Can you write lyrics at will?

I can't seem to write lyrics at all. I remember my first percussion arrangements were not wonderful, and guitar just too forever to learn. Now, I can more or less "freestyle" on guitar. My lyrics....are non-existant. Maybe should try writing something lousy first.

I still write lousy stuff. I'm having a hard time making myself finish stuff now that I'm between functioning bands, so the Songwriting Challenge gives me a goal and an excuse for why it's a piece of {censored}--I only had a month, and I had to create within some arbitrary parameters. It's liberating--give it a try!

I can come up with lyrical concepts pretty quickly. I usually write a few prose paragraphs to get it down in detail and then start stripping it down until I've got a crude lyrical format. After that I'll start playing with vocabulary until it flows and it doesn't sound like blatant first person narrative. That tends to be a trap if you are trying to get across some sort of philosophical message and you end up sounding preachy.

at will? no

most stuff i try to write sucks

i basically have to wait around for an idea to come. i know when it does, and then work with it

seems that when i force it, it ends up sounding forced

It also probably depends on what music style you are working with. Writing love songs can be a potential nightmare if originality is your goal.

Everything I write is through stream of consciousness. I don't have the attention span to sit down and go over things that I like. If I like it, I keep it, if not, I get rid of it.

I can write lyrics at will, although results may vary. A subject that entices me always helps. You should definitely try writing something lousy at first... but only if you can't write something fantastic instead.

Contrary to popular belief, nearly all writers sharpen their skill through writing a lot and developing their style, usually writing a lot of worthless crap in the process.

Even those that people worship as master wordsmiths had to develop their style through a long period of trial and error.

.........which is why I don't.

I await my muse, and when she speaks I get right to work.

Seriously, though, it is important to write a lot. The exercize of writing at will can really help prepare you for when a good hook comes along and needs to be fleshed out with captivating lyrics.

Nothing is more daunting to me than sitting down specifically to write a song. When that doesn't work for me I try and take the pressure off and approach it from a different direction.

Recently I've started carrying a notebook around with me, and writting down thoughts observations and feelings as I think about things in my life.

Sometimes just a single sentence. Sometimes poetic, sometimes not... but I find these scribblings end up being the focal point for more writting that can turn into a song.

You definitely have to write crap first. It's how it works. There might be good inspiration and ideas but in all likelihood they won't be put together all that well. But more likely, the inspiration will seem thin and the ideas already done. Don't worry. Just do it. It's a period you have to burn through.

When I started writing lyrics, I had already been writing what I considered serious poetry, doing readings, etc. And the lyrics I wrote were crap. (Rhyming was just so weird to me. I could barely write it down, it sounded so lame. But my experiments with non-rhyming lyrics weren't working for me, either. Turns out I just needed to write more. Of both.)

Since you already know it's going to be crap, that should take some pressure off. If the inspiration isn't top flight, that's OK. You're looking for practice at craft and you can do that with less than stunning inspiration.

The more you write, the better you will get. It will not be overnight. (Learning to play your instrument probably wasn't overnight, either.)

The more you put in, the more you will get out -- but it won't be instantaneous. The way it seems to work will be that there will be long periods of work and honing of craft that don't seem to produce huge improvements and then, one day, not quite out of nowhere, you'll have a breakthrough where a lot of the work you've been putting in comes together and you get something good out. Learn from that. But keep at work, because, basically, you're headed into another period of work and woodshedding before the next breakthrough.

You need to write all the time ,if for nothing else but to take out the garbage.I have stacks of garbage- a few are ok, the best song I ever wrote means nothing-poeple love that song ,go fig

oh, i do ... it's just that i don't expect much from it

i keep the odd phrase or image here and there and build it into "hot" songs

but in terms of finished product, "trying" to write almost never succeeds for me

crap 1st, sum times theres good in the crap tho

I used to sit and write lyrics without knowing how the music or melody was going to be and 9 times out of 10 they sucked. Over the past few years most of my better songs have came about by getting the music first. Usually what I do is sit down with my guitar and come up with all the music and arrange it how I want it to go. Then I record it onto my computer. Then whenever I'm surfing the net, writing emails, or what not I listen to the music over and over again. Then a melody starts to form. Then I mold my lyrics around that.

