Alright so im pretty good with chords and that yet i have trouble writing lyrics or a title to a song and it really bugs me so does anyone have any helpful tips or anything?

Random thoughts regarding songwriting: Stream of thought when in a frame of mind or when some moment in life presents itself. Immerse yourself in reflection upon an emotional memory, something that finds common ground or universal concepts, universal experiences of currents in anyone's life. Or go with the mystery theme, or something else. phrases with meanings on several levels, forget proper grammar, go with what flows smoothly, emotionally with the song, mood of the times, or be a change agent and break that mood. keep some twists in it, surprises, and connect the natural to the ethereal, the common everyday to the existential, the surreal. Go for raw feelings, stripped bare of all pretenses, language which reflects pure emotion, dreamy qualities, that captures a moment. Poetry simplified, or prose, loosely structured, that expresses your inner child in purest form. Art through music and song takes us somewhere outside the realm of the ordinary, into a state of mind, a dreamstate, transcending and imaginative, emotional, intimate, and universal.

I've been writing for a good number of years. What I do is, literally sit down, start writing, and I don't stop until I'm satisfied. Most of the time I manage to create a song in a linear form during that one session.

But the main thing is practise, if you write a lot, you'll get better.

Think of things which mean something to you, because, frankly, you can't write a song about something you don't care about, it's not right. This should be a basis, and really just write, don't think of words that suggest things, or sounds you want, or anything like that, those things waste valuable songwriting time. If you write verses and choruses, you'll find something you like. You might want to work with it, or it might be perfect in that form, either way, it's a basis of a song, and it usually takes off from there.

I totally agree with QuestionsOfScience. I'm not that experienced in songwriting (truly said, I haven't finished one song yet but sometimes they we're almost what I'd say is good :P) but I think what really helps is just write down everything, what you really feel, what you think and all that stuff. Even if it sounds just crappy or you don't have the melody for that, if you got one you can always look up what you wrote and you might find a good line.

Haha, simple answer is that there is no simple answer. You do what works for you.

 

What works for me is writing down snippets of ideas, or recording little tunes. I'll come up with a great line, like "Your eyes are a reflection of the sky" (just as a fairly stereotypical example) and write that down in a list of "things I came up with and wrote down". I once built an entire song out of these, and it is a darn good song if I do say so myself. (That said, this process is generally just a starting point, or a bouncing board for ideas, it's extremely rare to pull all the elements together!)

 

Then I muck around on a guitar until I find something that sounds cool. Then, if they fit, I work on it. These two entirely separate processes come together and form a song.

 

Conversely, some people - like Bon Iver or Jonsi, for example - like to write the music, and then just sing whatever seems to make sense or feels right, even if it doesn't actually make sense (For example, Perth: "I’m tearing up, across your face, move dust through the light, to find your name; it's something faint, this is not a place, not yet awake, I'm raised to make")!

 

More recently I start with a chord, or a chord progression, or just a little musical idea - and then find which emotion is evoking that, and turn it into words (this little riff reminds me of...being alone at night time. walking on a road. being unhappy and lonely. being confused. being angry. How can I express that in just a few lines of lyrics? The answer: "In the middle of the night, in the middle of the road, running forwards from the fight, or the chance to be alone" [don't steal that, i wrote it! :P ])

 

Songwriting is an organic process - consider it like nurturing any art. There is no formula, no set standard, no preset way to express your emotions. Because they're yours. Find what works for you. (of course, this is just my perspective on songwriting.)

 

Hope that helps, friend :)

It funny cause most of the good ideas, come out of nowhere :laugh3: If your not the emotional kind of person like me, then start fiddling around with the chords you have and starting singing random crap, you'll get an idea :P good luck!

I tried writing one tonight and once again failed. this is so frustrating!

Good luck :) I write songs on a daily basis, they aren't that hard to write :)

I wish i was as talented as you! It really gets to me that i cant do it! :/

Yes you can :D

 

 

I'm not that talented I'm just an annoying 24/7 posting whore LOL

If you can write a song your talented.

 

I try to write songs of love and the girl i like but its hard for me but im motivated to write a song and i feel like ill get better with time!

If you can write a song your talented.

 

I try to write songs of love and the girl i like but its hard for me but im motivated to write a song and i feel like ill get better with time!

You definitely will, like I said it's all practise, like anything else, musical instrument, sport, maths.

When you continue to write songs, you'll eventually develop a sound.

