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Post by Deleted on Dec 30, 2015 14:35:05 GMT
songwriting 101
the best way to write a song, is to write a song.
the best way to improve ones songs, are to read a lot, and write a lot.
i try to write like i speak, rather than like i type, (it makes me sound a bit hickish sometimes as i grew up on a farm, but it sounds natural and believable when i say the words)
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Post by thumpalumpacus on Dec 31, 2015 8:41:11 GMT
Live a lot, too. Glean what you learn and boil it down to good turns of phrase.
I like contrasting the mood of the music and the lyric sometimes. I usually start with a theme, title, or concept, come up with music that either conveys the theme or contrasts against it, and then set pen to paper. I have a guitar in hand doing so, so that I can work out the peculiarities of matching the vocal rhythm to the musical rhythm.
Sometimes I write instrumentals, dedicated as such, and I don't want any confounded words mixing up the voodoo. And those usually come not from a conscious "writing" process, but rather simple improvisation with no tape rolling -- if it's good I'll remember it -- and just getting myself out of the way.
Sometimes I find a verbal phrase years later that fits with an instrumental I wrote long before, and I'll see if I can marry the two.
Songwriting too is about chops: the more you do it, the more you practice, the better you get at it. Your first, second, sixth, and seventeenth efforts will suck, and that's only if you're lucky. I cringe at some -- well, most -- of my earlier songs, mostly because the lyrics were puerile, but sometimes because the music too was cliched. That's okay. That's how you learn. Just as with soloing, you picked up the basics and beat them to death and back, so to in songwriting you'll regurgitate motifs that have been around since Christ made corporal. As you go farther into the craft, your own voice, your own style, develops.
The big thing is, don't let the blank page stare you down, tell your inner judge to STFU and get to spilling the words out on paper. You can edit later. Get the music you hear in your head -- you'll need relative pitch at least for that -- but if your hear a riff in your head, figure it out.
When you're writing lyrics, avoid cliches like the plague.
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Post by Deleted on Dec 31, 2015 13:03:47 GMT
Live a lot, too. Glean what you learn and boil it down to good turns of phrase. I like contrasting the mood of the music and the lyric sometimes. I usually start with a theme, title, or concept, come up with music that either conveys the theme or contrasts against it, and then set pen to paper. I have a guitar in hand doing so, so that I can work out the peculiarities of matching the vocal rhythm to the musical rhythm. Sometimes I write instrumentals, dedicated as such, and I don't want any confounded words mixing up the voodoo. And those usually come not from a conscious "writing" process, but rather simple improvisation with no tape rolling -- if it's good I'll remember it -- and just getting myself out of the way. Sometimes I find a verbal phrase years later that fits with an instrumental I wrote long before, and I'll see if I can marry the two. Songwriting too is about chops: the more you do it, the more you practice, the better you get at it. Your first, second, sixth, and seventeenth efforts will suck, and that's only if you're lucky. I cringe at some -- well, most -- of my earlier songs, mostly because the lyrics were puerile, but sometimes because the music too was cliched. That's okay. That's how you learn. Just as with soloing, you picked up the basics and beat them to death and back, so to in songwriting you'll regurgitate motifs that have been around since Christ made corporal. As you go farther into the craft, your own voice, your own style, develops. The big thing is, don't let the blank page stare you down, tell your inner judge to STFU and get to spilling the words out on paper. You can edit later. Get the music you hear in your head -- you'll need relative pitch at least for that -- but if your hear a riff in your head, figure it out. When you're writing lyrics, avoid cliches like the plague. ya cause you'll be sick as a dog! |
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Post by Deleted on Dec 31, 2015 14:40:22 GMT
--- Be Real. Don't lie in your songs, disguise what you're saying if you have to, (in order to preserve some semblance of privacy) but be as real as you can possibly be. as bone jarringly honest. I often find song material in my conversations i have with people. had a talk about the wheel that we ride like a mouse chasing the cheese, trying to get a dollar bill just to keep the wheel going so you can get another dollar.... and the next day i wrote that into a song. everything we say, do, feel, think, hear, ARE, is song fodder  |
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Post by Grand Toad on Dec 31, 2015 18:49:45 GMT
Don't abide by the legendary quote of Keith Richards - "I wrote some of my best stuff pissed out of my mind."
If you want to write songs, you must be willing to leave the door open to harsh criticism. It'll either make it better, or it'll piss you off.
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Post by Deleted on Dec 31, 2015 18:59:37 GMT
Don't abide by the legendary quote of Keith Richards - "I wrote some of my best stuff pissed out of my mind." If you want to write songs, you must be willing to leave the door open to harsh criticism. It'll either make it better, or it'll piss you off.Or both!  |
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Post by Sgt Rock on Apr 6, 2019 4:15:36 GMT
when I've written songs, I've learned not to force them. that way they help write themselves. I either get the melody or a phrase and go from there. I have never been able to just sit down and purposely write songs.
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