I'm not saying this is the best method, but it's been working for me pretty well.

I usually write the music first. The lyrics are the daunting part...I find it a challenge. However most of the praise I receive is for my lyrics. That is mostly becasue the only songs people hear are the ones where the lyrics have somewhat come together.

Some of the previous advice to write often, is bang on. Keep a notebook, write a lot and steal from yourself. I have, more than once, listened to an artists early (often unreleased) material and discovered that their later more popular songs revisited some early material lyrically.

Don't worry about perfect lyrics. Just get your basic concept rolling first The rest will gel over time.

yeah first off you got to write first. just write. blatantly riff on a theme by one of your fav bands (you will be anyways) and just write. I have tons and tons of notebooks from when i started writing back in the day 12-14 years ago even. I flip through them occassionally to see if I can glean a good line. its almost impossible out of all of those notebooks 99% of them are total {censored} and the good lines I have already used already!!!

You will develop an internal barometer for when you are "on to something" as you progress and only after you write 50-100 suuuuuuuper {censored}ty songs.

Play open mics and get some feedback. Often times playing in front of a crowd will get you feedback you didnt plan on.

Your favorite songs to you wont get a blink and the "other" one you picked to fill the slot because you had to play 3 songs on your set will get all the praise.

you truly never know.

Also heres the big one. READ BOOKS. James Joyce, Kafka, JL Borges, Joseph Campbell, Faulkner, Proust history, metaphysics, philosophy, sociology, scientific american, GQ, whoever whatever etc.

I have been reading a lot of history lately and have found some things to be profoundly inspiring, in kind of an indescribable way. Its like it puts "our" life in perspective and chills you out and gives you a broader picture of life and continents and cultures and major milestone human acheivements.

Like the baked clay brick. It was the first thing that man devised that would not erode with flood waters thus holding back spring flood water in the mesopotamian "fertile crescent" area, allowing for them to start the semblance of a civilization. A-{censored}ing-mazing if you ask me. something that simple.

you never know where you will find something that just blindsides you and leads you off on a tangent. If you find a phrase you like or a "thought' you like, write it down, try to find 5 different ways to express or say teh same thing.

And lyrical influence is just like guitar influence. It takes a couple of years some times before something you listen to a lot or read a lot filters through and manifests in your artistic world.

Heres some of my {censored}. This stuff is about a year old with an old band and a few mics thrown up in the room. the lyrics are on there if you click on the "lyrics" link.

Radar Mountain

Pleased to meet everybody and please,

Enjoy, hack away and tell me I suck!!!

I don't write nearly as much as I'd like to say I do, but it's never been a terribly daunting task for me to write lyrics. It takes effort, but for me, the most difficult part is actually making myself sit down and do it. Once I start, the ideas usually come.

What always seems to work for me is to have some idea for a theme or direction before I begin. I'll think of a title or concept and write the song around that. Rarely do I ever start without any idea of where I want to go.

I guess the key is to think about what you want to say first, and your mind will lead you toward ways of saying it. True--you can get lucky sometimes, but if you start with nothing, you're more likely to wind up with nothing.

I hear a lot of people echoing the things all songwriters approach at some time... among the more obvious is of course to write and write and write. If you haven't figured this much out, you're not a journeyman yet. Secondly though, and more importantly, is the concept of writing words to music or music to words.

This is something I've mentioned in a post or two, but I haven't seen that much discussion about it. It fits your topic well enough so I'll add a couple pennies about it. I started out writing strictly words to music, and I can definitively say that this is the easiest and generally best method for me personally. It solves a few problems for the lyricist right off the bat, particularly timing, key, and phrasing. I also find it easier to write in the 'mood' that the music suggests, rather than make music fit the mood of the words I wrote.

