Can anyone give me some tips on writing a song?

[Matt]

I need some help on lyrics. I can think up some really good tunes and things, but I really stink at writing songs. Any tips?

[Crash]

Practice, listen to lots of music, and actually pay attention to the lyrics in them.

Or go with cobains method, 10% sincerity 90% contradictions. Don't be too open with what you're trying to say and make sure you know what you want the lyrics to say before you start them. Learning to write good lyrics takes just as much practice as learning guitar so just work at it, look at what you've written see what you don't like and then fix it next time. Lots of practice.

[UGB]

I'm most comfortable writing traditional verse, verse, chorus, verse, chorus, etc.., but I've done a couple of songs that don't fit that mold, they just flow, maybe all verses and no chorus.

Try an exercise of writing totally new lyrics to someone else's song. Make your words fit the song and work to make you lyric as natural to the song as the original lyric. Try a parody; take a song and throw a comical lyric to it. Humor is subjective, but it gets you in the groove.

[Greyskull]

That's why I play guitar and write the riffs/arrange.
I let the singer do that stuff. Makes my life much easier.
I tell him there is one rule in the band - DON'T SUCK.
I don't care what he does as long as it sounds good and fits.

[GrungeGod]

smoke tons of weed, then try your luck

[joeinthebox1980]

Originally posted by Matt
I need some help on lyrics. I can think up some really good tunes and things, but I really stink at writing songs. Any tips?

as cliche as it sounds... you gotta write from the heart. and write about what you know about. write about how you feel. be original. avoid cliches. embrace the irony.

i dunno, sometimes you just gotta strum a tune on your guitar and start making up words... just start singing the stuff that comes to your mind and sometimes good lyrics come out of that.

or, you can embrace some sort of persona... pretend you're another character. or take someone elses point of view.

etc. etc. good luck! :)

[boyecho]

what comes first. the lyric, or the music...

i say screw it, i'm in an instrumental band.

[Epiphone8]

you gotta just practice like hell, dont expect to be able to write like thom yorke or kurt cobain from the off. you gotta just write and write and write and you'll gradually get better. i write most of the songs and music for band, but i been writing for 3 years. the trick is to listen to as much as you can (that is good well writtin songs, so pop music is usually a no-no. try stuff liek radiohead, nirvana, red hot chili peppers, pearl jam etc etc)

bobby

[Matt]

Yeah really, what does come first, the lyrics or the music? On the few occasions I have written a song I always wrote the music first... Any help?

[Epiphone8]

i usually get the words first, but if my bands singer write sa song he gets the music first. it depends really, soimetimes you can get a riff first and build lyrics around it

[malcom]

I usually write the music first, but I've never had one of my songs pass the "24-hour test." so I'd better stay away from giving advice.

[Crash]

If you can manage it I'd say write them at the same time. That way you're in the same head space the whole time.

That said I tend to write the music first, decide what the song is about from the mood of the music, and then write words that go with it. I have trouble making my lyrics very musical if I don't write them to music, either that or they end up being sung to the tune of another song which isn't any better.

[Matt]

Yeah, that has happened to me before, too. I try to write a song and then the tune ends up sounding like a Nickelback song or something...

[joeinthebox1980]

Originally posted by Matt
Yeah really, what does come first, the lyrics or the music? On the few occasions I have written a song I always wrote the music first... Any help?

i think that's up to you. whatever works for you.

sometimes the music and lyrics will just flow out together. sometimes the lyrics will pour out and you have to wait a while before you have a good tune to go along with it.

i start with writing a great tune and then put words to that tune. sometimes i'll have a good set of lyrics or at least something i want to sing about and try to come up with music for it.

also, trying writing music on different instruments... acoustic, electric, keyboard, and/or bass. that can give you a different look into writing songs.

[jonnyload3]

Here's what I do: whenever you go to a public place, be it work, school, or grocery shopping, take a small notebook and a pen with you. Listen to conversations people around you are having, then write down any catchy or meaningful thing they may say. For a song about a specific topic, relly less on what you hear and more on what you see. If you want to wrie a song about love, look for a couple holding hands and write down how that makes you feel or the first thing that enters you mind. Its just a matter of observation and listening. Also, its very easy to put what people say into categories, such as all the negative things into a negative category for really moody lyrics, or all the random things into a random category for really random lyrics. Everyone writes songs differently, and with their own blend of creativity, but just try this approach and see if it helps.

