fraserhutch
Flypaper for freaks
You mean this?:famous beagle said:Hey!! I already said that on the first page!
Not even remotely the same this, if you ask me..... but whatever.
Where to get started in song writing
- Thread starter mrje1
- Start date
Not even remotely the same this, if you ask me..... but whatever.
Sterling30
New member
ibanez468 said:
This is what true songwriter use???
Really?
Using it for all my lyrics. Thats where I store them and create them. Simple love that software.
Nightfire
Aspiring Idiot
Ok, there are so many different methods of songwriting its hard to begin.
1) get a personal handheld recorder and whenever you think of a sweet line, short philosophy, witty comment etc. anything you like, get it on tape ASAP. Same goes for a melody you may come up with, tape it cause you will forget it by the time your home...trust me. During work I often think of the most random things and come up with sweet one-liners that would work well in lyrics, but always forget them.
2) get a notebook and pencil. Same principle as 1.
3) get into the habit of writing often. Write as much as you can, and dont worry about writing crap songs. You may have to write 25 bad ones before you write one good one.
4) experience with different styles of music until you found where your songwriting heart is really at, then stick with it.
5) do songwriting exercises. Clip newspaper stories, pictures that insipire you or you like, people you know or wish youd know etc. and write a song about them (just lyrics, no music yet) until you found ones you really like, then put music to them.
6) get a piano or keyboard and start playing around on it, very easy to make melodies on them even though you dont know how to play them.
7) Take an exisiting song and write new lyrics for it.
8) Take existing lyrics and write a new melody for it.
9) Keep it simple at first, many if not most great songs use simple 4 chord progressions.
10) Dont worry about arrangements (solos, intro riffs, bass lines etc.) at first, you'll get overwhelmed. Get your basic chord structure and melody first, then build on that.
11) Sing in the shower...no joke.
12) Improv. Sometimes I come up with a little melody and have no words. I hit the record button and start singing it with improvised words. I find that I usually sing one or two lines that work really well with the melody that I keep around for the final version.
13) Remember, anyone can take 4 chords and force a melody over it. Thats probably what your first songs are gonna be like, and dont be discouraged. After a while you get a better sense for what works and what doenst.
14) Put yourself in someone elses shoes and write a song from their perspective.
15) Keep a binder or container with every picture, newspaper article, mag cutouot, unfinished lyrics etc. that inspire you or have been part of songwriting. Go through it every now and then and you may find that you can come up with a melody for those unfinished lyrics, or a certain picture might speak to you at that moment etc.
etc. etc. etc.
1) get a personal handheld recorder and whenever you think of a sweet line, short philosophy, witty comment etc. anything you like, get it on tape ASAP. Same goes for a melody you may come up with, tape it cause you will forget it by the time your home...trust me. During work I often think of the most random things and come up with sweet one-liners that would work well in lyrics, but always forget them.
2) get a notebook and pencil. Same principle as 1.
3) get into the habit of writing often. Write as much as you can, and dont worry about writing crap songs. You may have to write 25 bad ones before you write one good one.
4) experience with different styles of music until you found where your songwriting heart is really at, then stick with it.
5) do songwriting exercises. Clip newspaper stories, pictures that insipire you or you like, people you know or wish youd know etc. and write a song about them (just lyrics, no music yet) until you found ones you really like, then put music to them.
6) get a piano or keyboard and start playing around on it, very easy to make melodies on them even though you dont know how to play them.
7) Take an exisiting song and write new lyrics for it.
8) Take existing lyrics and write a new melody for it.
9) Keep it simple at first, many if not most great songs use simple 4 chord progressions.
10) Dont worry about arrangements (solos, intro riffs, bass lines etc.) at first, you'll get overwhelmed. Get your basic chord structure and melody first, then build on that.
11) Sing in the shower...no joke.
12) Improv. Sometimes I come up with a little melody and have no words. I hit the record button and start singing it with improvised words. I find that I usually sing one or two lines that work really well with the melody that I keep around for the final version.
13) Remember, anyone can take 4 chords and force a melody over it. Thats probably what your first songs are gonna be like, and dont be discouraged. After a while you get a better sense for what works and what doenst.
14) Put yourself in someone elses shoes and write a song from their perspective.
15) Keep a binder or container with every picture, newspaper article, mag cutouot, unfinished lyrics etc. that inspire you or have been part of songwriting. Go through it every now and then and you may find that you can come up with a melody for those unfinished lyrics, or a certain picture might speak to you at that moment etc.
etc. etc. etc.
You don't say whether you play an instrument.
If not, start. You can write a song with 3 chords. Develop from there.
