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Depressing Songwriting Funk


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  • Noob

Hey guys, I am brand new here. I have been writing over the past few years. I also have been playing the guitar for 10 years now.

 

I have an issue that I am starting to notice throughout reading and performing all of my songs. They are all depressing as f*ck or come from a sad place. This is a challenge for me because I don't know why. I am actually really happy and like to have fun. I spend more of the day smiling and happy than I am not. I think when I am by myself writing, I tend to focus in on the sadder aspects of life. 

 

I have tried to write happy, or different songs, and they never come from an honest place and turn out terrible. Meanwhile, all of my sadder songs turn out quite well and are well received - the catch is that I don't want sad, reflective songs to encompass my entire portfolio. 

 

Anybody have any advice from their experiences?

Edited by LaGrange
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I've never been able to write happy songs either but can't say I've really tried. Some are maybe less melancholy than others but never happy. But ... I don't care, I like listening to melancholy songs!

 

Sorry to state the obvious but... if you really desperately want to write a happy song...play and sing happy notes to an up-tempo beat :)  If you just can't, then (at the moment) you're not meant to be writing happy songs...

 

ummm... smile while you write, sing and play... that probably works a bit... seriously

 

 

 

Edited by MonoStone
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Maybe you can make the music happy. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't. It could create a nice irony between the music and lyrics that expresses how you really feel.

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Some people just find it hard to write drifferent styles of music - for me I tend to write slower tempo more serious music as oppsoed to the uptempo/energised music. I have tried to write faster, more energetic music but, as you say, it doesn't come from an honest place and turns out terrible!

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Happy songs are special..and they're not always that "deep".

 

 Sometimes I take a sad feeling and reverse it. Sometimes i change the sad to cynical, sometimes i use satire..but then sometimes I just like the raw emotion, always veiled to some degree. 

 

Peggy

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  • Noob

The funk has been broken guys. After having written 100+ melancholy songs, I finally did it today and am proud of myself. 

 

Put new strings on my guitar and instantly found inspiration for a song I am excited about. It's still honest and has meaning to me, like my other melancholy songs, but it also reflects on a more uplifting aspect of life. 


Finished the song in about 10 minutes and felt so relieved - almost like I had finally tapped into a part of me that I have been aching toward for so long. 

Edited by LaGrange
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There are some bands that never produce a "happy" song.  Look at Pink Floyd, The Pretenders.

 

Part of the staying power in the blues is that people will often listen to the music and say to themselves,,,,, after listening to that my life isn't half bad.

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I have had this kind of identity crisis as well as the music I was making didn't really fit with what I pictured myself making. Then I just decided to go with it and feel much better! 

 

Edited by Kallin
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