I’ve been making music for 30+ years. For the first part of my career I made a lot of music but very few songs. This is because I didn’t have a solid and simple process for capturing the ideas in my mind and getting them into an organized and efficient format I could then build on and turn into a song. But over time I finally figured out a way to do it that would ensure my songs got completed. Now, I’ve finished over 100 songs and can easily start and complete new ones using what I call the 4-4-4 songwriting method (ebook coming soon!). Here it is in a nutshell. Let me know if it helps you.
Overview:
Create a four track template in your DAW for songwriting: bass, chords, beat, and vocal track.
Get an idea for a song (lyrics, beat, chords, or melody)
Sit down and record your idea in four tracks, for four bars, in four minutes (give or take)
Expand the song
Tips
Create a groove and build on it
Conform your vocals to the groove
Start with a tempo
Record your rehearsals! (never know, you might play something incredible). ABR = ALWAYS BE RECORDING when you are creating
Don’t worry about effects and processing during the creative process!
Always quantize everything will recording so you don’t have to mess with quantization during your creative brainstorm – in fact avoid ALL technical stuff while you’re creating