Song Formulas / Suggestions?

Just wondering if anyone else ever used specific formulas for writing tunes with their band.

With my last band, we used to formulate songs before we'd actually played them. I was curious as to how most people went about sitting around and actually writing a full blown song.

i myself have been in a personal block. i play metal, and just lately haven't been able to think of anything that doesn't already sound like everything else.

any suggestions?

I use a four-track cassette machine for simplicity's sake and record WHILE I'm writing.

I usually say to myself "I'm going to write a song today."

I'll either have some melody in my head and come up with a chord progression, or I might start riffing. When I hearing something interesting I'll record the riff/progression, whatever, with a drum machine, get a feel...

start humming, blabbering some lyrical hook lines from a notebook of lyrical hook lines. I can usually write a song in a few hours. Sometimes less. If it takes any longer, than it's probably not going to be a good one. Anyway, most of the components will be done-- verses, chorus, bridge, musical hook, counter melody,

Then I listen to the tape of overdubbed drivel....

If I think it has something special, I'll continue to craft it.

Anyway, that's what I do, and.....

I always remember what Paul Simon said, "Great songs are not written; they're re-written."

wow. that's interesting. i've never said even once 'i'm going to write a song.' that approach doesn't work too well for me. i can't really force it. every time i try, it sucks. (as a result, the dry spells are frustrating as hell!)

songs usually come from noodling with a guitar riff/piano riff OR the better ones for me come out of just singing to myself and getting a hook. (that's not as often as i'd like it to be)

i use a minidisk player and i catalogue every thought i get to keep organized. a lot of tunes come from listening to old ideas that didn't do much for me, but later, i really dug them and felt inspired to develop. IMHO, there's no more valuable thing for the songwriter than a good recorder to build a song idea archive with.

I usually just write down every little scrap of lyric that comes to me, and sooner or later, I wind up with two peices that will stick together. Then I let those two pieces decide what else they should have stuck to them. By this point, I've had what I've written so far start to congeal around a melody in my head. I approximate the chords to go along with the melody, re-approximate the melody to fit with the chords, then add anything else that needs to be added.

Song done!

Then the re-writing begins...

For inspiration, I usually go paging through the pile of journal entrys, Mexican restaurant placemants, and grocery receipts until two pieces jump out at me together.

Writing tunes for the band is as varied as the styles of music out there.

One thing my band (straight-ahead rock-n-blues) has been doing lately is trying to break our formulaic habits. We've forced ourselves to do a swing tune and a "Christian Revival" tune. Of course, the swing tune is all about cunnilingus and the Christian Revival tune is about "funbags" (some things never change).

Anyway, we don't know if we're going to use these, but it's a fun exercise.

So try breaking away from the norm, then when you come back to the genre you know and love, it'll be relatively fresh again and you'll think of new stuff.

Best of luck. Writing blocks suck.