Do you struggle to finish your own song ideas? Maybe you find it hard to write the lyrics for a full song, you get hung up on chord progression and arrangement, or songs just never feel ‘finished’ to you?

A lot of vocalists struggle with creating fully fledged ideas, and getting songs finished. Motivation can fade, and doubt can be loud. Maybe you don’t quite have the skills needed to create what you envision right now, or pressure is preventing you from moving forward.

In this article we look at some tactics to help you finish more songs as a vocalist, so that you can finish that single or album, get your vocals heard, start building your career, and more. Including ways to take the pressure off, approach things from a different angle, and work more efficiently.

Create Placeholders with a Hum

Sometimes you can hear the melody of a vocal in your head, but not the exact words yet. Recording a scratch vocal of you humming the rhythm of a vocal before fleshing out specific words can bring lots of benefits, and increase the chances of getting a track finished when songwriting.

It can help to capture creativity when it comes, without getting bogged down in details. It takes the pressure off - giving you a starting point, and removing the urge to perfect things.

Having an idea that you are excited about roughly sketched out in front of you can give you a direction to follow, increase inspiration, motivation, and the momentum to help get a track finished.

It can help musicians that you are working with to create their parts, which in turn could inspire more lyrics, and the evolution of the song continues.

You can do this wherever you are, on your phone’s voice memos, or using a specifically designed app. Or if you are really dedicated you could carry a recorder with you. You could do it whilst jamming in the studio in person or online.

Work with Someone Else

Collaborating with another musician can be a great idea for many reasons. Aside from expanding your musical tastes, helping you to network, and more. It can help you to finish songs by providing:

• Feedback: Feedback from another creative can be really useful to help you decide if a song is ready, and get clarity on finer points that help you move towards getting it finished - do they think your lyrics capture what you wanted? Is your metaphor and simile on point? Is the melody strong enough? Do certain instrument parts work? Etc.
• Different skillsets: Collaborators can bring skills that you don’t have or they may be stronger in areas that you are not. These could be the missing piece that helps you finish a song. As a vocalist you could work with a
• producer
• for help with making your track sound polished, a
• session pianist or guitarist to accompany you, a lyricist etc.
• Different approaches: When creating songs, the same approach doesn’t work twice very often. Different people have different ways of working and they can show you new approaches which could help you with parts that you are stuck on.
• Someone to bounce ideas off.
• Different genre experience: A different spin on an idea could turn it from a middle of the road tune to a hit.

Looking for a musician to work with? Verse-Chorus is a collaboration platform that has many talented people looking to work with vocalists. Connect and create with songwriters, lyricists, singers, producers, and more, in one place.

Do Something That Isn’t Songwriting

More effort and more time spent songwriting does not always equal more finished songs. Giving your creative brain time to breathe, get inspired, and relax, can leave you returning to the process refreshed, with new ideas, and able to make better creative choices. There’s lots of stories of creatives out there struggling to write when they aren’t doing much else in their life, whether it’s vocalists, comedians, or screen writers. Inspiration can come from living life, and spending too much time trying to force songs can take you away from that.

Some ideas for activities to get you away from the writing desk:

• Meet with a friend
• Your favourite sport
• A walk in nature
• Any of your hobbies
• A meal out

Start With a Song Title

As mentioned before, trying different approaches can help you to finish more songs. Starting with the title of your song is one way to approach things differently, and can provide a number of benefits.

Thinking about it early on can help to focus your mind on the main themes and ideas of the song, and how you are going to approach them.

You don’t need to have it word perfect from the start, but an idea can help. For example if the name of the song is ‘A New Beginning’ (I’m sure you can think of something much less cliche!). This may get you thinking about the metaphors and similes you could use to reflect this, the instruments, style of vocal, and the overall journey of the song. Will you portray ‘a new beginning’ from the start of the song, or will the start focus on why the ‘new beginning’ is happening. What could happen in the middle, and how does it end? If you get stuck on ideas, or adding finishing touches, coming back to the title can help you to get over these hurdles.

Take The Pressure Off

It can be easy to put a lot of pressure on finishing song ideas. But finding a way to take the pressure off, and create a relaxed environment for ideas can help to free up creativity. Practice non-judgement in the early stages of creation, and remember to try to keep it fun when you can. Finish songs, even if you don’t love them. As this can teach you to judge less, plus get into the habit of finishing.

Written by Nick Stephens, a music production tutor, music marketing writer, and down to his DNA—music obsessive. When he isn’t making music you can find him at live music events, DJing up and down the UK, including Glastonbury, and the gym—sometimes.