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How do you write songs? (sorry for this lame title) lol


grace_slick

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How does your songwriting spark generally start?

 

Do you get inspiration from walking down the street and seeing something interesting, sad, funny or weird, and then go home and aim to specifically write a song about it?

 

Do you sit down and have no prior concept of what to write about but just fiddle with chord progressions and instrumental sounds to inspire you, and then does an idea for a proper song come?

 

Do you pretty much create a whole song but still have no idea what it

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Figured I'd post this in your thread so you can see it!

 

To answer your queston... I write lyrics first - almost always a story of some kind. Then I pull the melody out of the words - using the meter as a jumping off point. Melody is usually just something simple. I'm not a technical wizard and my songs are meant to be easy to play and remember. I record phrases/melody lines from the lyrics piece by piece on my cassette recorder so I don't forget them. Then I sing them over and over until I have the whole song written. The key is just whatever suits the song and my vocal range. Then I pick up my guitar and figure out the chords that match the key/melody on the cassette and build the accompaniment (chords/riffs/intro/endings).

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For me it's all about what I call "Vampire Killers" - which are melody's so strong and definite that they're instantly recognizable in just a few notes. If anyone is wondering, the term is taken from the Castlevania videogame series. At the core of things, I try to emulate the strong melodies of the 8 and 16 bit videogame music that I grew up listening to. Once I have one of those I take a "third stream"/free jazz approach to variation and theme development. Only after the music is composed do I think about lyrics.

 

On the lyrics end of things, since writing a song about one thing is boring to me, I pretty much write the fallout of different events that happen to me over a period of weeks or months. A diary of sorts.

 

All in all thats how I do things*

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

*All of this goes out the window on a whim if the situation calls for it.

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Probably 90 percent of the time, it starts with a phrase, a few words that pique my interest. I have notebooks (well, actually text files these days) full of them and I'll go through them looking for the spark of inspiration. And then, off I go, words, music, springing from that. I rarely actually know where it's going to go!

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I don't often sit down to write them.

 

They generally come to me. I'll pick up the guitar and there will be something new happening. I'll play it for a while and see what comes from that spark. Usually a phrase will come to mind as a seed lyric and I'm off and running.

 

There is always a microphone ready to fire up as I tend to have to catch these tunes at odd times.

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These days I spend a lot of time driving (2+ hours per day) so I try to use that time to think about things.

 

But as far as actually writing, well, I sit down to write a song and then I write one. Many times they suck, but that's part of the process. Chicken Monkey used to have a good quote about how carpenters don't complain about being blocked when they have to build a chair, so why should songwriters be any different.

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Hmm, that's a great thing...that quote about carpenters. Very interesting.

 

I was wondering before if I wrote what I, and others, considered to be a dud, or several duds, would I lose all confidence and be distraught at my lack of songwriting and musical skills...and yes, I would. How do you get over that? I sort ot thought about someone like, say, Stevie Nicks. She's written THOUSANDS of songs, and a lot are quite...crap really. lol. And I can say that because I LOVE her and think so many of her songs are gorgeous and fantastic, so...I guess that gives me reassurance.

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There are three basic questions in a songwriter's life ...

 

1. How do you write songs? This is only asked by beginners and fans.

 

2. When/where do you write songs? This is only asked by loved ones and employers.

 

3. Why do/did you write songs? Your present answer will not be your future answer.

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The "spark" for me always comes from the instrument. I noodle around with things on the guitar; hear something unique that I like; and build it musically from there. Once I have something going, I ask myself, "What does this want to be?" Then I hunt for a subject matter and/or a story.

 

At the same time, separately, I save little snippets of verbal inspiration away on a computer document in an "ideas" folder; things I'd like to write about. Then when I come up with something musical, I search the "ideas" folder for something that might match up with the musical tone.

 

On rare occaisions I'll get a lyric from somebody else and put music to it. That's been interesting and satisfying. (At least then you know then there's at least one other person who wants to listen to the thing). But I never write a lyric first myself and try to put music to it.

 

But many people do.

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The last 5 songs I've written (or started - some are still cooking) were done in my car, driving to work. A melody and some lyrics just kinda pop in my head and it plays over and over in a loop. I change the words in the loop as I go until it is something I wanna take further. I then record the idea on my iphone, take it home and when I feel like it I put it to music.

 

I also write songs that start with guitar music (just jamming on the guitar) where I write the riffs that make up the verse/chorus etc... Then I put a melody and lyrics to it after recording the rough idea.

 

I'm very VERY sure that Bruce Springsteen writes a lot of his songs the first way - melody and lyrics first and then music after. I think this because he has so many different versions of some songs with totally different arrangements/music/tempo. Basically searching for the perfect picture. The music is the frame and the lyrics/melody is the picture.

 

I am reading Keith Richards biography and they wrote most of their songs the second way. Keith would come up with the main riff and a chorus or verse (I think it was mostly a chorus and maybe a verse). Then he'd give that to Mick and he would come up with all the rest of the lyrics and melodies.

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