On the other hand, I've made a big point the last few months to write lyrics first. It's mainly in order to become a little more accomplished, but also to take the challenge so to speak... and there are advantages this way as well. I'm not locked into fitting a certain song or phrasing, I can write without the music dictating the intent or mood, and I don't lose so many ideas waiting for the right piece. I've had some success marrying music to the words, although not as much as words to music. It's more frustrating in some ways, but really, I run into the same problems each way, mainly working in breaks/bridges/changes that help the song along.

I can honestly say that either way is workable, and taking the way that works best for you is fine. On the other hand, if you want to expand your abilities, break out of the mold and try the opposite for a while. It can be a struggle, but it can also break old habits.

A lot of good points made here. I think attacking the creation of a song with different methods is good even if merely for brainstorming. Few things are as frustrating as having one workable method and eventually hitting a wall and not knowing any way in which to get the ideas flowing again.

Before I work on anything I come up with a concept about what the song is about, what kind of idea am I trying to get across or if I'm trying to invoke a mood without a lot of focus on underlying meaning.

If you're writing about war, death, a tranquil state of mind, nature, etc., you'll know pretty soon what direction you can take the song. You can use a traditional mood or try something odd ball too add irony or humor to something that isn't immediately associated with that topic.

At the moment I'm just brainstorming with the music and trying to get as many riffs and melodies I can come up with into the software program so I don't forget them. I've come up with a lot of song titles that will jolt my brain about what the original concept for each is supposed to be.

I'm still in the earliest stages of finding lyrics that don't completely blow, but as an example of how crap and quite weird some of my stuff is...

...a scribbling I found in an old notebook from last year is "...and he's eating beards again!" it was meant to be the bit just before the chorus comes in (and the song itself was to be called Land of the Bearded Tomatos)...ok...*backing away from myself*

Edit - the inspiration for this "song" came from when I was in a supermarket and noticed one of the tomatos had a long white mouldy-beard growing on it.

Sometimes you write what seems to be decent lines and it's smooth and all that, but does it intrigue the listener? Sometimes the answer is to throw a thought or observation into a line that is a little off the track, but makes sense after you've heard it. I love to add things like this to songs, it adds "zing".

Sure but they'll probably be crappy ones...lol....

I write a lot of lines before I get enough that can be used in a song.

At will. I remember working with an aspiring songwriter. He was getting kind of timid... I could sense him crawling back into a shell. I joked, "The lyrics? That's the easy part, all you do is say them. Then write them down."

We were drinking so my drunk self told me to illustrate with an example...

And I proceeded to talk out some lyrics, that while they clearly needed cleaning up and polishing, there was no denying that we had the beginnings of a song in our lap.

Since then I've tried to do that very same thing and it works. Don't take yourself seriously, don't be afraid of sucking, and just stop saying "don't" rather just do.

She's leaving and he's happy about it

I'm leaving and she's sad, no, she's pissed about it. Funnier.

I'm looking into the eyes of my child for the first time, and he's 15.

I'm drunk and got lost walking home.

Sometimes I wish I could just bomb away the crap, but then I'd be just like them.

I got a new car and I'm 16. It's a piece of crap only I don't realize it cause it's my first. To me... it's cool. Name the model and describe the car and its year so we visualize it's crapness. Fun. A flat black '92 Camry with ripped maroon fur seat covers!

There are a million things to write about and not being afraid to just spit out any old crap is the way to get the stuff that isn't just any old crap. Once you've got an idea, you can just sort of fill it in with the right words. And the right words will only come if you're not afraid of saying the wrong words first and you have the confidence to recognize the difference in the editing phase. But not while "Talking" them out. At first, just spew.

At will? I guess, yeah. But it's what you do with that "at will" stuff that makes great songs.