 

Here's one thing I do all the time: I get a song I really like and take the chords and melody, change the key and tempo and write words to it. Then, it eventually takes shape in a very different form. That is a good way to start out, and heck, I still do it. But when you improve, you begin to find inspiration out of nowhere when you're just letting your train of thought run away, that's why I must always be near a pen and paper, it could come to me at any time!

Good luck :) I write songs on a daily basis, they aren't that hard to write :)

 

well that helps him :\

Dont mind her, she's loopy :awesome: We all love you Chloe :P Anyway, write about something in your life....write a song about be stuck writing a song! If you want i can help, just send me an instrumental :P

Dont mind her, she's loopy :awesome: We all love you Chloe :P Anyway, write about something in your life....write a song about be stuck writing a song! If you want i can help, just send me an instrumental :P

 

That's a funny idea and reminded me of Sara Bareilles a little.

Her song is called "Love Song". It goes "I'm not gonna write you a love song cause you ask for it cause you need one". The first thing you'll probably think is that she has some kind of guy and she says to him that she'll not write him a love song, but later I found that she wrote it when she was very angry and they were recording the album so producer kept telling her that she has to write songs and stuff, so she was so frustrated and mad that she wrote this song. That's what I think at least o.O

Well but what I wanted to say is you can really write a song about anything. I've this werid thing that I can do a song in a minute. I just need a minute to choose the scale, write the chords, and start singing the first words. But then I'm stuck. So I don't have this kind of hmm...stream of thoughts. I hope that you're better with that. Just look for inspirations or wait til they will find you and be impulsive.

This ^ :awesome: or do what the Beatles did and write awesome songs about weird things....Hello....Goodbye....Fixing a Hole....

the most frustrating thing is when you try your best but you don't succeed ._.

ok that one was lame but i really meant to say that putting too much effort in it, too much longing for a good song will result in frustration and a depressive mood... and aggressions.

stop it. stop writing, live your life for a few days, have fun, go out, do stuff, but don't think about writing. after a while you will find something to write about and then you'll start out writing. whether you find a guitar riff or anything, chord progression etc. or find a few words first does not matter, it'll come with time.

believe me, i never got the hang of it, and i still pretty much don't but as i have gotten a better musician, more confidence with my instrument so it feels more organic to me, a natural thing playing it, i was able to write songs easily... i struggle with rhymes though, haha =D i could write billions of shitty songs, but i'm criticising every step, i'm never content but i'm getting there and at some point i say " it's a-ok, you can leave it like that". i compare what i play with what i've heard from other musicians (i mean i compare it with ANYTHING in my head), because i don't want it to sound too much like this or that... and you know, i cut out things, add a tiny bit, find it unneccessary and kick it out again... it's a lot of "tweaking the knobs", a proccess of finding what you like...

so when you are stuck, just stop. take a break, no matter how long but leave it alone for some time. that may be a minute until you suddenly come to think of something, that may be an hour you spend outside or eating or eating outside, that may be a week you just enjoy yourself and have an experience worth singing about.

 

to sum it up, remember these rules:

1 - don't force yourself into writing a song

2 - remember to take breaks when you get stuck

 

oh and also:

3 - be patient!

Well, writing a good song isn't easy. They often come when you don't except them to come. I have written like 20-30 songs since Christmas, and I have written some that I really like. The first thing you should do is to find out the chords to the song. Then you must find a meody and lyrics to it. And my adbice here is: Don't plan anything. If you have a mic, just turn it one and try to sing some melodies out loud. The reason why you should turn the mic on is that you don't always write anything down, and it may be hard to remember everything. I also have the experience that the first melody or sentence or whatever often is the best one. For me a sentence appear out of nothing as I am playing the chords. And after this one sentence the song uses to write itself.

 

Btw, I saw you said that you failed writing a song. I wont say that you can fail writing a song as long as you have something. If you have a bad song, you should still keep it. Probably there is something with the song you can use for later (like rythm, chord(s), sentences etc). Besides, if you just complete it no matter how bad the song is, you get a lot of practice.

 

Practice is the word, dude. Don't give up!

It really does depend on your 'method.'

 

 

For example: I have to have my music first/a melody of note-by-note before applying lyrics. Music speaks more than words in my head, so certain emotions are portrayed at first by melody or chord changes. I know PLENTY of people that do lyrics first then apply the music and chords, etc. It's all about what works for you!