[UGB]

It's called 'finding you muse', your inspiration. It can be a phrase, an idea, an emotion, an event, a situation, a relationship, a car, anything can elicit the germinal idea of a song.

[Matt]

I think I'm gonna try to write some of those Kurt Cobain style songs until I get really good because those songs don't have to make all that much sense anyway...

[skip tracer]

listen to all bunch of different songs from different genres. make notes on key and time signatures, song structure, arrangment, rhyme scheme, etc.

also, do what others have said and keep a pen and pad handy. sometimes a phrase will strike you at an odd time. you can look back at notes later and write songs around them.

personally, i usually write a song and record it. then i just listen to it, and let the lyrics come from what the song makes me think about. but there really is no one set way of doing it. i just like building the melody on the chord progression, instead of the other way around.

[jacobhimself]

i have a few techniques i use that you might like. usually if im totally stuck ill just ask people in my band or friends or whatever whats a cool title for a song. then if i get something that makes me think then ill just write around that. i also dont think too much when i write, ill just chill in front of the tv and write, i also try not to rush myself, i have a few verses i REALLY like ive had written for months that i just cant get parts to fit with them. hope it helps and good luck..

[The User]

I have about a dozen notebooks full of scribbles scrawls poems songs phrases words graffiti bullsh*t and the like. Then I take the ones I like and re-arrange them to make a better sounding single song. Not on lyrical meaning, but on rythm, ebb and flow. Then I will hum them to my self and give them melody. Rhen Ill write a song and make up totally different words to it with a different rythm and melody. And I'll realise that I wasted my time making that great poem.

But chicks seem to dig poets.

[joeinthebox1980]

Originally posted by Matt
I think I'm gonna try to write some of those Kurt Cobain style songs until I get really good because those songs don't have to make all that much sense anyway...

try to be original! :)

you gotta stick with your style, whatever that might be... 'cause who knows? you might have a quirky style that can appeal to the masses!

[wihaga83]

bring a small recorder, and record any riff or licks you play that sounds good everytime you play your guitar... then mixed it up...

for lyrics, give the job to singer !

[TravisE]

You don't have to write a song's worth of lyrics before you start the song.

Since melody is what grabs the ear of your audience, I generally start with a line or two...or more if I've written them. I'll try to find a good melody to go along with the lyrics that I've written and go from there. That'll usually take care of a verse or chorus. When I have, say for example, a verse, I'll sing it and imagine the beat in my head and try to improv my way to a chorus. Alot of time this'll give me a head-start on the direction I want the chorus to go. If it flows natually from one to the next, more times than not, it'll be a smooth transition when played by your band. The best part about this is that it won't sound too thought out or forced.

[joeinthebox1980]

Originally posted by TravisE
....and try to improv my way to a chorus. Alot of time this'll give me a head-start on the direction I want the chorus to go.

yah! improvising with a basic theme or set of words is a great way to go. i try and let my mind not think too much and i just sing some stuff. and a lot of times, some good stuff spills out of my head. :)

[reallygeeky]

If you can write a decent melody but can't come up with lyrics you're happy with (sound too cliche, sound shallow, whatever the complaint), the biggest problem most people have is not being able to express themselves sincerely... the way to get over this is just to write. Not to music, but rather to write. Most great authors (poets, novels, even jounalists) write way more than you ever see. It's like coming up with a riff that you practice on guitar and throw out.

Keep a journal. Take a couple afternoons a week and go to the park and just write about what's pissing you off, making you happy, what you did that day. Don't just make a log but write in some sort of form. Somedays write essays, somedays write poems, somedays free associate. It's just exercise like practicing a scale.

Some of the stuff won't work for music but you'll have a much better feel for what it feels like to express yourself on paper. Maybe some of the stuff will work for music.

[TravisE]

Originally posted by reallygeeky
If you can write a decent melody but can't come up with lyrics you're happy with (sound too cliche, sound shallow, whatever the complaint), the biggest problem most people have is not being able to express themselves sincerely... the way to get over this is just to write. Not to music, but rather to write. Most great authors (poets, novels, even jounalists) write way more than you ever see. It's like coming up with a riff that you practice on guitar and throw out.

Keep a journal. Take a couple afternoons a week and go to the park and just write about what's pissing you off, making you happy, what you did that day. Don't just make a log but write in some sort of form. Somedays write essays, somedays write poems, somedays free associate. It's just exercise like practicing a scale.

Some of the stuff won't work for music but you'll have a much better feel for what it feels like to express yourself on paper. Maybe some of the stuff will work for music.

