Writing songs for the first time

Insect Overlord

Background info: I write poetry, play the guitar and have a fairly good singing voice. On New Year's Eve, myself and a friend spent a few hours jamming together to entertain the rest of the small party. I performed the one song that I've ever written, and got some good feedback. My friend with the guitar is a talented musician, and he informed me that he's put together some instrumental pieces.

So, ye might be able to guess where this is going We met up again yesterday and worked on the instrumental side of things, the idea being that I'd go home and write lyrics to go with the chords. My problem is that I've only written one song before, and that was mostly based on spur-of-the-moment inspiration. Now that I'm actually expected to do it again, I'm not feeling so confident!

I can sit down with a pen and paper and, more often than not, find an idea for a good poem, but that's never been the case with songs.

As a beginner, what techniques/ideas could I take on board to help me with finding a good writing process?

All replies/advice is welcome

charloman

I'm relatively new to all this myself but have been playing guitar and covering songs for about 8 years or so now, but in my opinion if you are already accustomed and have the ability to write good poems, then lyrics shouldn't pose a problem to you. Thats half of the battle. The other half of the battle is structuring them into song format. Obviously there is no right or wrong format to follow, but a catchy chorus always helps, somethin the listeners can latch on to and if its an upbeat song, then a chorus where they can join in. How many classic songs can you find with a 1 line chorus that is repeated a few times (eg All you need is love, all you need is love, all you need is love, love... love is all you need - obviously Beatles). All I'd say is don't get too bogged down and don't be afraid to make suggestions, even if they turn out to be bad ones in the end, at least it keeps your ideas flowing and your mind at work.

Whatever the rhythm is that you guys have worked out, structure your poems around these. May mean rephrasing things and a good thesaurus is always good to have beside you.

Stick with it. It'll be well worth the work you put in.

cufroige

charloman wrote: »

I'm relatively new to all this myself but have been playing guitar and covering songs for about 8 years or so now, but in my opinion if you are already accustomed and have the ability to write good poems, then lyrics shouldn't pose a problem to you. Thats half of the battle. The other half of the battle is structuring them into song format. Obviously there is no right or wrong format to follow, but a catchy chorus always helps, somethin the listeners can latch on to and if its an upbeat song, then a chorus where they can join in. How many classic songs can you find with a 1 line chorus that is repeated a few times (eg All you need is love, all you need is love, all you need is love, love... love is all you need - obviously Beatles). All I'd say is don't get too bogged down and don't be afraid to make suggestions, even if they turn out to be bad ones in the end, at least it keeps your ideas flowing and your mind at work.

Whatever the rhythm is that you guys have worked out, structure your poems around these. May mean rephrasing things and a good thesaurus is always good to have beside you.

Stick with it. It'll be well worth the work you put in.

Very good advice, I agree...

My2¢... Just keep writing & writing..you can always (and, most likely will) change the lyrics around as you progress...Keep the words flowing & don't be fearful.

A Dictionary, a rhyming dictionary & thesauras are a song writers best friends..

Listen to lyrics every chance you get, I mean REALLY listen.. I heard an Elton John song today & realised I was "listening" to the lyrics for the first time!!...the song was Daniel by the way

Record EVERYTHING you do, attempt to do, want to do & listen back..You may just blurt out something that'll write the song for you (if you know what I mean)

I find if I'm starting fresh on a song lyric that to sit & wonder what to write about more, more often than not is crippling. I usually hit record & sit strumming the music & mutter (in singing kinda way!) (oh god I sound brutal)non-words...Like syllables/words that sound like words until I find a nice rythm to work with then I start adding words here & there..if you know what I mean, I've come up with some of my favourite lyrics thru this process, I'll usually blurt out something, a phrase or whatever & sometimes that lyric won't actually make it into the final 'cut' but it started me off making the song..got things moving.. turned the 'music' into a song.

Certainly don't expect too much too soon. Don't let frustration get the better of you...because it is VERY frustrating. Think of each lyric as a draft & keep refining until you're happy that it sounds natural...

Also, I don't mean for this to sound condesending, as I was guilty of it myself in my early attempts at 'stunning' people.. Don't 'try' to be too clever, too amazing, abstract or kooky..Don't try to be Dylan, Marley or any other bob for that matter...just be yourself, even if you're writing from another's perspective, keep your own self present in that.

keep it simple, and do try tackling different perspectives if you can, an example being...

let's just say you're troubled by the War in Iraq.. You don't have to express that or write from a protesters point of view..You could use the war 'theme' anyway...
try turning it on it's head & maybe focus the lyric from the perspective of

1. G Bush (maybe he is sh1tting himself unbeknownst to us) hmmm yeah..
2. Mother/father/ sibling/spouse/child of Soldier
3. Men & women on the front lines (think all along the watchtower)
4. People making/losing money from the war
5. the fallout it causes at 'home', between families, neighbours, workers ..
eg...A song I was listening to today, Marvin Gaye "what's going on?" a song about war, from the perspective of love.. beautiful, powerful..a perspective from the streets...