 

And believe me, not every song you write is going to be a masterpiece. You have to find which ones sound/work the best and from that, continue working on it. Look at the list of songs Chris Martin had on that wall! I can guarantee you probably only a quarter of them were produced 100%.

 

If you wanna check out my most recent original, check this one out. I did the chord progressions first, then applied lyrics. The riding bass in the beginning allowed the theme to come forth, then the changing bass after the first verse kinda broke the tension. But again, I work a little differently than most.

 

You can do it with a little practice! I've only been writing for less than two years!

 

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Wow you did an absolutely amazing job.

 

If it's for me I didn't find my method yet. I once wrote lyrics then wrote music to them, and once I did the opposite. Sometimes I do those parts simultaneously. It's a matter of some kind of 'feeling' I guess.

Haha, simple answer is that there is no simple answer. You do what works for you.

 

What works for me is writing down snippets of ideas, or recording little tunes. I'll come up with a great line, like "Your eyes are a reflection of the sky" (just as a fairly stereotypical example) and write that down in a list of "things I came up with and wrote down". I once built an entire song out of these, and it is a darn good song if I do say so myself. (That said, this process is generally just a starting point, or a bouncing board for ideas, it's extremely rare to pull all the elements together!)

 

Then I muck around on a guitar until I find something that sounds cool. Then, if they fit, I work on it. These two entirely separate processes come together and form a song.

 

Conversely, some people - like Bon Iver or Jonsi, for example - like to write the music, and then just sing whatever seems to make sense or feels right, even if it doesn't actually make sense (For example, Perth: "I’m tearing up, across your face, move dust through the light, to find your name; it's something faint, this is not a place, not yet awake, I'm raised to make")!

 

More recently I start with a chord, or a chord progression, or just a little musical idea - and then find which emotion is evoking that, and turn it into words (this little riff reminds me of...being alone at night time. walking on a road. being unhappy and lonely. being confused. being angry. How can I express that in just a few lines of lyrics? The answer: "In the middle of the night, in the middle of the road, running forwards from the fight, or the chance to be alone" [don't steal that, i wrote it! :P ])

 

Songwriting is an organic process - consider it like nurturing any art. There is no formula, no set standard, no preset way to express your emotions. Because they're yours. Find what works for you. (of course, this is just my perspective on songwriting.)

 

Hope that helps, friend :)

 

+1, it might not work for you, but this is my primary method of writing music. I tend to come up with cool one-to-two liners, and then while I'm on the spot I write an extra couple lines to make it a verse. But for the most part, when I write, I have a number of pages that each is its self contained "one-liners that I come up with" page, which eventually become songs.

 

DAMN, I came up with a cheesy eyes-sky comparison line.... :embarrassed: BUT IT'S GOT KIND OF A PUN SO IT'S ORIGINAL. I think. :veryangry2:

 

The first time I tried to write the instrumental to a song I just ended up with a faster version of Politik. :lol: Which is one thing to be aware of - you'll most likely end up coming up with words or music that someone else has already done...but that's okay, because at that point, you're only at square one and whatever you do with it will become very unique once you apply your own touch. :)

 

You definitely will, like I said it's all practise, like anything else, musical instrument, sport, maths.

When you continue to write songs, you'll eventually develop a sound.

 

Here's one thing I do all the time: I get a song I really like and take the chords and melody, change the key and tempo and write words to it. Then, it eventually takes shape in a very different form. That is a good way to start out, and heck, I still do it. But when you improve, you begin to find inspiration out of nowhere when you're just letting your train of thought run away, that's why I must always be near a pen and paper, it could come to me at any time!

 

Yep! An idea I got from the Twisted Logic version of the Scientist is to play a bunch of songs I like backwards. For the most part, a chord progression that sounds good will sound good even when reversed, but completely different. So do weird little things like this and you'll never know what you might find!

Oh and one thing.

I have this weird thing that most of songs I recently did was in the Bb major scale. I don't know why. Maybe I subconsciously took an idea from new Coldplay songs (HLH and Charlie Brown) ?

!!! Everything I write is in the key of Db.....

 

...

...

it also turns out everything I write = A Message.

Oh so today i was talking to my friend about this girl i like and she sent me a txt saying she has a boyfriend and i answered back "and im armed with patience and high hopes" and i feel that could be a really good lyric so im gonna write it down :)

I have now written 3 Lyrics for my song that i am proud of :)