It is possible to write songs without playing anything, using loops and electronic drums - but it will be limiting I think.
Get used to writing lyrics to music. Don't write poems and then add music later. It is possible to write music to pre-written lyrics, but it helps if the lyricist understands what works musically. Try writing new words to a song you know, for example.
Keep it simple. You don't need lots of words, and they should read easily. You just need the right words, words that suit the music and are singable.
If you want to develop, there is a very helpful community at Muses Muse .. http://www.musesmuse.com/forums/index.php
Good luck with it.
If not, start. You can write a song with 3 chords. Develop from there.
It is possible to write songs without playing anything, using loops and electronic drums - but it will be limiting I think.
Get used to writing lyrics to music. Don't write poems and then add music later. It is possible to write music to pre-written lyrics, but it helps if the lyricist understands what works musically. Try writing new words to a song you know, for example.
Keep it simple. You don't need lots of words, and they should read easily. You just need the right words, words that suit the music and are singable.
If you want to develop, there is a very helpful community at Muses Muse .. http://www.musesmuse.com/forums/index.php
Good luck with it.
Freudian Slip
New member
I don't know where I am starting until it's done. Usually it ends up that I have written the chorus first. It all starts in my head. Then I usually run and grab a guitar just so I can see the chords so I won't forget the music, then comes the pen and paper or ms word.
I usually don't worry about what section I am writing until I have two sections done. Then I decide which on is going to make a better chorus and go from there.
Some times that decision is made on which section has a more natural time line. The chorus is a stand alone statement in almost every case. The verse travels in a time line with one setting up the next.
If there is not an obvious chorus then a part will often be modified to make it conclusive.
I will also write music first and put words to it.
F.S.
I usually don't worry about what section I am writing until I have two sections done. Then I decide which on is going to make a better chorus and go from there.
Some times that decision is made on which section has a more natural time line. The chorus is a stand alone statement in almost every case. The verse travels in a time line with one setting up the next.
If there is not an obvious chorus then a part will often be modified to make it conclusive.
I will also write music first and put words to it.
F.S.
TerraMortim
New member
okay...here it goes.
Don't you dare go to school for it, or you may be damaged forever.
How to get started. . . . get ready for this. . . . .
LOVE MUSIC!!!!!
Just love music, listen to it, what is their approach, or what strikes that emotional chord.
Listen to a LOT of styles of music, even ones that you would never write in the style of (provided you like the music of course haha I cannot stand some music)
Look around you in your life. What things piss you off, make you happy, etc... those are subjects. People will only care about songs that come from the heart, even if the lyrics don't make so much sense...if there is a passion they will take that passion and give their own meaning to it. (or you could just write a fun song.. just make sure you mean it when you do it hehe)
I think a great tool for songwriting is to get yourself a midi controler and some midi sequencing software... guitar is good as well, but it all depends on how you most naturally form songs. I always start with melody and counter melody, then start to put in a progression to fit that. Or some people start with vocals... I have a few times.
Basically, just write, a lot...whether it's crap or not. Write. All the time, have HUGE banks of riffs, melodies, vocal ideas, lyrics, or even one line of lyrics... I find that's always where I end up if I run out of ideas for a song, and then it keeps the creative machine working.
But really, the best thing to do...write from your heart, and live music. A good song can't be taught, and even the most virtuosic musician doesn't mean they can write a song worth a shit. Just start writing songs that you feel and then, you are a songwriter. You may write great songs, or you may not, but that is really the only way to find out.
Don't you dare go to school for it, or you may be damaged forever.
How to get started. . . . get ready for this. . . . .
LOVE MUSIC!!!!!
Just love music, listen to it, what is their approach, or what strikes that emotional chord.
Listen to a LOT of styles of music, even ones that you would never write in the style of (provided you like the music of course haha I cannot stand some music)
Look around you in your life. What things piss you off, make you happy, etc... those are subjects. People will only care about songs that come from the heart, even if the lyrics don't make so much sense...if there is a passion they will take that passion and give their own meaning to it. (or you could just write a fun song.. just make sure you mean it when you do it hehe)
I think a great tool for songwriting is to get yourself a midi controler and some midi sequencing software... guitar is good as well, but it all depends on how you most naturally form songs. I always start with melody and counter melody, then start to put in a progression to fit that. Or some people start with vocals... I have a few times.
Basically, just write, a lot...whether it's crap or not. Write. All the time, have HUGE banks of riffs, melodies, vocal ideas, lyrics, or even one line of lyrics... I find that's always where I end up if I run out of ideas for a song, and then it keeps the creative machine working.
