Searching for melodies...

I like the challenge of writing songs. Sometimes they're as easy to write as breathing. They just happen. Other times, I have ideas that seem good in theory but don't sound good to me when the idea becomes a recording. Sometimes I have a great melody over a weak chord progression. Sometimes I have a weak melody over an amazing riff. Sometimes they're both bad, and sometimes they're both great.

Right now, I'm sitting with something that may as well be an instrumental. It's all the parts recorded except the lead vocal part, and I've even got 2 song's worth of lyrics written to try things with, but the melody I know should go with this song hasn't come to me yet. I've tried about 5 melodies and improv'd a bunch more, and not one of them is really doing it for me.

Am I frustrated? Not really... I've been writing songs long enough to trust that the right melody will come in time and to trust my instincts. Right now, my instincts are saying "You've spent 2 hours working on this and have gotten nowhere - try again tomorrow."

I've been trying to avoid the usual trap I've come to rely on over the years, which is to either double the vocal to make it sound fuller, or sing harmonies on the verses to make them sound nicer. For this song, I want the melody to be strong enough to stand alone, without studio production tricks making it sound better than it actually is. I want it to be the melody that I could sing with an acoustic guitar and have it be as effective as with a 30 piece orchestra. I want it to be THE melody that the song deserves, not some thrown together piece of mediocrity. I already have a great chorus so now the verses need to support that and build up to it.

So, I can overthink it as long as I want... The cool thing is, the melody I'm searching for will likely hit me in the next 24-48 hours and we'll have another MSO song. That's the good thing about owning your own recording gear - when inspiration strikes, it can be recorded and completed quickly and for no money! The other thing is, I can go from over-thinking to simply saying "Screw it, I'll ad-lib something and see what happens," and usually it's your first instincts over a chord progression that are worth following.