Advice With Songwriting

[IMUSIC]

Can anyone help me with some advice on how to write a song.

[McnaughtonPark]

Could you be more specific? Take a look around, start with some of the articles at the bottom of this page. Do you write lyrics, music or both? Do you plan to record and produce? I mean, the subject of songwriting is a vast enterprize, almost too big for one website to cover everything but Songstuff is a great place to start.

MP

[IMUSIC]

Right know I am planning on writing a love song for my girlfriend. But usually I am thinking about making rock songs for my band when I create one

[IMUSIC]

Could you be more specific? Take a look around, start with some of the articles at the bottom of this page. Do you write lyrics, music or both? Do you plan to record and produce? I mean, the subject of songwriting is a vast enterprize, almost too big for one website to cover everything but Songstuff is a great place to start.

I write lyrics. I am planning to write a love song for my girlfriend but I dont know how to write a song though. Also I want to learn how to write a song for the band I'm joining

MP

[McnaughtonPark]

Writing a love song for your girlfriend is a great place to start. If I were writing it, I might even call title it, "Love Song For My Girlfriend".

There are many ways to start. One useful approach is called freewriting. You start with a topic and write whatever comes to mind using all of your senses. How does she look, how does she feel, what have you tasted together, what scents are around her, can you hear her? All these things in color and light and wonder, big and small, real or imagined, but write whatever you can for ten minutes without thinking or trying to rhyme or make sense. Just write it out.

Don't think....just write.

[IMUSIC]

Writing a love song for your girlfriend is a great place to start. If I were writing it, I might even call title it, "Love Song For My Girlfriend".

There are many ways to start. One useful approach is called freewriting. You start with a topic and write whatever comes to mind using all of your senses. How does she

look, how does she feel, what have you tasted together, what scents are around her, can you hear her? All these things in color and light and wonder, big and small, real or imagined, but write whatever you can for ten minutes without thinking or trying to rhyme or make sense. Just

write it out.

Don't think....just write.

Ok I have got a lot of things i'n mind because we have been together for about 2 1/2 years

[McnaughtonPark]

Well, it looks like I flubbed up my response to this. I don't remember what my last exercise was exactly but here is a ten minute freewriting exercise to show you what I mean.

Soft and warm against my arm, head resting on the computer hearing the motor of the fan purr out its song. Computer images blurred in verticle pupils, wiskers folded. Are you wondering what this is, is it like eating, breathe inpurr, brathe out purr, roll your eyes and roll your neck and go to sleep and purr a dream of higher meaning, of wild living, of hunting and eating your prey in a forrest or a African savannah, with the green trucks rumbling by filled with people just like me cause they have treats and you like treats youwait for me to come home and you bark little berks of squeeks and tarts to let me know I haven't but should give you something beautiful and smelly fishy brown delight. licking, constant, incessant licking grey fur bottom of the ocean folding waves of furr, straight and narrow tail furr, grey and white patched furr. ear wiskers.

and that's it. 10 minutes and out, no more. don't worry about spelling or grammar or punctuation or rhyme or structure. It's the thoughts, it's the writing that is at first and formost important.

you've chosen your topic, so clear the mechanism, and write.

[IMUSIC]

Ok I'll write the lyrics.

[McnaughtonPark]

After the freewriting exercise, which is so fluent and unrestrained without guidelines or structure, comes the second part. Keeping in mind the topic, in my case, a cats life, choose words which catch your sense of the direction you would like the lyric to take. They'll stick out to you, go with your first impulse, write them down, but use what you've written as this was the purpose of the freewriting exercise.

I'll use:

Soft Warm purr furr whisker eyes sleep treat wild living waiting verticle love dreaming ears tail

Edited April 1, 2011 by McnaughtonPark

[IMUSIC]

ok ok i got the picture and have the ideas i need that will help me write it.

[McnaughtonPark]

Ok, but just for the sake of the exercise I'll finish up the technique.

Once you've chosen the words you would like to use, in my case, Soft, Warm, purr, furr, whisker, eyes, sleep, treat, wild. living, waiting, verticle, love, dreaming, ears, and tail, you break out your handy dandy rhyming dictionary and look up rhymes for all the words. Make your lists in columns with enough room to write another word next to them. This is actually where you get into building ideas for lines, I usually do'nt get past this stage because the ideas start flowing in. But, if you take this one step further, you can actually come up with some good lines, and interesting images.

What if instead of just writing about the cats furr, I wrote about her soft furr, blah. How about her electric furr? What if her tail flicked like a fuse of dynamite? What if her eyes were as cool as anthrocite? I mean, that beats using furr and purr as rhymes in a cat song right? Plus, I don't remember hearing those analogies before, and that is always cool with me.

With eyes as cool as anthrocite

her tail like a fuse of dynamite

she's poised to pull something from the night

for her creepy dinner

So, the images begin to build and the lyric starts to take direction. Right now I have no idea where it's going, but for sure it's not the usual cat song, if there is one.

In your case, I'm afraid there isn't much that hasn't already been said about love. Love songs are an uphill battle, but we can't stop writing them. They are like air to a lyricist, just something that you have to do, over and over. But remember the little things and forget the generalizations. Write about her pot roast, or her hanging the clothes on the line, reading to the kids, or the suprize party, but leave the dove, glove, love rhyme out of it if you can. It will dull the lyric, and actually mute the sentiment. Avoid cliche, Tears fall like rain kind of crap.

Anyway, good luck. Would love to see where you pen leads you.

MP

Edited April 2, 2011 by McnaughtonPark

[IMUSIC]

alright thanks MP for the information. i'll send you the lyrics to you so you can have a look over them. thank you