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So how do you guys and gals usually write lyrics? Got a dedicated notebook or do you whip out that laptop/iPad/etc and start typing away? (Me, I got a red moleskine for nostalgia's sake. Although I really want one of those fancy waterproof devices for flashes of genius I get in the shower.)

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  • 3 weeks later...

For melodies, I occasionally use an old mini-cassette recorder just to make sure I don't lose the original sound I had in my head. Usually though, the melody is kept in my head and sung/played a ton until I record the song to my computer. I can't notate music, so a decent memory and a little luck are pretty important! lol

For lyrics, I always use pen and paper. I keep a small pad out on my porch (where I smoke) and jot ideas down when I have them. Once a song is started, I work on the lyrics on that pad until I finally have them finalized. Then, I transfer them to a small notebook of lyrics. Finally, I put them on my computer so that I have them available to print out or upload.

Generationally, I'm a bit of a dinosaur. Like Tom, I'm pretty sure my approach is probably all but irrelevant. But, it works for me!

Linda

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I'll record ideas as they come, and write down words on whatever paper I can find. When a song nears a complete stage, I write it in a singular journal.

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For instrumental ideas I turn to band in a box. I'll play a melody or a chord progression. Then I'll open BIAB find a style that works and mute everything but the drums. I'll do a quick score of the progression so I can remember what I'm doing, but still keep all the instrumets aside from the drums muted while I work out the rest.

The problem working with "Styles" in general is that they often influence the direction of the material too much. Slowly I'll work out how the other instruments will play out. by porting my biab song into Real Band and adding tracks. That way it doesn't sound like a biab song.

BIAB styles are great for improvising they just distract me to much and I find myself wanting to play the biab style version as opposed to writing the parts for myself. While I do use the biab styles as a study guide to expand my knowledge of various rhythms and phrasing. I put that on the side of Practice not on the side of Writing.

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When I write lyrics for songs, I always use pen and paper. With the music I use my instruments and then record it on the computer or my phone, so I won't forget what I played.

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I keep a digital recorder handy (well, try to) for recording ideas on guitar.

I keep a notebook which I use for lyric ideas. I usually write for 5 minutes at a time. It is always a jumble of junk. But reading back will always give me good usable ideas for actual writting.

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I use all of the above. It just depends on where I am and what I am doing and what is at hand. Most times when I'm driving, which is most of the time, I use the voice recorder on iPhone to hum fragments of melody to flesh out later or lyric ideas. If I'm in my guitar room, I have a notebook that I jot down lyrics and I will use the voice recorder to grab riffs or melodies or progressions I like or want to write around, and lastly at times on my laptop. I will take music I have and listen to it and write lyrics in Wordpad or sometimes even just lyrics that intrigue me with no music at all lined out for them. I also will cull from my notebooks and phone recorder and write them all up in Word to keep all the different songs collated into one area.

Edited by RodChandler
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Well, you said lyrics, but I suppose the music itself applies, and I never, ever write down music on my software until I have planned it out thoroughly on empty-stave paper. Otherwise, my music would be lacking subtlety and depth, even structure, that would really affect the overall quality of my music. I want to make music that people can listen to over and over again -- and I can't do that without my trusty pencil and paper.

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Pencil and paper. A note book where anything goes, free writing to the max. Another note book for clean, complete versions. Another digital file for refining the meter and more technical side of writing. Then sing the spit out of it, loud, proud and alone for flow, and revise, revise...

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I have a a4 notebook for writting them roughly, where i can scribble it out and write again...

I have another a4 notebook where i write the finished lyrics..

And i also have a folder on my laptop where i type them up to post them here :)

i have also written a few on my iPod touch, when im out and cant write it anywhere :D

Edited by samanthaG94
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"The secret of writing," of any sort at all, really is ..."re-writing."

I firmly believe that this is categorically true, no matter what sort of creative writing you are doing: music, prose, a poem, a magazine article, advertising copy, a screenplay, a news story, or what-have-you.

