HOW do you write?

M

Michaelyu5

New member
I've looked at the "why" threads and "how many" and learned from you all, thanks. I am curious, however, just how you all write your lyrics? I mean, do you set aside time for it, do you set a mood, via candles, incense, drugs, etc.. Do you carry notebooks with you and write whenever or do you wake up from sleeping (as I have once or twice) and jotted down thoughts that drift in. Do you sit with your instrument or do you work out melodies before? Can you do it in a public coffee house or work place lunch room? Im curious to see how you all work and if you find anything that calls the muses to you.
I have notebooks and have basically sat down with my acoustic and strumed and came up with a melody and then thought about a particular topic or issue in my life and asked myself "how do you feel about this..." Other times, I have thoughts or words come into my mind and jot them down and transfer them later. In my notebook, I have a page "phrases" of lines and sentences I have said or typed to friends that have poetry to them. I add them and look back to that all the time to see if I can use them. I also use a rhyming dictionary and found that to be ok...although I mostly need more time I guess to dedicate to it. I leave in 2 weeks for a drive, solo, across the US from So Cal to Virginia and Im looking forward to hopefully meeting the muses on the road....Im pretty psyched....Any response is appreciated...
Take care,

Michael
 
Hey Mike,


Good question, there is really no way off the table. Here is brief outline of the ways I do it:

- While driving - I have the music playing that I need to write lyrics to and I have a small recorder going.

- I've sat down in the studio and it comes to me and then sometimes it doesn't

- When I go to sleep ( I recommend you go to sleep with the lyrics on your mind I guarantee your best writings will come at this time the problem is you need to get up and write it down, and if your like me your now up till 4am wit your mind racing)

- My best friend is a rhyming dictionary (we are one)

- As far as singing in public places goes ummmm. Yeah, I pretty much don't care so if I got something on the brain I'll go ahead and spit a few lines, but I'm a rap artist so sometimes the content isn't pleasing to others around me, but then again I live in America so I don't give a fuck.

- A notebook is good too! I have one but don't carry it wit me I perfer the small recorder then transferring later I can't tell you how many lyricist I know that did the notebook thing and then forgot it somewhere. The problem wit the notebook is ALL YOUR work is there.

Hope thats what you're looking for
 
My writing comes about many ways. Sounds similar to you.

My best ones seem to fall together rather quickly, both the music and the words. At least with the main ideas. It is good to keep a recording device (My mp3 player records) and a tablet around, you never know when it hits.

When I try to "write", unless it is more like... finishing touches.... and verses..... they don't sound as good. The more I tweek things, the less I end up liking the song in the long run.

Songs are like chics. You never know exactly when you'll stumble on a good one. But if your looking, well you'll end up with bad ones. IMHO.

Sometimes I'll hear the start of a great melody and it gets ruined by a wierd move. ANyway, I like to take those sometimes andjust.... develop them how I would have. Surprisingly, they always end up sounding completely different from where the idea was from. Something as simple as a commercial jingle can give me ideas.

Messing around with the guitar lends itself to writting too... you'll come up with something and next thing you know you are making up words over it.. just record it or have a fast writting hand.
 
blackbuck said:
Songs are like chics. You never know exactly when you'll stumble on a good one. But if your looking, well you'll end up with bad ones.
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That's hilarious!

I write any way that the mood takes me, though I seldom set aside time or light candles and such. I would if I felt like it, but most of my lyrics come on thier own no matter what is going on. I tend to have more success writing the music and the lyrics at the same time since one will often inspire the other. I don't keep a notebook around but that's likely because I'm always around a computer and just type the ideas in as they come.

Every time I try to write a song I end up with garabage. There might be a few ideas that can be salvaged and used somewhere else, but the song itself it garbage. If I am inspired and the song starts to flow, though, there is almost nothing that can stop me.

I also do a lot humming and singing in the car. I have actually spent the entire 3 hour drive to Seattle working on one song and stopping at rest stops to write things down.

Take care,
Chris
 
All different ways -

Well, for me, most songs come from a guitar or piano riff - that sets the tempo and mood, and the sound of the song sets up the words. Usually a chorus, or a hooky verse. Something that defines the whole song.

Sometimes, a general idea for a song comes, and then I do music to it later. I have a page of just sketches for songs, usually just a few thoughts.

Very occasionally, a song on the radio makes me think, "oh yea mr. big rock star, have you ever considered...", and you write a reply type song.

