Odd thing happening when I write music

[Jwar]

Maybe it's weird. Maybe it's not. So, I have been fucking around with the exact same song for like 6 months straight. Seems like a long ass time to spend on one song but I'm a weird kind of perfectionist and I'm about to a spot where I'm actually happy. Now I have to add drums and vocals. Haha.

Anyway, I've moved on to other songs and I've written a quite a bit of material at this point. What is odd is I somehow have been playing different variations of the same song that I had previously written. Or using the same notes but varying the way I play them or the order of the way the song is done or mixing elements of one song with another as well as changing timing..etc. It's hilarious to me and I seem to have been doing it unconsciously so that I can kind of envelope all the material into one song if I really wanted to.

What I was doing reminded me of Om a lot (even though the music I'm playing is vastly different). Al seems to always go back to a very similar bass lines, same notes, but he adds variations in timing, rhythm, attack ...yada, yada, yada.


Here's my question.

Know that I've been doing this (I mean understand it now instead of being blissfully unaware), if you were me, would you continue doing that? Stick with it? Or consider it a weakness, knock it off and move on?

[moid]

Works for me I just change the effects pedals and tempo and note order and hey presto new song If all fails I drench everything in reverb and then get my son to play something much better over the top of it all and fade my stuff into a background drone. Might not work for everyone though.

[Chankgeez]

Yeah, not that odd.

Some people make an entire career out of writing the same song over and over again. (Jonathan Richman comes to mind.)

Here's my answer: It's only a weakness if you don't like the song. If it makes you happy, keep doing it.

If you wanna diversify your songwriting process, there're plenty of ways to do that.

[sears]

Keep doing it. There was a scene in "What's Love Got To Do With It" where Tina says to Ike that his songs all sound kind of the same. It was a compliment!

[crochambeau]

Thematic elements/hooks can really tie an album together.

If you have any inclination to buck the curve (birthing this topic, I'd say yes), try and aim your efforts at contrasting the element you've laid out instead of removing it.

[Errant Tiger]

I go through variations of this all the time. Usually what happens is YET AGAIN I'm writing in E minor. Time to break out the capo! Though I've mostly made peace with my repetitions. As Neil Young said, "It's all one song!"

[Ugly Nora]

John Fogerty was sued by his old record company for writing a new song on his new label that sounded too much like the old song. He won the case, but just something to keep in mind. I'd hate to see you get sued.

https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.rollin ... 52805/amp/

[Jwar]

You guys have given me some great insight! I actually just fully completed a song and now it's recording time. I've got it right where I want it. Well, minus drums but like...pfftt. Right? hahahahaha. Drummers. hahahaha

For real though, that's fucking crazy Fogerty got sued for that! Holy shit record labels suck sometimes. Goddamn that's fucked up.




Neil Young is/was a great song writer and I agree with him. I like that too. It makes a lot of sense. It does all feel like one song.


I guess the direction I was going with this was just one album that sounded similar in nature. I have been listening to a lot of Earth lately and I think that has rubbed off on me. I'm nowhere near as talented, but I really really love it. Especially The Bee's Made Honey in the Lion's Skull. UGH. I could listen to that album forever. It's so relaxing and actually reminds me (funny enough) of the Doors. Weird I know. It gives me the same vibe as Jim did. That relaxing walk through the desert vibe. Or stair out at the clouds all day. It's peaceful. I like peaceful. Funny because I always thought I'd write super aggressive stuff and I'm singing about the world needing our help.

I'm a fucking hippie I think...

[Dapper Bandit]

Morricone / Dead Man era Earth is the shizzle and a cool influence to have. I love this era (my Bees Made Honey t shirt is damn near my uniform) but there are certain tricks and melodic elements that are repeated a lot. That's not a bad thing, one of the most exciting (to me) musical movements of the 20th century was minimalism.

There's a reason that kids aren't drawn to their dad's old Yes LP's...