Despite the ridiculous thread title ....i have often wondered myself, if only i knew i'd be rich!
Having tried for years and only managed to complete one song so far... thanks to the 'Nation for being a board i can stick a song on!
How do you start to write a song..?
Started many tunes, have loads of bits and pieces on my hard drive waiting for a home.along with a number of unfinished projects, and files full of poems written in the past waiting to be "sung", "Lost Dog Blues" was adapted from a poem i wrote many years ago and came out quite easily, it sounds like a hundred others but the lyrics are all mine...i hope!.
Uncle John hit the nail on the head - " It's pretty hard to write an entirely original tune. Most sound like something else".
My sentiments in a nutshell, how do the professionals make a living? I read once Tony Iommi of Black Sabbath had built up a "riff file" over the years, hundreds of 'em, perhaps it would be handy to use a mini pocket recorder to catch that neat little tune you thought up while shopping, to save forgetting it when you get home..
Most songwriters take notes like these all the time, read the papers, they write about personal experience things. I have a few hastily written scraps written up, the trick is to try and match them to a tune and tempo, work out the verses (how many verses, how many lines?) and choruses, where the solo goes in...where have i heard that tune before..? Many times i hear a "new" song and the filing cabinet in my head comes up with a precedent...
..this thing ain't easy ) -:
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Hey there Steve. I love the topic of songwriting and will add any advice I can from my years of being a musician. For me music comes the easiest. Generally it's a good idea to start with music because it will automatically give your lyrics a road map for melody and structure. I am CONSTANTLY recording guitar/mandolin/banjo ideas or even melodic ideas into the voice memo recorder on my iphone. I can label each recording and refer back to it whenever inspiration takes over. The key is to be able to listen back to a piece of music you've come up with so that you can just take it in objectively rather than concentrate on performing it. What has happened with myself and others is that words will just start to come to you. The mood the music creates and the way it makes you feel and the way it effects that part of the brain that operates while we dream is what can sometimes produce your finest work. At least that's what I think is in charge when you take this approach to writing - the subconscious. Out of seemingly nowhere I came up with a song about 2 sets of skeletal remains unearthed by an excavation team sometime in the future. The story is told from the male's perspective who's body is found with shattered hands haphazardly lying next to the formally buried female's remains. It's a story about his unexpressed love for the female. Now it's possible I could have had that story laid out before going into the song but I didn't. It just presented itself through my listening back to the music I had. Get into the practice of hearing music in your head too so you can hear what you've written even if you don't have your recorder there to play back.
As for structure being primarily a drummer I may have an advantage of understanding that. A guitarist friend of mine pointed out that a drummer would seem to have that advantage since a drummer is in large part in charge of the feel and energy of music. Even if there isn't a drummer like in bluegrass I think approaching a song's structure with the rhythm and energy in mind helps. It will tell you when you want to hear the song change, when it should crescendo and when it should quiet down. It also depends on the style of music you are playing. Blues for instance has it's structure written in stone - a 1 - 4 - 5 chord progression in a 12 bar cycle and it just works. In my hard rock band a structure that seems to work for us is an intro - 2 verses - a pre chorus or right into the chorus - 1 verse - 2nd chorus - bridge - chorus and outro. How many times a part is played you will just have to rely on your ear and what you FEEL like you want to hear. It's important to keep things fresh and changing, evolving slightly so that you don't lose the interest of the listener.
Having said all of this I must put out there that my weakness is lyrics. I have come up with plenty that I'm pretty proud of actually but I usually have said all I really have to say in 1 or 2 verses and maybe a chorus so my focus right now is expanding on an initial lyrical idea I come up with. I've been attempting writing songs since I was in high school and only in the past several years have I finally come to find that I don't wake up the next morning despising what I've written. I now say " hey, that's pretty good." There certainly still are lyrics that I trash the next day but hey, not all your eggs are gonna be made of gold. The important thing is to keep at it and listen to as much music as you possibly can. Eventually all your findings and observations become ingrained and almost second nature.
many thanks for your advice Greg, though for now i will continue to keep things very simple!
..and would really be interested to hear that skeleton song...!!! (-;
Here are a couple of links you might find helpful.
I would really be interested in seeing those lyrics Greg....and hearing that song too....I know the idea sounds really cool!!
Greg Francis said:
Sure thing. Now there's incentive to get that song recorded! Like so many of my tunes it's a work in progress and I haven't tooled around with it in a while but I think I'll dust it off and get it down. :)
Great song Oily! Bob Dylan eat yer heart out (-;
i suggest a "Beverly Hillbillies" instrumental style arrangement could suit it, though there are a lot of tongue twisters in there i would have trouble getting round, and the dialect might be lost on some listeners over here, you made a bit of a rod for your own back, but give it a go!! (-;
@ John Wendell - the advice you gave on the song title as the starting point has proved invaluable! (-;
Great song Oily! Bob Dylan eat yer heart out (-;
i suggest a "Beverly Hillbillies" instrumental style arrangement could suit it, though there are a lot of tongue twisters in there i would have trouble getting round, and the dialect might be lost on some listeners over here, you made a bit of a rod for your own back, but give it a go!! (-;
@ John Wendell - the advice you gave on the song title as the starting point has proved invaluable! (-;
Started by Slowpaw Steve T. Last reply by John Wendell Aug 31, 2011. 10 Replies 2 Likes
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