songwriting: getting stuck

[Cougar Hunter]

 

Originally Posted by Ron Burgandy

Whoa, awesome insight in to your style, Broslinger. Doo Wop haha. Never would have guessed.

 

It's all about the melodies.

Take doo wop. play in 4/4. Slow it down to about half speed, and start trying random notes that are still in the same key. Drop D helps because it puts a lot of nice open notes in that match keys in which I'm playing. add fuzz, delay, and reverb.

[Zeppelin Rules]

I have lots of little snippets that I've come up with over the years. I find that sometime you can. Try really hard to shoehorn something in where it maybe doesn't belong, only to organically and spontaneously find that it fits perfectly with another idea.

[Zeppelin Rules]

I have lots of little snippets that I've come up with over the years. I find that sometime you can. Try really hard to shoehorn something in where it maybe doesn't belong, only to organically and spontaneously find that it fits perfectly with another idea.

[bass_n_drums]

There are many ways of inspiration. It can be playing when you're angry, sad, happy and etc. writing a song with direction will help you with what parts will fit for song. It's good to have the the fundamentals like : intro, verse, chorus, verse, chorus, bridge and chorus.

What works for me is jamming with a drum machine with a simple beat and noodle around having fun. If something comes up? I would continue using the drum machine to keep the fire going for more ideas. Never force your ideas out. They usually come out sounding like its....forced and you'll know it. Just come back another time.

It can take weeks to work and refine a song or even months to years. I have a song call" Long After..." I could never finish the way I wanted too in the beginning and tried to force parts in there. That didn't work out too well, so I left it alone for years...actually it had been 10 years until one day I toyed with it and was able to get what I wanted. It took another 2 months to refine it.

So be patient and just have fun just jam with it.

[bass_n_drums]

There are many ways of inspiration. It can be playing when you're angry, sad, happy and etc. writing a song with direction will help you with what parts will fit for song. It's good to have the the fundamentals like : intro, verse, chorus, verse, chorus, bridge and chorus.

What works for me is jamming with a drum machine with a simple beat and noodle around having fun. If something comes up? I would continue using the drum machine to keep the fire going for more ideas. Never force your ideas out. They usually come out sounding like its....forced and you'll know it. Just come back another time.

It can take weeks to work and refine a song or even months to years. I have a song call" Long After..." I could never finish the way I wanted too in the beginning and tried to force parts in there. That didn't work out too well, so I left it alone for years...actually it had been 10 years until one day I toyed with it and was able to get what I wanted. It took another 2 months to refine it.

So be patient and just have fun just jam with it.

[AdInfinitum]

I have two basic strategies for dead end riffs:

1. Record it so I don't forget it and listen every so often and see what happens after resurrecting it from time to time, i.e., improvise over it and after it:

2. Play the riff in your head and make up something in your mind. In some cases, you may have to figure out the part, but that's really how classical composers create - it is all in their heads and they just transcribe it down.

[AdInfinitum]

I have two basic strategies for dead end riffs:

1. Record it so I don't forget it and listen every so often and see what happens after resurrecting it from time to time, i.e., improvise over it and after it:

2. Play the riff in your head and make up something in your mind. In some cases, you may have to figure out the part, but that's really how classical composers create - it is all in their heads and they just transcribe it down.

[OverDriven]

 

Originally Posted by LoopQuantum

Spoken like an electronic music fan.

You and I have much in common. I do this too. I'll write 50 layers to a passage, then push and pull them in and out.

 

Haha yep. I also think it's because we both use Ableton and it's kind of conducive to writing that way

[OverDriven]

 

Originally Posted by LoopQuantum

Spoken like an electronic music fan.

You and I have much in common. I do this too. I'll write 50 layers to a passage, then push and pull them in and out.

 

Haha yep. I also think it's because we both use Ableton and it's kind of conducive to writing that way

[avenued]

 

Originally Posted by OverDriven

Here's what I do when I have something catchy:

1. Record the catchy part and loop it

2. Start layering other parts that fit over it as you loop it. Everything you can come up with - several bass parts, several guitar parts, different drum parts, keys, etc.

3. Once you have your giant sandwich of parts on top of each other, start pulling some of the parts out (on the timeline) to make different sections of the song. Maybe pull out one of the bass parts and one drum part and make that the verse for example and then you can sing over that.

4. To bring the song to it's peaks, bring more of the parts together to build a huge crescendo (the chorus usually). To bring the energy down, subtract parts.

This technique works REALLY well if you do it right. It's one of the best ways to quickly sketch a song idea out. After you have arranged everything and you're happy, go back and add in little details that will make the different parts seem more separate.

 

There ya go.As long as you keep it simple.You can write about gettin dumped then getting hit by a train.Or better yet,getting hit by a train then getting dumped.She's not stupid and you're gonna spend the rest of your life in traction.As long as you keep it simple...............

[avenued]

 

Originally Posted by OverDriven

Here's what I do when I have something catchy:

1. Record the catchy part and loop it

2. Start layering other parts that fit over it as you loop it. Everything you can come up with - several bass parts, several guitar parts, different drum parts, keys, etc.

3. Once you have your giant sandwich of parts on top of each other, start pulling some of the parts out (on the timeline) to make different sections of the song. Maybe pull out one of the bass parts and one drum part and make that the verse for example and then you can sing over that.

4. To bring the song to it's peaks, bring more of the parts together to build a huge crescendo (the chorus usually). To bring the energy down, subtract parts.

This technique works REALLY well if you do it right. It's one of the best ways to quickly sketch a song idea out. After you have arranged everything and you're happy, go back and add in little details that will make the different parts seem more separate.

 

There ya go.As long as you keep it simple.You can write about gettin dumped then getting hit by a train.Or better yet,getting hit by a train then getting dumped.She's not stupid and you're gonna spend the rest of your life in traction.As long as you keep it simple...............