Songwriter In A Slump

[DashingHound]

Hi everyone. I'm a songwriter who can sing, play piano and a bit o' guitar...and I just want some advise from fellow musicians. Here's my dilemma:

I can write lyrics pretty damn well, in my opinion. I can sit down and write an entire song's lyrics in a few short minutes. However I have such a hard time writing the instrumental bits of the song, or even finding a tune to put the words to. I sit with my guitar in hand, trying to come up with something that doesn't sound like EVERY OTHER SONG I've written...I usually get frustrated with that, so I move to piano and I can't seem to do it...I usually get pissed off, then give up and put a song on. I'll sit and listen to a song by a musician and wonder why on earth I can't come up with things that sound and feel so simple...

I just don't know what the problem is. I realize many musicians collaborate, and that's a good idea but I can't find anyone with my same "vision". Maybe I'm not looking hard enough, I don't know. And it doesn't help that I live in Salt Lake City, where just about everyone is incredibly religious and are too scared of offending their god and other people, so they refuse to show honesty and real, raw emotion...it's just difficult finding someone who isn't like that in my area, who has the same musical goal that I have.

It's frustrating because I physically feel like there's some sort of blockage in my body, in my chest. I try and write a song and I feel like there is a physical object inside of me, blocking that creativity. I'm curious to see how other people get through this; I know I can't be the only one. I love Paul McCartney to death, and something he once said really sticks with me...he was basically talking about how writing songs isn't all that hard for him; how he feels that if you can truly write music, it really comes to you rather than you having to dig and pull it out of yourself. And the fact that that's what I'm trying to do...worries me.

[Retrosaurus Rex]

I agree with Tom. I would also say you're ahead of the game in a lot of ways, if you're comfortable singing and reasonably proficient on any instrument. Maybe you're getting too bogged down in the words as you have them on paper (or whatever medium), and instead think about the words as musical objects. Another thought is this: you probably often find yourself returning to familiar scales or chord progressions, so try to force yourself out of that by writing a song using only one chord type (e.g. only m7 chords), or write a simple melody and harmonize it with chords drawn from an unusual scale (e.g. a half-whole diminished scale). Lots of places you could go with this.

[DashingHound]

Well hey, thanks very much for your suggestions, both of you. I appreciate the ideas. I'll try to write "backwards" and let you guys know how it goes.

[MikeRobinson]

Something else to consider is this ...

"You fairly-understand the process of lyric-writing. You know when the paragraph you just wrote is a good one, and you know when to press the Delete key. You've presumably written enough text to be accustomed to how that process works."

But... tunes are quite different. Your expectations, therefore, might be unrealistic ... and so, your discouragement comes much too soon.

Text doesn't really change that much during its journey from the writer's pen to the printed page. Sure, it goes through a lot of revisions, but it's pretty intuitive, and when all is said and done, "it's all there." Every finished word, at the end of the process, is right there in front of you on the page.

But the music that you hear, say, on the radio, is not like that. You might well be listening to thirty-five (or considerably more...) tracks of material, all subtly mixed together and mastered "just so," and not even realize it.

We've all seen the photos of high-fashion models without the layers of makeup (and Adobe Photoshop...) in which we usually see them. They just look like anorexic teenagers, not the objects of fantasy that are supposed to make us want to rush to plunk down $250-and-up for a pair of deliberately stained and ripped-up blue jeans.

My point is: when you strip a lyric down to "what the lyricist actually wrote," well, it's basically the same as what you see on the liner notes; and what you hear the singer saying. But, in the case of (professionally recorded) music, you've got a whole slew of processes at work which are not obvious... the songwriter, the arranger, the concertmaster, the recording engineer, the mastering engineer...

(And that's not even considering "the creative process itself" ... all the "scrapped drafts" that wound up in the songwriter's wastebasket ... just like all the "scrapped drafts" of lyrics that wound up in yours.)

It is very easy to become discouraged, if you compare (what is actually) a "spit-polished" music track, to what the original songwriter actually prepares. But... "that's not a realistic expectation, to begin with! It doesn't work that way!"