My 'love' type songs are almost all attempts to write realistic songs about relationships, as I think all the saccharine vomit-inducing perfect-love ballads are more damaging to relationships than anything else. Everyone growing up on those songs thinking that love will be perfect, that your emotions will be so hightened by the perfect whatever - love, wife, husband, kiss, marriage, dance, etc.

When I'm working is usually when I work on the songs. It's not practical to carry a notebook, at least at this job. Two jobs ago, I was steam cleaning carpets, driving around the city in a big van, so I could stop and jot down the words sometimes. This job (a nursing guy in a veterans home) I can't carry a notebook, but there is a piano so on my lunchbreak, I can sit down and actually try the songs out.
But overall, when I'm doing some menial task is when I can work out the lyrical and melodic details, singing the song to myself. If it's really good I'll remember it.

Some songs are a lot of work - the song a few posts down from here (if it's not bumped yet!) was quite a long time between the idea (the chorus) and getting all the words down - maybe a month or two. And it's still not done!

So far, only one song has ever come out almost fully formed. And I think it's my best one, at least from a songwriting standpoint. It's called 'Stephanie', the words and music are at my crappy homepage. Check it out if you want. I'm trying not to spam, but illustrate the following anecdote.

This song came directly from the heavens, or my subconcious, or was a reward for having spent years trying to put words to music. I was steamcleaning an apartment, and the lady wasn't there, I just got the key from the manager, and was cleaning the carpets. I was looking at all her stuff, and thinking "What kind of person is this? Who could live like this?". Then I thought, "And what kind of boyfriend would she have, anyway?". I thought about it some, and realized exactly what kind of person I thought she was, and I knew EXACTLY what kind of boyfriend she would have. Luckily I was playing the guitar while thinking all this, and the song pretty much wrote itself.
 
Good points, Chris. I seldom am able to just sit down and work on something intentionally and get something good. Then again, I've been able to come up with some killer music like that, just the words/etc don't work well with it.

One thing I have found usefull while NITPICKING an already nearly completed song is the computer. For example, I can arrange the song in acid, and actually try different stuff out (ie, an extra long chorus, bridge, extra verse, solo, etc) and see immediately how it sounds. At this point though I'll be also picking out the differences with slightly different wording to see the effects. It takes time to sit on it.
 
Really intersting...I guess Ill agree with you guys when I think that the time I try to set aside doesnt go well. I also always end up playing around with my guitar and get a little riff and take it from there. But, again, I think of what I heard once from Jill Sobuel (sp?) in an interview and she said, as an exercise, she would read the paper every morning and write one little song about any story that caught her fancy. This helped her develope her craft. She then played a song about that teacher lady that got knocked up by the 15 year old kid, written as a love song from HER perspective...it was crazy and I loved it...and she got it just as an exercise one morning....
I am thinking that I should experiement with the process as much as possible to shock my mind into thinking and working with words...
Im off now to sit down with the guitar in the "studio" (closet) and work on some of the 4 songs I have presently started....thanks...again,

Michael
ps...Im going to invest in a little recorder to carry with me...that will be a good change...
 
I noticed that most all the posts mentioned the melody being developed before the lyrics. For some reason, I do it backwards, I write the lyrics and then fit a melody around them.

I guess it is because I am wired differently, but when I come up with melodies and no words, I never seem to get lyrics to fit. I also think that I will come up with lyrics mostly when I am away from my piano or guitar and I want to write them down before I forget them.
 
Sonic Misfit said:
I noticed that most all the posts mentioned the melody being developed before the lyrics. For some reason, I do it backwards, I write the lyrics and then fit a melody around them.

I guess it is because I am wired differently, but when I come up with melodies and no words, I never seem to get lyrics to fit. I also think that I will come up with lyrics mostly when I am away from my piano or guitar and I want to write them down before I forget them.
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Naw, you arn't wired too different. :) I do that sometimes too.

I kinda think of it as a give and take.....
 
Melody/lyrics/chord progression/focus/inspiration/deadline/setting time for writting/mu as an impetus are all yes and no.

One thing I try not to do is let any of the above slip by. I try and save lyrics and concepts and melodies regardless of present circumstance.

I'm a cook and my chef got use to the idea that when I was ,scribbling feverishly on an old ticket during the rush or humming the same physco shit over and over for 12 hours, it was because I had to.
He also realised that I could get the food out while entertaining my demons.

