Re: Songwriting 101?
- From: "RichL" <rpleavitt@xxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Tue, 14 Oct 2008 19:21:42 -0400
Squier <squier@xxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
RichL <rpleavitt@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:
Dr. Zontar <drzontar@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:
For me, the process always starts with the music. I'll discover a
chord progression or riff that sounds good, and try combining it
with others I've had rolling around in my head until the pieces all
fit. That part is actually easy for me.
But lyrics. . . Damn. I agonize over lyrics for months. Over the
years, I've developed a process that works for me, but it's
painfully slow:
1. I'll get the basic idea (theme, subject, storyline) and write it
down (usually in MS Word or Note Pad). This part is easy. I'm always
thinking, "I should write a song about that". "That" can be anything
from history to mythology to kung fu movies to forgotten 70's
cartoons.
2. I'll add all the words or phrases I can think of that are related
(synonyms, examples, subcategories, relevant quotes, important
details, etc.).
3. I'l go to an online thesaurus (Merriam Webster or Rhymezone) and
find other related words.
4. I'll go to a rhyming dictionary (usually Rhymezone) and find
rhymes for my list of words or phrases. I'll add them next to the
original entries on my list. 75% of the time, rhyming words won't
fit the concept I'm trying to get across - that's why I try to
collect as many synonyms and related words as I can. Sooner or
later, I'll find a rhyming pair that expresses what I want, or move
on to the next idea.
5. I'll arrange my list into something that makes sense and fits the
music. There's a lot of fleshing-out involved - turning a few words
into a complete line. I'll try singing it to make sure it flows, and
doesn't have any tongue twisters. This part can take days, weeks,
even months. I obsess over finding phrases that have the right
rhythmn. But I also want them to mean something. I don't pretend to
be a poet, but I don't want to be a stupid rock cliche either
(especially since I write hard rock, which is usually dismissed as
brainless, anyway). I want to be at least semi-literate.
- Rich
The thesaurus is a good idea. I don't know why I didn't think of
that. I've done the rhymezone thing but I stall out when none of the
rhymes fit in with what I want to say.
I'm glad to see that lots of folks besides me struggle over lyrics.
I actually wound up taking a couple of weeks off of work because I
had a lot of vacation time and a song idea that I wanted to flesh it
all out before the muse went away so to speak, but I'm in the middle
of week two and for the last three days I've been staring at the
incompleted set of lyrics. It's one of those things where I've had
a few successes in the past but this time the subject area is more
important to me, more serious, and I guess I naively thought that
the lyrical ideas would come rolling out more easily because of that.
I guess I don't feel so bad now. If it all happens this week, fine.
I've already got most of the instruments recorded, but if I continue
to be stuck I'll just set it aside.
I also should probably write down the crude ideas as they come, as
you suggested, rather than just carry them around in my head. These
days, the power of recollection ain't what it used to be :-)
FWIW - when I get 'stuck' (or sometimes even when I'm not stuck)
then I consider song writing many times to be a collaberative thing.
You know sometimes writing songs is best not done in a vacuum but
with another person or people. All sorts of input that you might
have not thought about can be brought out and help you.
Sure you have to weed out some ideas (lyrics or music) that
just don't work out or don't fit - but there are always the ideas
or little things that someone else comes up with and it's like that
little piece of puzzle that you couldn't quite get is now available
for you to finish up the song.
that's just a beginner's 2 cents there.
Yeah, agreed in general.
One of the best "originals" I have is actually a collaboration over
usenet in the sense that this other guy (from a different group) fed me
lyrics. I happened to hit on some nice chord changes. riffs, and melody
that fit well with what he gave me. However, he gave me another one at
the same time (this was over a year ago), and I still haven't found good
music to go with them. Sometimes it's not meant to be, I guess.
This case is different in the sense that I have this stuff in my gut
that I have to get out. It's deeply personal; it wouldn't be right to
me to have other folks pitching in on it.
But guess what? I took a break from my "vacation" routine today and
went into the office and helped out with an issue they were having, then
resumed my vacation, came home, and knocked out the rest of the lyrics.
I guess I just had to have my mind on other stuff for a little bit and
let my brain do its thing in background mode.
I wrapped it all up and ran through a couple of practice sessions
singing along with what I recorded, and it all fit in pretty well as far
as tempo etc.
I now have another issue -- I can't hit some of the notes easily, so
I'll have to revise the melody a bit. But that's an easier problem to
work on (at least for me).
.
- Follow-Ups:
- Re: Songwriting 101?
- From: Squier
- Re: Songwriting 101?
- References:
- Songwriting 101?
- From: RichL
- Re: Songwriting 101?
- From: Dr. Zontar
- Re: Songwriting 101?
- From: RichL
- Re: Songwriting 101?
- From: Squier
- Songwriting 101?
- Prev by Date: Re: Help with wiring problem...
- Next by Date: Re: Lead singers with guitars
- Previous by thread: Re: Songwriting 101?
- Next by thread: Re: Songwriting 101?
- Index(es):
Relevant Pages
|
