You might be surprised to find out that NONE of the songs I have written ended up sounding like what I was originally hearing in my head at the very beginning.

I often start working on a song by picking the style first. I will sit and simply audition some of the styles. I apply them to my chord progression and see what works and what sounds good and what fits the feeling, and do any of them inspire the "magic?" I like to work in the rock and country genre for the songs I write. Simply varying the tempo will change the feel of the song. Normally, I have my Taylor acoustic and I'm playing along searching for the groove.

I call it the evolution of my song. What I hear in my head is the seed. As I play with the various styles and genre's , keys, and tempos, eventually something starts to take root. I settle on a style and go from there. I also make use of my DAW and the ability I have in it to do creative editing to add the little unique things that set that song apart from the ordinary.

You can find my music at:
www.herbhartley.com
Add nothing that adds nothing to the music.
You can make excuses or you can make progress but not both.

The magic you are looking for is in the work you are avoiding.