I've no formula, Just a pressure that builds up and I know it will be released (temporarily) by a new song.

Theron.
 
as far as setting the mood...

I used to be under the impression that extreme conditions helped fuel creativity. I would deprive myself of sleep, and try to get my mind acting wierd(without drugs...). But I later learned that that was really dumb.
While my mind WAS really coming up with odd ideas I was to out of it to transcribe it into any physical medium.
I know that Marilyn Manson along with his guitarist(one of them anyway) wrote all of AntiChrist Superstar in 1 week of no sleep! They stayed awake for 7 days in a row simply writing music. That would be fun to try... :)

I like to set the mood now by writing only when I have plenty of rest and am feeling happy and good. Even if the songs are all emmotional and somtimes sad or angry(which they usually are...).
I bought a red lamp from spencers and a black light and lava lamp. Those help get me "in the mood".
 
inspiration vs. perspiration

hello there
i haven't been on this BBS for <AGES>/// good to see some new people. :)

i like the post about Jill "forgot-her-surname". Not sure who she was/is, but the idea of writing regularly and purposefully is a really good one. I know one of my favourite songwriters, Brad Roberts of the Crash Test Dummies, does that. He sits down and writes a song, or at least a really good deal of one. I don't think it is about 'getting lucky' and 'finding' a good song, but writing IS an art form, and it needs to be practiced and practiced until you understand the process... until you understand why you want to be a songwriter... until you understand what a songwriter actually is . I don't think it is all that obvious. I always wonder what makes a good song (and don't tell me, "A good melody" or something.) (and I don't like using rhyming dictionaries... they help you finish the lines and the song... but it leaves an artficial aftertaste in the lyric)

writing (songs, or whatever takes you by the hand and secretly calls you "daddy") is a craft. and seeing that this thread started out about lyrics, let's discuss those. if you look at some of the people that have made their mark as lyricists, they seem to be able to turn it on and off at will. this is not only because they are naturally talented, but it is because they have written hundreds and hundreds of songs, though not necessarily releasing them all.

i really like marilyn manson's method (didn't know about that!). never done it, but i'd like to. anti-christ superstar, IMHO, is a classic rock album, whether you like the lyrics or not. i love it.

i've always thought that being a good writer and a good musician requires two things: technical ability (natural AND studied), and a relevant, useful state of mind. the latter is more important to producing a lot of material.
i wouldn't say that i am a very good writer. not yet. i am young and still learning. i can't suggest "techniques". but i can suggest a couple of things that will make you a good writer. but here is what I think anyway:
READ A LOT ... lyrics, books, newspapers... pay attention to the words and how they are chosen and put together, and what a difference it makes! you can't expect me to listen to/read & appreciate your lyrics, if you aren't prepared to find out about writing and if you don't show an active interest in your own field! you can't have opinions if you don't know everything there is to know of what you're talking about. you have to study writing to understand it. to understand that it is art. you should always be reading a book..... and try to finish them even if they are crap!
WRITE SERIOUSLY AND CAREFULLY... anyone can string some sentences together and get them to rhyme using a dictionary. anyone can put a melody over some chords. you have to try make each of your songs special and unique.
BE A WRITER ALL THE TIME... not only when you are with your band, or at home with your instrument, or with your buddies. there is nothing worse than a half-assed musician/writer wannabe who doesn't have the conviction and won't make the effort to take music and lyrics seriously. music is fun, but it is not a joke.

jeez. this turned out to be really long, and it reads like a bit of a rant! wasn't meant to be. but there you have it.

cheers
 

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Not a rant...exactly what I was hoping to see...
That artis, Jill Sobuel...or something had a one hit years back called "I kissed a girl"....it was a somwhat annoying song to me...ha...but the interview I heard of her in San Diego was great (she may be from there).
Finding the 'mood' was another interesting point.. Sleep deprevation is one thing but I know that actually being hungry, sharpens your state of mind. Fans of Sherlock Holmes may know that in the books, he would lock himself away in a room and fast and some even said refered to doing coke to sharpen his mind. I dont know...
But, I couldnt agree more with what you said last post about reading and hearing words and how they are put together in media and around you. That is important, I believe too.
 
Michaelyu5 said:
I leave in 2 weeks for a drive, solo, across the US from So Cal to Virginia and Im looking forward to hopefully meeting the muses on the road....Im pretty psyched....Any response is appreciated...
Take care,

Michael
Click to expand...

Take the back roads. :)
 
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