I need a couple suggestions...

C

cbrrecords

New member
Hey Everyone!

This is my fist post, but Ive been stuck ina rut for the last while. So any suggestions would be great. I have wrote a couple songs a while ago, and they have been on the radio and such, but I lost EVERYTHING!! I cant get my brain into the mode of writing songs. Is there any tips you guys can say.

Also, when you guys write songs, how do you write them, do you write lyrics first, music first or just write to a drum loop? Would you guys know where I can get drum loops?

Basically, the type of music I want to write is Emo style, ie, Daphne loves derby, dashboard confessional, mae etc. Any kind of help will be great.

Ciao :) :rolleyes:
 
Music first. I turn on the drum machine, and start diddlin' on guitar and develop a structure, then I fill it in. Seems like a lyric idea pops up somewhere in the process.
 
good luck

Yeah i write music first too..start messing around on the guitar to some drums or if I have an idea lready on guitar I'll write the loop so i can expand on it.

To get over writers block you need to try to power through your ideas with out being critical. You will stumble on stuff eventually that you really like. I hate writers block! I've been there...just keep writing and finish your projects w/o judgment. good luck
 
There is definitely no right or wrong way to do it. In fact, there are as many different ways as you can imagine.

Some people will say that you should write & play every day, documenting everything that you do. Write about anything and everything. Then, edit, edit, edit to distill out the few really good ideas.

I'm more of a "write only when inspired type." It could be just about anything that gets me going. Usually, it's an idea, word/phrase, or feeling/emotion that gets me started. Maybe something I saw on TV or a movie, or something from a conversation that seems interesting. The key is being open to ideas from the world around you. I try to always have a pen and paper handy to jot down words, phrases, ideas, emotions, etc. I have lots of little yellow sticky notes with song titles and lyrics on them.

Once I have an idea of what I want to write about (the emotion I'm trying to convey in the song), I start jotting down lyrical ideas. To me, lyrics are the key to a good song. Sometimes the music comes first (I'll be playing on the guitar and a melody or lyric will come to me), or a melody in my head, but 9 times out of 10, it's lyrics or a title first for me. Once I have a verse or two of decent lyrics, I go to the guitar (acoustic) and start trying to figure out how I want to convey the lyrics, musically.

I work to make the music fit the lyrics, and vice versa, editing as I go, until I have a pretty complete song (lyrics, vocal melody, and chord progression). Then, I lay down a scratch track of the song with guitar and vocal. Wait a few days. If I come back to it and it still works for me, I'll start composing parts for other instruments and fill out the arrangement. If it doesn't work for me, I'll continue editing, or cannibalize the best parts for another song.
 
You've had songs on the radio and your asking us for help? No comprendo...

But to answer the question, just experiment. Try with a new instrument first each time, try writing first, whatever feels right. If nothing does, I guess your creativity went on hiyadis (or however you spell it)
 
For me it's different all the time. Somtimes it's words first, just because I'm somewhere without a keyboard or guitar, and sometime I sit at the piano.

Lately I'll create some loops and use some sounds I've never used before and come up with something fresh.

A good place for drum loops is Drums on Demand. Do a google for it. I bought 4 or 5 volumes and they sound really good. They have many styles. They even have some where they give you the individual drum tracks so you can process each drum seperately.
 
read a book, watch a film, travel to somewhere new!!! buy some cds, something different from what you normally would. pick a subject and write a poem about it, cant find the words, invent some new ones, peracumbibliation....thats a tingle down the spine.....its easy. join a club, learn a language, get out there and fill your creative well in every and any way you can.
 
i write guitar first then i listen to it on a home recording then i write drums bass and then my freinds and i play the music while drinking around a campfire with the video camera on. (this is how ive come up with lyric for 3 of my nine songs)

just started writing this year
 
I usually get a lyric line or two first, frequently the melody is simultaneous or immediately follows. It's the rhythm and cadence of the lyric that sets the melody going for me, although occasionally I get a drum beat in my head first and fit the lyric to that rhythm. (I've got a tequila drinking song like that--started with a mariachi/Mexican sort of beat in my mind, and went from there.)

After the first line or chorus or verse, the rest is pretty much work.
 
I think the longer one writes the more methods/techniques one learns. Haing written for a while I find that sometimes the lyrics come 1st and sometimes it's a riff or chord progression that comes 1st. Sometimes I write on guitar and sometimes on keyboard. Sometimes a tune pops in my head while driving, etc. etc. etc.

I am a believer that a good writer tries to write every day (rather than wait for the muse to hit). I know I've written a few hundred songs of which only a handful are good - but I would not have the good ones if I didn't write a lot of poor ones.
 
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