Lyric writing tip #1

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hixmix

hixmix

Halibut, North Dakota
Listen to movie soundtracks(the instrumental scores, not songs). Especially soundtracks to movies you haven't seen before or haven't seen in a long time and don't recall every scene. Get out your pen and notebook and start writing down whatever comes to your mind.
 
lyric writing tip #2

Go to a food court in a mall. Order a lunch combo, and sit and watch people, listen to conversations, etc. for a good half hour.

Chris
 
Sharpen a pencil...
Open a cold one...
sit in a comfortable chair and veg out...................
Reflect on the past....
Write from your heart.......

Omit the cheese......




talk about muse :D
 
Attend a showing at a gallery or museum or pick up an exhibit guide to a showing at an art gallery for a particular artist or collection and look at the works and artist's descriptions. For me paintings or photographs of people and/or southwestern landscapes seems to inspire my writing. Books also work well for me.
 
Meet the most perfect woman in the world, fall deeply in love with her and then have a horrible break-up.....................

The songs produced may be sad but they will be melancholy "art".
 
Re: lyric writing tip #2

Chris Tondreau said:
Go to a food court in a mall. Order a lunch combo, and sit and watch people, listen to conversations, etc. for a good half hour.

Chris
Click to expand...

hey i have actually done this!!!!

nice...i thought i was the only freak


jamal..lol
 
no theres others...

freak here :P ..whats funny is when you start laughing or gasp at something they said..

as to the subject :)... I always feel you should write with someone in mind but make it general enough anyone could put there "love" in place of it. Like if you write to your wife then make it to where a 13 yr old boy could dedicate it to his new girlfriend or a 45 yr old man could dedicate it to his mom....just my 2 cents..

peace
 
I think what distinguishes a great songwriter from an average one is the ability to place yourself in a situation that your not in,or may never be in,and write about as though you were. I've always thought that a good song writer makes a great liar. I know if I only wrote about myself or people I know then my songs would get boring quickly.

Getting back to the topic,I've never sat around and listened to peoples conversations but I think thats something I need to try. Alot of my song ideas come to me right as im starting to fall asleep. There have been nights where everytime I start to drift off I have a line or idea popping in my head. Needless to say I dont get much sleep!

kev
 
the point above is a good one^^^^
try to conjure up old memories of times where meaningful things happened in your life .
or just drink, watch t.v and have a pen with you
 
I often find myself needing a starting poing. Sometimes as the first line (which I later rewrite), sometimes just as something to start the mind up on. I've found it helpful to use titles of books and records for this.
 
Re "starting points" - Does anyone else notice that the phrase which sets you to writing lyrics usually ends up being the hook or focus point of the song? Lately, that seems to be happening to me, or maybe, I'm just noticing it for the first time.
 
The singer from Firewater (Tod A) gets inspiration from going into this bar that no one hangs out and finds the most messed up looking person and converses about things with them ... a song is created ...

i started taking things that are pretty much never questioned ... and question them like in the new one i wrote about new years ...
 
The last song I wrote was called Chasing Sunsets....

I was watching the tube...
Having a cold one....

a commercial came on...

a guy listening to mellow tunage while sitting in a sports car....
on a desert highway.....watching the sun go down......

as the sun eased under the horizon............


he floored the sports car....
until.....
he caught up with the sun...
so he could watch it set again.....

he was chasing sunsets...

the hook is the hardest....
once you have that hook...you can build a song around it...
add your own feelings and thoughts...

it works for me...
Later,
Joe
 
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