I'm sure this works well as an exercise, but for me it's very impractical. Keeping a book and writing all the time is just too time consuming. I don't really have the free time to go off and set in a park...not to mention that I don't look very good in a beret. :D

For me, the best way to exercise is to turn off the radio while in the car. While it takes effort to write these things down, your mind is always working. It's best to keep a mini tape recorder close by in case you come up with something that really catches you and can be used for a song or deserves the time it takes to get out the pen. Okay, so I'm lazy. ;)

[Greyskull]

Watch ****o ???
That might help...

[Hasting]

sometimes words mean nothing in a song it's how it sounds lots of times example listen to (understanding in a car crash)by a band called thursday the first time i herd it i had no idea what he was saying or what he was talking about but it did sound amazing then i found it was about a friend who died in a car crash and learned all the words.

[daveyboy]

Man, go Jim Morrison or Beatles!

Just drop some acid or do some mushrooms or some mind-expanding drug of the like and write about the ****ed up stuff you see!

That is, of course, if the pen and paper don't get in an argument with you. . .

:p :p :p

LOL J/K Dude I dont really mean that, although it always makes for some sweet songs!

[EviLTwiN]

good idea:

record some music, get a bit drunk late at night, so you don't have other bands songs stuck in your head, then sing whatever comes into your head and record it.

Then next day listen to it, and unless you're totally wasted what you sing about is in parts about something.... this can give you good ideas for lines etc, and especially the melody.

Then if you sit down sober and write a song about something, you're gonna borrow subconciously from stuff that you've got in your head, only instead of other bands songs you heard on the radio it's your own ideas from last night so its ok.

This makes it a hell of a lot easier to get started when you have a block., and i find that the stuff i come up with in the way is the only stuff i write that doesn't sound cheesy !

[joeinthebox1980]

Originally posted by EviLTwiN
good idea:

record some music, get a bit drunk late at night, so you don't have other bands songs stuck in your head, then sing whatever comes into your head and record it.


that's actually a VERY good idea. just have some drinks to get you a little tipsy... then chill and write and play music and what not.

[GDan]

In my diary I have a list of words I really like. A lot of the time I write down phrases f something good comes into my head but sonewords already have images, feelings and emotions atatched to them.

Recording your thoughts is useful, Everyone fels inspired at some point in their lives and when writing its better to refer back to a though you had when you were inspired rather than inspire yourself on the spot to do something great.

And giving ideas a little time also allows you to see what looks bad. Its been in my list for a while but have never found a use for the word "vasaline". It definate has some images asociated with it but not ones I want to put in any of My songs.

[Greyskull]

"Flys in the vaseline we are/sometimes it blows my mind/keep getting stuck here all the time"

"Vaseline"
Stone Temple Pilots

[spaceboy]

i think the hardest part to learn is when not to write music...A lot of times i just end up getting frustrated because i can't think of something original or something that sounds good. I play guitar about an hour a day, so I start to become bored of everything I'm playing. But sometimes when i go on vacation or something and don't play for an extended period of time, im just dying to get a guitar in hand and usually as soon as i do, thats when some of my best music has been written. During the long time you are away from your guitar you start to think of different inspirations and it all just flows out to your fingers when you pick up the guitar again. This works for me, i dunno how everyone else does it, but it's worth a shot!

[LesPaulStrat]

My band always writes music first wether it be on a piano or guitar or whatever then we just keep adding bits or taking bits away until we have the feel and sound we want.

Then the singer tries different melodies over the top in different timing to see what we like.

But I think songwriting is an art form

And you have to practise art to be any good at it.

Just keep writing and dont get discouraged

All the best

[EviLTwiN]

yeah, since my band started practising regularly it's gone like this:

me and bassist live close by, I play guitar maybe 3 hours a day, and one hour a day with him, and we come up with tonnes of ideas and record them roughly, messing around till we get a sound we like, then we play it for our singer, and she tries loads of different weird bjork melodies over it that i could never have come up with... then she takes the recordings away and tries to pick the best melody and write words... next time we practise we have the basis of a song to work on... seems to be working well... 6 really good songs in a month, and we only practise one a week as a whole band.

And how do you get bored of what you're playing? What you need to do is make up new stuff every single time you play (after having played all your actually worked out songs once through), and you'll never get bored... you are always looking forward to getting thru them so you can make new stuff up...... just make sure you record anything you like, and write a very basic tab to remind you how you did it, and that way you can always come back to the best ideas later.