What Do You Do When Writing Lyrics?

[Shane]

Hey i'm new to song writing and i'm just wondering what do you guys do when you're writing your lyrics?

Do you sit secluded and pay 110% attention to it? Maybe listen to music when writing? Maybe even watching tv or anything

I'm just wondering because i hate silence, and as much as i'm enjoying thinking a lot about the words i'm putting into the lyrics i can't spend too much time on them. I tend to listen to music when writing lyrics but i feel that's maybe putting me off, and maybe i'm getting inspiration from the song i'm listening to at the time that can affect the melody etc.

[Retrosaurus Rex]

Writing new words to an existing melody can actually be pretty useful, as long as you don't get married to that melody. After you written those words down, put them down for awhile. Think about something else. Then come back to them when you're ready to make some noise and see if you can work out a new melody for them. If they work with one melody, chance are they'll work with many, even if the notes & phrasing are significantly different.

And sometimes it does help to sit in silence and just concentrate... one of my friends who is a hip-hop free-styler suggested concentrating on a word, one word, for 10 to 15 minutes. You don't have to write anything down but the original word, write it in the middle of a page and think about it, rhyme it, feel the rhythm, the sound, think of how to use it, what it means. It seems weird at first, but it starts to open up your subconscious to some cool randomness. Also, you start to listen to your inner music, the sounds and rhythms you feel, by doing this. Valuable I think no matter what kind of music you write...

[Shane]

i guess any way can work then

One time i came up with a few lines though and the melody seemed to accompany it amazingly...a few days afterwards i realised it was almost exactly the same from a song =/ lol

Once i get some free time i think i'm gunna try out that 1 word thing, oddly it sounds quite fun

[Retrosaurus Rex]

One time i came up with a few lines though and the melody seemed to accompany it amazingly...a few days afterwards i realised it was almost exactly the same from a song =/ lol

No less a genius than George Harrison has done this, but he didn't even realize it until he got sued... another genius songwriter, Paul Simon, has said that he'll reharmonize a melody that he hears somewhere (not his own), then write an original melody to the reharmonized progression. This can also be an interesting way to open your ears, even if you don't wind up creating a useful melody of your own...

[Shane]

lol, harsh =X

on a side note, whats the difference between melody and harmony? Sorry if that's a dumb question ^^

[Retrosaurus Rex]

In a nutshell... melody is a single line of music, like the part you sing. Harmony is the chords underneath the melody. I don't have time to give a lengthy and pedantic response, hopefully anyone who wishes to expand can do so without chastising me for over-simplification...

[Shane]

it's ok, i think i've got it ^^

thank you

[Retrosaurus Rex]

it's ok, i think i've got it ^^

thank you

Cool. A simple topic. A lifetime of learning. Familiarize yourself with the harmonized Major scale & the modes of the Major scale. It's the beginning, mind you, not the end... but it's the basis of Western music, fundamental if you're trying to write in any remotely "pop" genre...