Guide · Songwriting

How to finish songs you started years ago

Every songwriter has a folder of songs they started and never finished. Here is a simple way to get the best ones over the line.

1. Find them first

Most unfinished songs are not bad, they are lost. Go through your voice memos and notes and pull every half song into one place before you judge any of them.

2. Listen at 2x, keep the feelings

Play through quickly. If a part still gives you something, keep it. You are not deciding what is good yet, only what is alive.

3. Name the best bit

Every half song has one part that made you record it. Name the song after that part, so you always know why it is worth finishing.

4. Look for the other half

A chorus with no verse and a verse with no chorus are often the same song written months apart. Try them back to back.

5. Finish one, not ten

Pick the one closest to done and give it a deadline. One finished song does more for you than ten slightly better unfinished ones.

6. Make a rough demo and send it

Finished does not mean perfect. Record a rough demo and send it to one person. Their reaction tells you what to fix.