Developing/building a song from smaller parts

IMO many times parts feel repetitive because we accidentally listen to it too much. we build a great pattern or progression and never seem to get farther because we become so used to the feel of that one specific pattern. this sometimes makes any new part sound "bad," but I think that we mistakenly believe that just because it's different from the first pattern that we listened to so much. it's hard to explain and i'm holding myself out from going too into the psychology of it, but think of it this way:

1.) every pattern we make starts off basic and becomes more complete when we work on it more
2.) we avoid repetitiveness by creating new patterns or using old elements with a different approach
3.) if you've already completed a pattern and are attempting to write a new one, you're basically going to point #1 again. every new section will always feel inferior to the previous one at first, if even only because you haven't worked on it as long

i have no idea if i'm making any sense here, but that's how I think about it anyway - don't be hard on yourself and keep writing music

Last edited by an0va (Jul 9, 2015 6:16 pm)

I find that joining separate sections and making things seem less repetitive can tossing in elements from previous or upcoming sections into subtle variations. Done right you make a/b/c parts and riffs become a nice cohesive song.

I've been having the same problem lately, there's a lot of good advice in this thread. In my experience, sometimes coming up with a new part for a song is just trial and error, so don't be afraid to just try a bunch of things and see what sticks.

east of england!

all good advice

but also remember that

it is ok for you to make short songs

and there is lots of great repetitive music

let go of what you think peoples expectations of what music should be, or what they inform you that music should be and become a better artist!

you haven't linked to any music yet so idk what style of music u are trying to make

Last edited by Jellica (Jul 10, 2015 5:14 pm)

Minimalism is a style of music.

Using bigger parts is always boring. The best songs in pop msuics history always contain a very simple acompainment of chords or a very small yet catchy riff.

Just repeat your riffs till its boring. Then, go back 12 bars before that, and thats your ending. Add some drums/arrangements to put some dynamics and make the song "flow" and youre good to go.

Really.

One thing that help me a lot is writing music with four track.
I write the four pattern which play together, small pattern.
Then I change one of the four, then a second one.
This is one of my section : part a,b,c,intro,outro,whatever.
Then I modify another one of the four ( i keep the three other part ) it give me another section.
Then a third one and a I conitinue this way.
I doesn't use the stop button. Never, because it break my imagination.

It give me more control of myself on how I can write stuff.
I'm not able to write a song with different part in my mind, it just doesn't work for me.
Lgpt, nanoloop and LSDJ  are good at this because you can write track mute, change part without the STOP button.

The other thing I use to write melody is a simple midi keyboard and when my part are well I play with the keyboard directly in a 'no pattern' mode.

Last edited by yoyz2k (Jul 15, 2015 9:50 pm)