1000000 of bits, 0 tunes.

Hi my fellow musicians.

Did you ever experienced a similar problem? I'm playing a guitar for 15 years, keys for almost ten years, I'm also playing bass, mandolin and a few other instruments.

I'm not very good at playing but I'm not too bad neither.

I'm composing music...all kinds of music - that will, hopefully, see the lite of the day one day.

Although I prefer prog, and prog is my first passion, and passion of my bandmates too, I regret because I don't have sufficient songwriting skills. That is, I'm not able to make a song (a simple song, if necessary) from beginnig to end. I'm always practicing, making new ideas ranging from pseudo-classical - folksy - jazz(y) to avangarde and straight rock & blues-rock. But all these ideas, no matter how developed they might be, are just IDEAS. Not complete tunes. After years of playing, this started to get on my nerves. I'm not able to make a song. I had millions of ideas, passages, patterns, chord progressions, enough for 10 hours of music, but in my whole musical path I've made like ...5 or 6 songs !?

Did you ever experienced a similar problem, and how do you cope with it?

When I'm doing my music, I try not to be boring. People with various tastes say they like it. My prog loving bandmates like it, which is really comforting. I'm also writing poetry, from free-form modern poems to heroic crown of sonnets; I published some of my works, receiving positive feedback from both public and the critics.

But I'm not able to make a song.

I must say - I prefer consistency over technicality, my first love is prog; but not prog for the sake of being prog; rather give me a simple Leonard Cohen tune anytime.

Sorry for the longish lament, but I needed this. I would really appreciate your comments and possible solutions.

I have a lot of problems turning ideas into full songs, I normally only come up with one riff and I can't think of anything to add to it, since I can't sing or write lyrics I play entirely instrumental music. I suspect that the problems I have trying to write what could be viewed as regular songs are the reason why I've started playing mainly ambient music which allows me to get away with extending a simple idea to a 20 minute long jam which is mostly effects. When I'm in the mood to play something heavy I end up playing stuff that sounds like a Sunn O))) rip off since I apply the same techniques. 

I have a feeling that if I were to really think about it I might be able to write a decent song or two but I'm having far to much fun simply mucking around with effects.

Thanks. Well, I do have my companions ( myspace.com/kwadratnodnoll ) and they are doing more or less the same...we're not very disciplined..but the results are decent, I guess. The only problem is, the process could be very slow.

kibble_alex wrote: I often find that the best way to compose is to get a simple melody and build on it. As soon as you have the melody, wrap chrods around it to set the mood, create a B and C idea on top of your original A idea (preferably quite diverse in comparison) and once youve done all that you can quite easily develop ideas and an arrangement of your choice, for example changing the B section from 4/4 into a 9/8 time signature, or transposing your A into a different key, naming the new section D. There are many roads to travel down but with this method i find you can let your imagination off the leash completely. You can have as many parts as you like, ranging a song from 3 minutes to 35 minutes, you are in complete control and generally speaking the more changes you have, the more interesting the song becomes. It depends entirely on what you are after in a song.

Yes, that's precisely what I'm doing. I'm just developing it too much.

On the other hand, the replies here kinda encouraged me (thanks) and...I hope I'm moving into the right direction!

kibble_alex wrote: I often find that the best way to compose is to get a simple melody and build on it. As soon as you have the melody, wrap chrods around it to set the mood, create a B and C idea on top of your original A idea (preferably quite diverse in comparison) and once youve done all that you can quite easily develop ideas and an arrangement of your choice, for example changing the B section from 4/4 into a 9/8 time signature, or transposing your A into a different key, naming the new section D. There are many roads to travel down but with this method i find you can let your imagination off the leash completely. You can have as many parts as you like, ranging a song from 3 minutes to 35 minutes, you are in complete control and generally speaking the more changes you have, the more interesting the song becomes. It depends entirely on what you are after in a song.

That rather depends on the music itself - form doesn't have to be rigid, it's the composer/performer's friend.

clarke2001 wrote: Hi my fellow musicians. Did you ever experienced a similar problem? I'm playing a guitar for 15 years, keys for almost ten years, I'm also playing bass, mandolin and a few other instruments. I'm not very good at playing but I'm not too bad neither. I'm composing music...all kinds of music - that will, hopefully, see the lite of the day one day. Although I prefer prog, and prog is my first passion, and passion of my bandmates too, I regret because I don't have sufficient songwriting skills. That is, I'm not able to make a song (a simple song, if necessary) from beginnig to end. I'm always practicing, making new ideas ranging from pseudo-classical - folksy - jazz(y) to avangarde and straight rock & blues-rock. But all these ideas, no matter how developed they might be, are just IDEAS. Not complete tunes. After years of playing, this started to get on my nerves. I'm not able to make a song. I had millions of ideas, passages, patterns, chord progressions, enough for 10 hours of music, but in my whole musical path I've made like ...5 or 6 songs !? Did you ever experienced a similar problem, and how do you cope with it? When I'm doing my music, I try not to be boring. People with various tastes say they like it. My prog loving bandmates like it, which is really comforting. I'm also writing poetry, from free-form modern poems to heroic crown of sonnets; I published some of my works, receiving positive feedback from both public and the critics. But I'm not able to make a song. I must say - I prefer consistency over technicality, my first love is prog; but not prog for the sake of being prog; rather give me a simple Leonard Cohen tune anytime. Sorry for the longish lament, but I needed this. I would really appreciate your comments and possible solutions.