how do YOU write songs???

[ayla*]

helooo,


abit random, but i write my own stuff and came to wondering how damien writes his own music...then started wondering how other people in general write their own music...


when i write songs i make up a chord sequence, then randomly start singing a tune and see what words come out of me, i never think about it..


but simply out of interest i was wondering if anyone writes the tune first and then fits the chords to it, or they write the words first..or whatever???


thankuu

[Patricia]

I only write music-less songs, Im no musician smileys/smiley19.gif

[#Ian#]

I have a notebook that I keep lyric ideas in.

As for the music I'll mess about with chords until I find somethign that I think sounds nice/interestng and go from there.

[cille]

got a note book too, mostly containing fragments of ideas that might and might not be applicable for songs later on.


got a dictaphone for melody ideas.


and then i gotan ooooold yamaha mini keyboard for the chords. still looking for something better, though.


oh and to me the words come first most of the times. usually with no melody at all, but sometimes words and melody gets there simultaniously. and then much later on comes the chords. - that's sort of the reverse of your process, huh ayla? well, more or less at least.Edited by: supercille

[coreybyrnes]

i obviously don't have a formula because sometimes my songs are written in different ways...


sometimes i'll pick up my guitar, play one chord and then i'll just start singing andwords will come out of my mouth without me understanding them and my fingers will move to a new chord without my brain moving them there... it's quite strange and i feel powerless but it's a magical thing so i try to remember the lyrics and then i write them down after i'm done playing as best i can and then go back once or twice to refine them and make them fit a little better...


other times i will write random one-liners in this book i carry and then i try to expand on them later... then i'll usually try to work them in with some guitar licks i've been working on and try to make the two mesh together from there... these songs usually don't come out as well as the ones i write when the guitar and lyrics just subconsciously pour out of me...

[cneill]

I write music, but rarely do I ever write words to it. A good friend of mine often writes words to my stuff though. As far as writing music goes, sometimes I write something based on theory and sometimes I completely through the theory out the window and just go with whatever sounds good. Sometimes I even make up chords and don't really think about what I'm playing. It just depends on thekind of mood I'm in. Sometimes it depends on the amount of whisky in my veins smileys/smiley4.gif.


A good experiment to try - put your guitar in a tuning that you are unfamiliar with and just start playing. You may get beautiful music or you may get sh*t, perhaps a mixture of the two.

[coreybyrnes]

A good experiment to try - put your guitar in a tuning that you are unfamiliar with and just start playing. You may get beautiful music or you may get sh*t, perhaps a mixture of the two.


i love trying new tunings... my favorite one these days is DADDDD... i threw it in that tuning a few years ago and have written a lot of my best stuff in it...


Sometimes it depends on the amount of whisky in my veins http://www.our-adams-family.co.uk/emmett/forum/smileys/smiley4.gif.


i like this experiment best...

[JasonPaul]

Like Corey had said, I write songs in different ways. But I usually come up with words and an idea for a melody, then add guitar to it. I think my main reasoning for this is that I'm not really that great of a guitar player... I'm a much better lyricist and vocalist. That's why most of my songs revolve around the lyrics and the vocals with the guitar under it for foundation. But at times I have had the guitar part first and words have just come to me while I was playing. But that's what makes songwriting so beautiful! The fact that there are so many different ways to go about doing it. I still need to try that whisky experiment though...

[Petra]

I recently had my first real go at writing music. No lyrics as yet but i got together with a friend and we just bounced ideas off each other as we played, and scribbled down the notes etc as we went along. We've only got the main structure sorted at the moment but its something to build on - and such a fun way of doing it.

[JasonPaul]

No one really asked for help on how to write songs, but I just thought I would add this in case anyone was in need... In my opinion, the book "Songwriting for Dummies" is actually very helpful and informative. From music to lyrics to the business of it all. It's not a bad buy for twenty dollars. It's definately helpful if you have a lot of ideas, but can never really get anything finished.

[cneill]

...i got together with a friend and we just bounced ideas off each other as we played, and scribbled down the notes etc as we went along...


This is one of my favorite ways to write songs. Sometimes a really good song will come from just jamming with someone. It's always good to get a different perspectve on music to help you grow. Also, if you have a very like minded friend musically, teaming up will help you get over ruts and difficult transitions better. Again going back to perspective, the other person may have an idea that never entered your head but perfectly complements something you have already written. Fun stuff.

