jglasgow123

Yep, that's what songwriting is all about! Keep it up, man!

How I write my lyrics is I will record the chord progression that I have on my phone or into a DAW. I will then listen to the chord progression on loop and think about the story I want to tell. I do this 4-5 times before I actually write anything and this allows me to get the creative juices flowing. Once I have a story in mind I start going line to line, writing the first thing that comes to mind. Once I have the lyrics for each section written I'll go through and revise my lyrics. I like to use dictionaries and thesaurus' to help me find words I that would work better. If you follow this you'll have entire lyrics written before you know it!

My approach to writing music has always been to write as if I am writing a story. I think of a concept, idea or story that I want to tell and I tell that story through everything in the music. Most people probably think that you can only tell a story in a song through the lyrics, but my approach has always been to tell the story through the chord progression, rhythm and meter, instrumentation, etc. as well as the lyrics. What has your approach been to writing music? Have you tried telling a story through all pieces of the song?

I too get this most years (fingers crossed I don't get it this year!). As Leo suggested, it sounds like a great topic for a song! Because it's something that we experience every year, it may be easier to write about. It will also be something that you can connect with! Most people I know do get seasonal depression, or at the very least have experienced it so it will be easy to connect with. As far as getting through it, the desk lamp will help, I'm sure. Another thing that you can do is get up and moving around. Maybe some exercise? It's hard to be in a depressive state when you're moving your body!

I get a thrill when I've been practicing something for hours and hours and then I finally reach the point where I play it without mistakes! I also get a thrill when I'm recording music and I'm putting all the pieces of the song together and then I reach the point where everything is playing together how I had it in my head. It's this feeling of 'Holy shit! I have a song here!' I think the thing that gives me the biggest thrill, though, is when I go throughout the entire process of writing, practicing, recording, mixing and mastering and then the release of that song. That feeling of going throughout the entire process and seeing it come to fruition is the most gratifying and satisfying thing as a musician for me.

My biggest challenge as a songwriter is finding other musicians in my area that want to play and write music! For a long time it was like I wanted to rely on other people to help me write music and play. Eventually I got so sick of waiting for other people that I went from Drums and learned Bass and then Guitar and now, most recently, I've started learning Piano. This is also what got me into recording and production because I figured if I was going to do all of this, I might as well just one-man-band it! I've learned this isn't always the best approach though because it's best to shoot ideas back and forth with other musicians. I'm starting to connect with some new musicians in my area, though, and I can feel things turning around a bit!

I love watching YouTube videos when I need help with something music related (or really for anything!). One channel in particular is Rick Beato's. I've learned a ton from him. I also have my old Music Theory books when I need to reference something in that realm. Otherwise, chord progression flow charts and Circle of Fifths are tools I use quite a bit. In the realm of recording and mixing I have 'The Recording Engineer's Handbook' and 'The Mixing Engineer's Handbook.' These are both ESSENTIAL books for anyone getting into the realm of audio production!

Good luck with your gig tonight! I'm sure it'll be an awesome show and all your friends and family will be there. Keep rockin' with this band for today! You never know what'll happen tomorrow so you might as well take advantage of the day. You've got this! 😎👍

Thank you, John!

I love this! Music theory has definitely gotten myself out of a number of ruts too. I don't write my music out on paper (other than lyrics), but I can see how this would be helpful. Then you can visualize the music and see what the voice leading is doing. These are great tips!

I like your point of view! A lot of the time it is a bit hard to find the right inspiration or to think of the right story to tell. I like to approach songwriting from the same perspective of trying to convey more emotion than technical things. I like what you said about the technical stuff too and the metaphor that you used about the scientist. Many people who know a lot of music theory and think that that's how you write a song end up not writing many songs that are easy to connect with. This is a mistake that many musicians fall into! I believe that the key is to keep a balance with it. Don't overuse the music theory, but when you're stuck or need some help moving onto the next section of your song it'll be there for you. Great stuff, man! 👍

How's it going today? I was thinking today about some of the struggles that come along with songwriting. When you first dive into it, it can seem like something that is out of reach. You think 'Man, it would be so cool to be able to write a song and be able to say 'I wrote that!'' You don't know how to go about it though and realize how much you have to learn to become a GREAT songwriter. My question to you is this: what have been some of your biggest struggles as a songwriter? These can be things like mental blocks, self-doubt, etc. It can also be more technical things like music theory topics, lyric writing, instrumentation, etc. Thanks for your time! -Jeremy

Thanks you, Peggy! I'm glad to be here!

Hey, how's it going? My name's Jeremy and I've been a musician for about 10 years now. My first instrument was a drum set that I got for Christmas. I didn't know how to play it, but I knew that I wanted to learn. I later would take drum lessons and I really enjoyed it! Little did I know the musical journey that this would lead to, though. As the years went on, I would pick up Bass Guitar (this was about 4 years later), Guitar (this was about 7 years later), and most recently, Piano (this was 10 years later). I have also built up a nice home studio and have gotten into audio engineering and music production. I took two years of Music Theory while I was in Community College which led to me writing my own music and I took a year of audio engineering classes as well! I'm excited to get to know all of you in this community and I look forward to listening to your ideas and sharing my own with you!