I like D-A-D-G-A-D (a Zep fave) but there are plenty to play around with and it's really cool to even come up with your own tunings (a'la Joni Mitchell).

Thanks Billy, I find that I get annoyed with myself because when I have a nice riff or chord sequence I automatically regress to the old i-iv-v structure! Really what stops me in my tracks most times is thinking of a middle eight or bridge, thats where a real drummer is so useful because they have ideas for transitions that guitar players don't automatically think of. Breakdowns especially are a closed book for me but hey, Van Halen used them in almost every song (in the early days at least)- an object lesson in adding dynamics to the music that I should really try to incorporate.

i-iv-v PERFECTION

A problem I have with songs even tough all instruments are layed down or almost is arrangements. It seems to take forever and I play the song and listen and spot the parts that might need tweaking, variants, backing tracks, layering, effects, move/delete/change sections, etc. This process to me is very long and seems to take forever. It also puts me in a mood where I don't want to work trying to avoid the load of work and start a new song or work on mixing and test new plugins, etc. Any suggestion to make this process easier ? Should I hire a qualified arranger to get this load of work off my back?