nickamandote

Hello, I've recently discovered the mini harmonica - 4 hole C major diatonic, so I've started a blog with mini harmonica tabs. For those who are interested the address is http://miniharmonicatabs.blogspot.com

melody first, and then a lot of re-write on lyrics

good idea, sure

+1. also there are some good ones on songwriting out there.

i think people should concentrate on quality instead quantity. there is nothing wrong in writing many songs, but let's be serious, where there are many, probably most of them are pretty common. my advice: try developing many storylines or musical ideas instead. it's better to come with 100 melodies and build a song from there because you will know which are the ones that worth further developing. Also: never set a deadline for finishing a song. it should be a natural process, it will just normally flow and you will know when it's complete. don't set a deadline because you risk altering the song message just because you need to finish it more quickly.

melody makes the song. too bad it lacks so much these days. i think melody is the most important part of the song. I usually start around a melody (usually a chorus based around an idea or some words), however if my melody is not good enough then I usually quit developing the song.

my advice is simple: don't give up! this happens to everyone, just keep writing

you need to exercise on ear training. how good are you on translating sounds to notes? there are also programs available that will turn .wav to .midi

For me it's always the melody - at least until now. It usually starts around an idea (a title/subject). I like it this way because I have the freedom to build the melody the way I feel. I'm not very comfortable starting with the chords, because I think they somehow restrict you to follow a certain pattern. Please share your views as well. Thanks.

I think you should be able to compose just anywhere, it happened to me many times when I was just walking on the street/in the park...of course you will need a recorder to save your ideas - then you can start develop them in a more quiet place.

lyrics are important and I've started to pay more attention to them - it's the message of the song after all, but it is also very important to have a good melody, lyrics and melody need to fulfill each other. poor lyrics can destroy a good melody and vice-versa

you can also just watch carefully the people on the street and you can develop song ideas/titles from there as well

Don't worry, some songs will never be finished, it's a natural process. I have many musical ideas in my folder, but only a small part get developed. Just stick to the ones that sound really good. To finish a song can take you 1 day to months or even years.

for me inspiration comes from nowehere. for the song I've entered last year at the UK songwriting contest inspiration came while I was walking on the street - the chorus just came into my mind -easy as that. i don't struggle very hard to write a song. it should be a natural and easy process. when it comes, it comes. quality is more important to me than quantity.

Hello, I recommend you the book Writing better lyrics by Pat Pattison, it's very good.