[The Kitten]

I don't write songs - though I was the original composer of 'I've Got A Brand New Combine Harvester'

[ayla*]

yeh im getting abit bored of writing chords sequences first and then adding a tune after. my problem is i can never remeber tunes if i make them up from nowhere..i have to have the chords first which is rather crap.... also begginning to run out of ways to make standard chords original...not the best guitarist you see...


im glad there's other people who write songs by just letting it come out... with lyrics and tunes for songs im often really suprised how things just seem to flow out of my mouth..im like whooaa...sometimes sing about random random things...abit like therapy..no inhibitions..ha ha..


oh how i love musicsmileys/smiley4.gif


thanx for the replies...tis very interesting...everyong works best slightly differently i suppose


if anyone has any interesting guitar techniques or anything that 'funk' up a song i'd love to hear


cheers ma dears

[ayla*]

oh yeh, and if anyone's into wierd guitar tunings then you should check out some of nick drake music.... all his songs have relaly intersting tunings...sound great


similar to damien, he has a beautiful voice, full of emotion ( but he is actually nothing like damien..oh well) - he had a tragic life..such a gentle voice that people didn't listen to him at concerts, his album failed and he died of depressionsmileys/smiley19.gif...


ON a lighter note........hee heesmileys/smiley4.gifsmileys/smiley4.gif..


yeh he's good..

[WeeAngel]

i'm so talentlesssmileys/smiley19.gif

[dyls]

The best songs are definately those that seem to just flow out of you, like you have no control over what you're doing, the music has control of you. I'm also not particularly great on the guitar but my friend transformed the last song I wrote by composing a cello piece for it, so yeah, jamming with friends can really add a new dimension.


And on the subject of tuning, I only know 2 types: In tune and out of tune smileys/smiley4.gif

[preman]

more about alternate tunings...


check out duncan sheik....the guy uses different tunings on almost all his songs, if im not wrong, to good effect...u can see the tunings he uses in the liner notes of his 2nd album 'humming'..stuff like DGCFAD or C#C#EF#BE...

[isaac]

Nick Drake, Ani DiFranco, Coldplay, heck, even Goo Goo Dolls use alternate tunings.



As to how I write? Usually melody lines come to me every hour. The only
problem is that I'm not a very skilled musician yet so by the time I
get into translating it from my head to the guitar, it's usually lost.



Most often it's lyrics. I carry around a handy Pocket PC that works
both as an idea jotter and as a quick tape recorder to record quick
clips. Half the time I forget I have it with me, though. smileys/smiley36.gif



I also have a text file for brainstorming lyrics down, but I really
don't "brainstorm," per se. Inspiration hits at the oddest moments,
yanno. The text file's gettin' to be about 20 pages thus far, and
that's not including my box of napkins and receipts that I've jotted
notes on. It's great to be a pack rat when it comes to inspiration.
Just digging or reading can lead to a lot of things, and I've found
that if I go through recent work, say over the past week, I can always
see a certain theme or something that's been subconsciously on my mind
without ever knowing that it has been, so it's good therapy, too.



When I do work off of the lyrics alone, I try to remember the original
melody in my head. If that doesn't work, I sing it acapella because
that forces me to find a melody, then I work from there and try to
fine-tune everything and also write a guitar part to support it.



I don't know. So many different ways. Everyone's creative process is
different, as stated before, and it's wonderful to read how everyone
does it.

[Wolf_eyes]

I usually wait until life makes me feel like jumping off a bridge...then just start playing. Kind of half-hazard, but effective, if not prolific.

[natekeegan]

i don't write songs, but i hear theirryhenry is both a talented writer and has some creative writing styles! Let's hear them, thierry!

[thierryhenry]

My name is Cliff.
Brother Of Joe.
I got me some crack.
I want me some hoes.
Lemme hear ya say "yeahhhhhh."

[natekeegan]

every time you post it completely ruins the thread.

[thierryhenry]

I know allmighty god of message boards.

[natekeegan]

you spelled "almighty" incorrectly.


[post ruined]

[thierryhenry]

HAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHA.








[thread ruined once you said I write songs, because you and I both know who writes the songs.]

[Macabre20]

don't eat

[cille]

smileys/smiley36.gif

[neil_eats]

i think john lennon once said something about the three blind mice trick. this he would use some chords from different songs and sing three blind mice to it, but obviously hed have to sing differently to fit the lyrics with the chords and likewise causing bloth to mold into something completely different. example try singing let it be to the chords of blowers daughter holding some chords longer or shorter and it becomes something new. then just change the lyrics.

[samuelle]

i write lyrics first, but then i'm terrible at writing melodies. i keep hearing from people that they hear melodies in their heads ... lucky them. fortunately, in my current band i don't play the guitar or sing, just the keyboards andviolin, so the song structure does not depend so much on my parts.


i think the danger in writing lyrics separately from the melody is that the words have to stretch unnaturally to fit, and that makes music sound awkward.