Another way to think of it: if you can come up with a really good song, "we can Take It From Here." Players, arrangers, engineers ... all of these things can be procured (after the fact). But, "it all begins with a song."

Edited November 18, 2010 by MikeRobinson

[john]

hey

Some great suggestions above.

I would vary your approach to writing, and at the same time try and increase your understanding on a theory basis to help give you some pointers in what works and what doesn't.

By vary I mean... try writing the melody FIRST as main starting point, but perhaps also try writing chords first (even vary the instrument), and one I use fairly often is to lay down a groove in drums at a tempo that matches the overall feeling you wish to convey, and then write the melody with only the drums as a backing. You can do the same with a simple tempo (click track, hand slap on your knee) but it is more effective with a beat that is at least evocative of the emotion.

Theory can really help here. By looking at what works melody wise at what stage in a song, understanding cadence and chord structures and progressions you can really open your eyes to new possibilities. A lot of writing is options of what to do at any point and deciding on the direction, but you have to be aware those options exist. Sure you might stumble on stuff without planning or even understanding, but understanding is a very worthwhile thing.

There are a few other options I think would help:

Look at the melodies of others and break them down with their underlying chord structure. See and hear how it works. Did the melody go down or up leading to the chorus? did the feel change? why does this note over that chord at this point in the melody work?

then:

Write a pastiche based upon what you have learned. At least at the point of writing do this for no more reason than to learn.

then:

Do it again using the same chords with the rule that you have to use a different vocal rhythm and you cannot use the same notes at the same place in the song. it makes for an interesting exercise.

Vary what instrument you write the melody on, be it voice, guitar, or piano or some other instrument.

Lastly if you write your melodies using your voice then perhaps the issue is as much to do with the awareness of what your voice can truly do. ie you mentally close down options and stick with what physically feels comfortable. So understanding your vocal registers can really help, and understanding on a vocal level why and where it is a good idea to change register.

Hopefully all that is of some help.

[DashingHound]

All of the suggestions that have been given have been really helpful. Today I started trying to write a bit of an original song using the suggestions here. I sat down at my piano and just started messing around a little...got a nice intro that's rather slow, kind of a ballad feel, then after I played that I thought, "I think this is where the words will come in," and I started coming up with chords and notes for the piano, imaging what it might sound like if a voice was singing along with it. I worked for a few minutes, then I started feeling a little strained so I stopped...I really want to take my time and I will add more later to the song; I've only written a small portion of the "skeleton" of the song. I haven't written lyrics or come up with any melodies for the voice yet, I'll do that after I've put the piano part together. This has been really helpful!

Something that I love is when a musician uses instruments to accompany each other, including the voice...rather than having the voice be in the front and having the instruments play second fiddle(pun...). I like when everything involved in the song works like the insides of a clock...and as someone mentioned earlier in this thread, you don't even realize everything that's happening. It's like if you were to take a clock off the wall, open it up and see all the things that go into making the clock function...I like when you can do that with music and find that everything has a lot of thought. I think writing the instrumental parts first will really be helpful. I'll keep you all updated and let you know how it goes.

[MikeRobinson]

When Margaret Mitchell started writing Gone With The Wind, she was looking at exactly what every other writer was looking at: an empty page.

It is hard to write. It is harder still to re-write. (And yet, all of "writing" consists of "re-writing.") When you look at the finished whatever-it-is, "it seems so obvious." When you are surrounded by other people's finished creative works, "they seem so easy." But you just have to remind yourself, and to keep reminding yourself, that nothing truly worth doing ... is particularly easy to do.

The creative process has been endlessly studied. There's always room to improve upon your own craftsmanship. There's always something to learn. But as a friend of mine (who can do amazing things in pottery...) once put it: "it all comes down to you, the wheel, and the clay." You, and twelve notes. "And silence, artfully arranged."

[JamTimeMusic]

Some good suggestions already.

A book that was a major inspiration to me was called " The Artists Way" by Julia Cameron.

I highly recommend you get this.

Amazing book.

JD