"The secret is: there is no secret. Make of it what you will!"

Anytime you read a piece of writing, or listen to a song, always remember that you are experiencing the final draft; not the sometimes-grueling process that lead up to it. You are experiencing both the product of "inspiration," and a pure decision-making process. (Furthermore, you're not in the position to be able to know exactly what did finally transpire! It just seems like inevitable, pre-ordained magic. Illusions are like that ...)

Keep a faithful record of everything: your initial idea, your subsequent revisions, your :cursing: rewrites, your :arabia: brilliant inspirations, your :plthumbsdown: ideas that didn't make the cut (but you kept them, nonetheless), and so on. Don't crumple-up any piece of paper. Keep them all in a loose-leaf notebook, perhaps with a light pencil-mark through them. (Any one of those "discarded" ideas might well appear again, some time in the future.)

The "finished" song or lyric that you finally come up with is, after all, merely a "finished song or lyric." (In other words, the time finally came when you said, "FISI = F*** it: Ship it.") :)

Even though in hindsight it might seem to someone else that "the song popped up out of a clamshell, like Venus (i.e perfectly-formed and totally starkers :eek: ...)," you, as the creator, will always know how much of a decision it was; and how much of a compromise.

"I now know a thousand ways not to make a light bulb."

-- Thomas Edison

(But, hey: you don't have to tell anybody else ... let 'em think it really is magic.)

Edited by MikeRobinson
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Hard to say, I have single stanzas written in laptops, phones, notebooks, scraps of paper. As long as I get it out and have a copy. But, if I sit with the intention of creating a lyric, its pencil and paper. I am selfish with that time, I sit where I want and shut the world off. I like the pencil in my hand, and the paper in front of me. I use books for reference, more paper. But, like a lot of us have said, I'm older and relate to the process in a more traditional way I guess. I'm not an idiot though, so ill use whatever tool is at hand if the need arises.

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  • 2 weeks later...

So how do you guys and gals usually write lyrics? Got a dedicated notebook or do you whip out that laptop/iPad/etc and start typing away? (Me, I got a red moleskine for nostalgia's sake. Although I really want one of those fancy waterproof devices for flashes of genius I get in the shower.)

For lyrics I often use pen and paper since it is more easy to write ideas instantly and you don't need to type. Yes it is old school but this is the most effective way on composing lyrics on my part :)

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I'm surprised at how few people prefer computers over pen and paper.

I too prefer using a pencil and paper. This is because I am easily distracted and my computer is full of distractions, and I hate reading something from a computer screen (which sucks as a computer science major...). I do like to use software like Guitar pro, just to capture a riff before I lose it, and Microsoft Word for spelling and sometimes grammar within the lyrics.

~Daniel~

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Definitely a pen and paper kinda girl. There's something about seeing the physical words on paper that gets me in my groove. The only times I use something electronic is when I don't have a paper and pen handy. Then I just use my phone and record into the recording app I have. For riffs and melodies and all that non word stuff, I tend to use my phone to record the little diddys and then go home and write the piece later. Call me old fashioned, but eh... it is what it is haha. I have BOOKS of songs, papers all over the damn place. It's great :D

great topic!

:punk:

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I have a leather bound journel that I write in. I like to keep everything. Even the stuff I don't finish. And I use pencil so it is erased and rewritten over and over till it is done. I also use my smart phone to capture melodies.

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Songs are a bit tricky because, personally, I can't write lyrics without singing. It's easier to not mess up with rythm and sounds.

I start a song by singing absolute nonsense to my phone (when it comes to proper words and grammar).

Then I sit down, track a little demo and start refining everything, trying to replace lyrics and music with sth meaningful.

I usually keep my lyrics stored in my DAW project.

Edited by Vlady
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  • 3 weeks later...

Pen and Paper... And each song ends up filling about half a notepad after all the edits, corrections and rewrites.

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