[ru-doll]

hey, work with everyhting first to see whats good for you, don't sit down thinking i have to write something good just write what's in your head play with it, always humming, and strumming, but it works different for everyone :) write to feel better, and to express yourself. pick something you feel strongly about, something thats on your mind and then make it universal, like when damien sings "too shy, i should have kissed you" everyone can relate but you know its personal at the same time. hope that helps, have fun with music, its beautiful :)

[Gatsby]

play what you feel and sing what you see... thats basically what i do


no point sitting down and "trying" to write a song as the result wont be a feeling inside it will be forced..


i usually have an idea for a song and wait for it to come to me. and when it does i write it down and keep going along


its a beautiful feeling and to enjoy your own music does mean alot

[Juzzza]

I usually come up with guitar parts first, and scat sing over the chords to find the vocal melody. Much like design agencies who come up with visuals first and fill an advert with latin text just to illustrate where and how the text will look, they replace the latin with real (meaningful) words later.


Similar to John Lennon's three blind mice but with syllables rather than actual words to feel out the melodies.


I usually find the words for a verse over the chords then sit down and write the other verses, keeping to the same syllable structure but having a bit of play, it's easy to drop a word or stretch a word out to make an interesting melody.


For example, I had sung the following comfortably over a chord sequence:


'I've been away, I've seen the sun at dawn on the ocean'


So knowing I had 15 or so syllables to play with,I then wrote down


'I've seen the moon look like a plate so high, in a cloudless sky'


And sang the second line of the verse using the same melody as the first, easily over the same chords.


It doesn't matter how you do it, I challenge anyone to hear a finished song and 'know' how the artist wrote it.


Jeff Buckley used to write poems and then put them to music, I can't do that but I do write loads and loads of lyrics and then see if I can scat sing them over a chord structure.


So in some cases I can claim that I wrote the lyrics before the guitar, but melody ALWAYS comes after the guitar part is written... For me that is.

[mestonf]

"writing songs is like being sick it just comes out!"

[cille]

i have a problem: i have loads of melodies and lyrics in my head (and on paper and recorded), but im really crappy at putting it to chords. i play the piano, nothing advanced, but i do know the basic chords, but how does one do it? any tricks? or should i just keep trying? i really think it makes the songs i have in my head sound crappier when i try to put chords on them smileys/smiley13.gif

[Andrew]

I play a lot locally and writing new songs has become somewhat of an addiction. Everytime i step outside and breath in fresh air i get inspiried to write a new song. i probably write 2 songs a week. usually i will write lyrics while i am writing the guitar part. sometimes i just write poems and write music to them later. i find it handy to carry a notebook wherever i go. I can never sit down and try to write a song, i just have to let them flow out of me. I used to sit there and force myself to write but itjust frustrated me and i was never happy with the results...but whenever you write a song that just pours out of you naturally then the finished product is always good.

[Livo]

i generally don't write music or harmony or melody or anything, but
lyrics come to me very easily. i was surprised the other day, i was at
my friend's house and she was writing a song and she actually had the
tab in front of her, needless to say i was impressed as i've never done
anything like that. but as i said, i'm fairly alright at lyrics so as
long as she can write the music i'm okay!

[MelodyMakerMan]

to pick the guitar up with the intent to write a song is silly for me - musical suicide. it just wont happen. what usually happens is i'll be jamming out some nice chord progressions or a tad of finger picking, and without even thinking i'll be humming out a melody.. and so i get the chord structure and song structure nailed in my head, think about the feel of the song... (in that i usually come up with a subject matter) then i'll come up with a melody, just by humming through. then put my guitar down and not go anywhere near it for two or three days, then pick it up, and if that melody and chord progression still interests me then i know i have essentially a good song, then i'll write the words usually be ad-libbing, then writing into it later..to makethe song a little more personal, interlectual, metaphorical... a good song can take me anything from 3 minutes to 3 months to complete.

[Michelle Joey]

Stars for all the song-writers smileys/smiley10.gifsmileys/smiley10.gifsmileys/smiley10.gif

[shane_b]

i write lyrics and poetry, best thing to do is just write on life expiriences, like something recently happened, just toss ideas in a book like a line or something of how u would explain what happened2 someone else, but without making it a story i dunno say a girl dumped u for another bloke rather than bein obvious and sayin "you left me n said it was over, u had another guy he has a rover" (lol) explain in a distant way like "you accepted my life, but changed ur mind, wandering eyes never to be looking at me" it opens doors for people to relate in different ways to your song, that's why crappy pop songs are not classics, cos they point out the obivious and don't let u make ur own decision

[Lazy Life]

I always write the lyrics first, then record the vocals on to my mobly phoney as a rough recording so if i ever forget the tune, i just play it off my phone. Then i start to write music weaving in and out and around the words, but one thing i always do is build up to the chorus (if i have one) i just strum the strings harder and harder so it gets quite powerful.... nice way to do it really, and i also write all my lyrics down in my mickey mouse notepad!!