Anyway...I blather..I hope it's somewhat helpful. :eek:
I also hope I don't sound like a know all...coz I'm Not...like!:cool:

Most importantly, the dictionaries & RECORD EVERYTHING!!!! you know how fast a great line can go out of your head!

P.S. Another deadly war 'theme' song I was listening to today..."holiday" by Greenday.. xcellent Lyrics

Whiskey Devil

Listen to and study songs you like for inspiration. Keith Richards once said 'the guys with the best record collections write the best songs'.

Judge your songs by your own standards.. listen back to them and ask yourself would you buy it - if not get back to work.


Great songs are crafted. I don't buy any of that 'That's the way I wrote it. I don't do second drafts' rubbish that I see a lot of online..


Find your own way of writing. Don't force it or write for the sake of it.

Good luck.

brendansmith

cufroige wrote: »

P.S. Another deadly war 'theme' song I was listening to today..."holiday" by Greenday.. xcellent Lyrics

Greenday write the best lyrics in the business when they are on form

Aridstarling

I thought the lyrics on Holiday were shocking, not a patch on most of the rest of the album. The only one worse was American Idiot itself, too bloody obvious. But Give Me Novecaine and Jesus of Suburbia made up for those.

Back to point, that sing along until you find a tune thing works pretty well, I have used it lots when I'm stuck.

Anybody who doesn't edit is either a genius or (and this is far more likely) an idiot.

Really its about finding a topic and working out what you want to say about that topic. Then bending those thoughts into a melody. As a poet you should understand that, I'd say its just the melody thats getting you bogged.

halfmoon

"The 5-Minute Songwriting Class"

Part I: The first thing is you need a good idea-I have lectured on that over and over here. Creativity is about process-the old "success is 10% inspiration and 90% perspiration" routine-but without that 10% inspiration the other 90% of your work is a waste of time. In fact, you can hire the "perspiration" part if you have the money-somebody will take your money and do all the necessary work for you if you know how to delegate and focus in that way.

But if you are a struggling artist chances are you will end up doing most of the work yourself too because you can't afford to hire somebody to be your "go fer." That is OK, as Robert Rodriquez repeatedly points out, the only way to really be sure you are getting what you need is to do it yourself. That means learning all the little "processes" in the overall big picture process-learning your instrument, learning your tools for recording, learning your business procedure.

But the initial spark is where it starts. Eddie DeGarmo told me that genius is defined by limitations-in other words, making what you have to work with work in your favor-do something on a low budget someone with all the resources in the world can't do because they don't have the focus for that. Find a creative way to solve a problem that no one could have come up with in any other way.

To find that magic "idea" I recommend a few exercises that again, I am sure you have heard before.

A: "Morning Pages"-direct from "The Artist Way" formula-you can do them in any way that works for you but the point is to get writing immediately in the morning while your brain is still connected to your creative subconscious and start flowing.

Working without interruption starting first thing in the morning gets more creative work done than anything else I have ever found-a close second is late at night when it is quiet and you are tired-the same process-connecting to that part of your creative self that is a bit left of your reasonable, rational normal thought process.

B: A similar process-the "Artist Date"-again, straight from "The Artist Way." Set aside time to goof off. Do nothing. Do what you want. Relax.

I know, you don't have time. Well, you can't force creativity any more than you can make time go backwards-it is a flow and you need to find the rhythm of it-it is in another dimension, a parallel universe-and you need to find it - sync to it-it will not find you through your will. It may smack you upside the head at any moment, but you can't control that. You have to be ready for it.

Part II: Do it. Write it down and record it. Use what you have, when you have it. Don't wait for the ideal guitar, perfect piano, latest software, newest recorder, machine, time, professional studio, whatever. Again, do it with what you have, when you have it. And do the very best you can do with what you have available. But also:

A: Lower your expectations. Some people never do anything because they have such egotistic perfectionist tendencies that they can't allow themselves to make a mistake. Get over that. Make mistakes. Fail. Learn. Do. Get better. Do it all again.

B: Have a goal-what are you going to do with the demo? What are you going to do with the finished product? What do you need to do to get it to that point and how can you do that now?

Part III: Mainly, enjoy the process of your work-enjoy the rush of the new idea. Enjoy the satisfaction of actually hearing a new part, a new line, a new creative way of doing something no one else has done-say the same thing in a fresh new way.

Entertain yourself-make your melody, your lyric, your demo something you want to experience over and over again and show to people you trust who appreciate you.

When you get there the other people will find you.

Class dismissed. Go write a song.

niallon

An File, it's interesting what you said about poetry. What turned me to songwriting was when I put music to one of my poems. After that seemed to go down well I started writing some instrumentals and seeing which of my poems would fit the music. Inevitably this turned out to be a terrible excercise as I was desperately fitting lyrics around a melody but it showed me exactly what I had been doing wrong. After that I started writing basic four chord songs and now find myself so sick of the that I'm branching out and trying new styles and sequences. It's all a "learn by doing" experience. But do bear in mind that at the bottom of it all, songs are essentially poems, except for a repeated chorus. When writing I'm usually as far away from my guitar as possible because I tend to get down to songwriting at the most inconvenient times and though I may have a melody in my head, it's all a poem until I play it.