Song Writing "technique"?

[GoldenWalrus]

Not to be confused with another thread on how you become inspired, but rather what you do after you become inspired.

how is it that you write? do you start with an overall theme? just go with the flow? etc?

 

Just curious,

Scott.

Edited January 9, 2014 by GoldenWalrus

[Dave Bradley]

I don't have a process as such. Usually, I'm thinking of something melodic when out walking the dog, ad lib a few words and either record them on my phone or try to remember what it was I was singing when I get home. I then try and see if I can figure out the chords to fit what it was...but...usually I can't so I approximate, record a guitar part against a beat and then sing roughly the same words with roughly the original melody and see if it works. First verses are almost always just stream of consciousness stuff but I can usually pick apart some kind of idea from them and the chorus and second verse etc I'll write separetely with a finished idea gradually in mind...but...not always ;-)

[KlasWikstrom]

http://youtu.be/SwBVHAtH3Q4

[Kel]

I start with a title, or a hook, which is usually the title anyway. 

 

I then look to support the hook, firstly the chorus, then the story, then the melody (though I usually hear a melody as I write the lyrics.)

 

Cheers,

Kel

[scotsman89]

something just pops into my head no reason not  thinking about writing ,  just working, watching television,   the whole thing comes in a rush (as you can read in some of the rubbish posts that I make)   don't really have the skills to make it better than what I write ,  five minutes and the thing is down . if I am lucky I can see what is wrong and try to resolve it ,  but nine times out of ten what comes out is what is posted.   if I try and think about writing I can get a verse or two then just a whole lot of poo . but that's how it is for me

 

courtroom and the club   came to me as I was driving to work  I tried to keep it in my head ,  when I returned home got my pad and let whatever was in there go.

Edited February 23, 2014 by scotsman89

[Mahesh]

Yup, even in my case, it's mostly instinctive when it comes to songwriting. But I do have a general pattern though.

 

Once inspired, I usually have a brainstorming session with myself as to what I can write about. I talk to myself. That is one of the most important and less spoken about tools I've found. I literally talk to myself like I'm talking to another person (if not out loud, at least in my head ). I ask myself questions and answer it. "What do you want to write about?" "What do you want to start with first?" "What do you think the hook should be". It's the same as thinking but is more proactive and natural.

 

 

A melody usually follows afterwards (and sometimes before I actually think of the lyrical content). From there the lyrics and the melody go side by side. I know a lot of people write the lyrics before going into the melody or vice versa. For me, once a foundation is set, going in parallel works great.

 

 

The next would be rewrites . I have to be honest, I do rewrites very rarely these days. That's mostly because of my parallel fashion of songwriting. I work on what I want out of the song in real time.  But it sure is a useful tool in terms of honing your skills.

[scotsman89]

of course not having any music except what I hear as I write may make it a lot quicker to write ,as I just let the words go with the flow of what I think it should sound like

[MikeRobinson]

I just finished a song that, I think, is very good ... and it started with two bars.  From that one seminal idea, it progressed into probably fifty or sixty others.  Some of which I wove into this (version of this ...) song; all of which I kept.

 

I have two Logic Pro projects:  one is the "finished song," and the other is stuffed with two-, three-, and six-bar phrases with one empty measure between them.  I teasingly call the first one "paste," and the second one "copy."  (Not "cut.")

 

The song was "stitched together" from these shorter pieces, with a lot of "gee, I wonder what this would sound like?" along the way.  Really, very few pre-conceived notions.  Lots of pure-experimentation, both in terms of what went into one of those little sections, and how those sections were stitched together.

 

With this, I can make "this song" longer or shorter, or just different.  I have the raw material for other songs that would have a similar sound to this one, ready for future use.  What I call "finished" right now is just "one way to do it."

[Just1L]

To me it all depends on how the song comes about. Sometimes a melody and some words will pop in my head, sometimes I'll be goofing on the guitar and a cool riff will come out, sometimes I fiddle on the keyboard with different sounds and something fun pops out. With any of those basic ideas, I usually try to get to my DAW and record what I have in my head. If there are no lyrics and it's musical oriented at first, I'll play it over and over a few times and then eventually I'll just sing gibberish, or freestyle words, that seem to go with the flow and then just add from there. While I can do it, I rarely write down lyrics from scratch and then try to match music with them. Normally though, when I write a song, I don't start out saying "I want this to be about Pirates drinking rum." I think not having something exact to say sometimes helps with a creative twist that a song may not have otherwise. I had a song D.O.G. that when I first had some lyrics, seemed like it should be about a boy/girl relationship. After more thinking I turned it into a song about a dog. Had I initially been wanting to write a song about a boy/girl relationship the dog idea would have never came to be. When I get a lyrical idea in my head, it always comes with a melody. So even though I may not know how to play what I need at first, I have that little melody to try and match. Then I play those parts over and over and just see where my fingers want to go next. If all that fails, I steal Dave's songs.

Edited February 26, 2014 by Just1L

[Just1L]

If I'm not mistaken, Don Henley came up with that plan first. 

[DarrenH]

I am usually on public transport when inspiration hits and from there I just disappear into my own little world and begin to write/type. If I am sitting at home and try to think of something to write I will hit a wall and wont be able to think of anything. Same goes for at work.