But really, the best thing to do...write from your heart, and live music. A good song can't be taught, and even the most virtuosic musician doesn't mean they can write a song worth a shit. Just start writing songs that you feel and then, you are a songwriter. You may write great songs, or you may not, but that is really the only way to find out.
Trell Blaze
Killing generic R&B...
69 SG
Banned
For a Practice Tune.
Write ONE song that builds a story around these topics:
Pickup truck>
Broken heart>
Drinking too much>
Your dog died>
The city cut your water off>
You got beat up at a Bar>
Your women was sleeping with with your brother>
you got fired because you were late due to a flat tire>
You puked sooshee on the Japaneze Ambassateur>
include a Train and Prison.
Write ONE song that builds a story around these topics:
Pickup truck>
Broken heart>
Drinking too much>
Your dog died>
The city cut your water off>
You got beat up at a Bar>
Your women was sleeping with with your brother>
you got fired because you were late due to a flat tire>
You puked sooshee on the Japaneze Ambassateur>
include a Train and Prison.
up-fiddler
Taming the World--for now
The Challenge by up-fiddler
She broke my heart in a pickup truck.
The news slipped out when she drank too much.
She told me how my dog had died of thirst.
The water’s gone but that’s not all.
I nearly died in a barroom brawl
With my brother. (Who admitted he’d been first!)
My boss told me that that was that.
I explained I had a flat
And that was why I had been running late.
I ran away to old Japan.
Became best buds with their first man
Until I lost some fish that I had ate.
I can’t escape from all this pain
I try to catch the late night train
Even prison looks OK these days to me.
You asked for all this in a song
And now you know that it was wrong
So you must give up half your reps to me..
She broke my heart in a pickup truck.
The news slipped out when she drank too much.
She told me how my dog had died of thirst.
The water’s gone but that’s not all.
I nearly died in a barroom brawl
With my brother. (Who admitted he’d been first!)
My boss told me that that was that.
I explained I had a flat
And that was why I had been running late.
I ran away to old Japan.
Became best buds with their first man
Until I lost some fish that I had ate.
I can’t escape from all this pain
I try to catch the late night train
Even prison looks OK these days to me.
You asked for all this in a song
And now you know that it was wrong
So you must give up half your reps to me..
Trell Blaze
Killing generic R&B...
The Challenge by up-fiddler
She broke my heart in a pickup truck.
The news slipped out when she drank too much.
She told me how my dog had died of thirst.
The water’s gone but that’s not all.
I nearly died in a barroom brawl
With my brother. (Who admitted he’d been first!)
My boss told me that that was that.
I explained I had a flat
And that was why I had been running late.
I ran away to old Japan.
Became best buds with their first man
Until I lost some fish that I had ate.
I can’t escape from all this pain
I try to catch the late night train
Even prison looks OK these days to me.
You asked for all this in a song
And now you know that it was wrong
So you must give up half your reps to me..
Wow...
Be careful what you ask for, I guess...
up-fiddler
Taming the World--for now
marshall.amps
New member
Well of coarse you would think this would be the perfect tool for mrje1 to begin writing songs hes paying you to do it. You dont pay money to be a true song writer.
When it comes to Masterwriter; I couldnt disagree more. Masterwriter is a must for me, and yeah - I consider myself a true songwriter.
Let the flaming commence.
/bow
Freudian Slip
New member
Never even heard of master writer? Looked it up. How bizzare.
I'm not a big fan of something that comes up with rhymed phrases for me.
I am personally a little astounded that such a thing exists.
Writing a hit song with it would seem a bit like Barry Bonds breaking the home run record. If you had another person doing everthing this program claims to do, they would get co-writer credits.
I have nothing against anyone using it, that's just my opinion.
F.S.
I'm not a big fan of something that comes up with rhymed phrases for me.
I am personally a little astounded that such a thing exists.
Writing a hit song with it would seem a bit like Barry Bonds breaking the home run record. If you had another person doing everthing this program claims to do, they would get co-writer credits.
I have nothing against anyone using it, that's just my opinion.
F.S.
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Tried it? That what I normally do before dropping my opinion out. Try it. Still dont like it? Cool beans.
We dont have to be big fans of that or other tools we use. Im not a big fan of dictionaries. But still a very weared out one sits on my desk.
They are tools. Nothing more.
Creativity is still yours and yours alone.
As a tool I wouldn´t write without Masterwriter. You will? Fine by me.
It all comes down to imagination and creativity after all. Masterwriter and other similars can´t work wonders. But they have some very interesting tools built in.
Enough said? Doubt it.