Anyone else experience this? How to get over it? (Page 1 of 2)

You just described 99% of my songs. This happens to me a lot and I am left with many unfinished tracks. I find there is no sure fire way to get the creative juices flowing again. Sometimes i will listen to a selection of my unfinished works as i sit down to write and which ever one my brain starts auto filling in I work on. Sometimes this doesn't happen or I have a deadline so I have to push myself to finish something. Usually those come out better for some reason.

I also tend to be a perfectionist so not a lot of my songs are up to my standards.

You could always take what patterns you already have and try to flesh them out more. Let's say you have two patterns, one a "verse", the other a "chorus". Copy and paste the verse 8 times, then the chorus 4 times after that. Then go through and mute or or unmute the individual instruments as the verse plays out so that it builds into the chorus.

The transitions between patterns will probably be jarring, so you'll have to add variations to ease the effect. Think of the generic white noise swooshes that you've heard before a huge part kicks in during transitions in other tunes. These sorts of effects aren't necessarily melodic, so they won't really tax your creative juices if you've maybe been feeling unsure of how the song should progress. They're more like tools that you just have to program in. It's a good exercise to learn about some of the abstract possibilities of whatever software you use, and to think in terms of texture as opposed to notes.

You'll also have to have an intro, which can be a variation on the verse with minimal notes, like the difference between a plot outline and actually reading the story. You can construct an ending in the same way, just a final variation on the chorus or something.

You might still end up with a tune that's only a minute and a half long, but even then, you can probably extract some of the extra transitions and effects that you've worked on and tweak them a bit, maybe cut to half time or play around with weird sounds in order to make a bridge section. If that's even necessary; a lot of great songs aren't actually all that long anyway, and don't really contain much more than a few parts. At least classic pop, anyway.

I end up making a lot of one-pattern wonders. If I don't have much of a plan for a song when I'm starting it, it's almost guaranteed to end up just being a pattern long at first. It's not necessarily bad unless you try to wring too much out of a pattern, which I was guilty of a lot when I started doing electronic stuff on an Electribe. I always try to remember that my favorite old techno and Berlin School electronica musicians weren't working with much more than a 16 or 32 step sequencer and some overdubs.

Apart from any of what I said above, I still prefer to have written something already before I begin tracking it. There's something about writing on a guitar or keyboard that allows me to keep the flow going without getting stuck after a bar or two, so maybe try writing on another instrument before turning it into a chiptune.

I'm sure getting stuck immediately after beginning a song has something to do with the fact that not only are we trying to write a tune on the spot, but we're also programming instruments, mixing them, throwing effects around, juggling the roles of not only every musician in a band, but also the roles of the producer, engineer, and arranger, all the while comparing ourselves to others we deem to be much better at all those things than we can ever be. Sometimes you gotta say fuck it, this song is a minute long and it's finished.

When i write music, i usually end up on 00:30 - 01:30 min of material.
What happens then, is that i will listen over and over to the tune. Not everyday, but most of the time in a 2-4 day cycle.
And this sometimes can go on for weeks. Over the time, i get ideas how to continue with it or get some inspiration through various things - The reason is for this, that i use a lot of samples in my tunes, and if i find a nice one or a good quote that fits into it, sometimes i go with this.

Of course i also try to write new and other stuff, while still listen to the other ones. Over and over again. Like i already said.

But what also can sometimes help, if your stuck on one song and the other ones you want to start are just bad to beginn with: Take a old song of yours, choose some instruments or even whole Phrases.
Clean the rest out, save it as new project and try to work with the leftovers of your old song. Maybe try to give it a other style or feel.
Whatever.

I just start to work on another part from a scratch.
This could became a new song, or continuation of that song.
Than I try to link this parts together if fits...
I am working a long time on my songs, months, but waiting it out is not usefull for this part of work
waiting it out is good for rewriting patterns, rearanging and finalization of whole song
or for checking the whole construction of song (made from smaller parts)

I try to imagine what would come next, add a blank pattern and when the song 'runs out' try to think of what would follow it.

A drum break or slower section is always a good chance to change things up to, or take a small bit from one of your patterns and make a new pattern out of that, make it repeat with a changing bass note, etc..

see more advice here

I find that listening to my work in progress over and over will quickly make me become too content with how it turned out. Once I get something substantial written, I like to listen to it cause I'm proud of how it sounds or I think it sounds cool. I try to resist this urge because once I become satisfied in any way I will stop creating efficiently or even stop all together. My brain will become creative only when it has the drive to want to impress myself (and others) with something new. Which brings be to another point. Showing of you music to other before it is finished will kill your progress in the same manner. Cause once you receive praise for something, you will usually stop trying as hard on the song. One of the main drives behind a creative mind it to receive praise from others and from yourself. Once you get that, there isn't much motivation to continue.

tl;dr Solutions are: don't show off work in progress tracks to others till they are done. And only re-listen to tracks as much as is necessary to continue writing.