Coming Up With Good Lyrics

[Peggy]

1 minute ago, MonoStone said:

Go with the flow, let yourself go

Great suggestion!

[starise]

I think the most difficult thing for me is the beginning approach. I need to decide if it's going to be a larger arrangement or a smaller one. The idea in 'Breeze' seems to me to lend itself toward something more reflective. Not a metal song

 

 It's easier for me personally to determine early on what I'm going for, for instance, if I'm using an acoustic guitar and I'm thinking it might be used for additional parts, I'll try to play it to a click track, which I hate to do BTW but it helps to lock it into a grid. I can easily loose my vibe that way, even when I play with tempos. Sometimes I'll simply play a song through musically tapping my foot with no click. This way I'm not held to a tempo I didn't like. Later on I can use my software to 'see' that tempo and match it. Anything that takes away energy from the initial idea is bad for me. 

It helps me mentally to think- "ok, I want to play a piano ballad. I'll hear it in my head and decide if I want to make it larger or stay with just a few parts. These decisions really seem to make or break the idea in the early stages.

One thing too that I've noticed is I need to determine if it's instrumental or might have a vocal. If it will have a vocal I need to purposely keep it sparse because it's very easy for me to make the instrumental parts too complicated for a lyric.

[MonoStone]

2 hours ago, starise said:

I think the most difficult thing for me is the beginning approach. I need to decide if it's going to be a larger arrangement or a smaller one. The idea in 'Breeze' seems to me to lend itself toward something more reflective. Not a metal song

 

 It's easier for me personally to determine early on what I'm going for, for instance, if I'm using an acoustic guitar and I'm thinking it might be used for additional parts, I'll try to play it to a click track, which I hate to do BTW but it helps to lock it into a grid. I can easily loose my vibe that way, even when I play with tempos. Sometimes I'll simply play a song through musically tapping my foot with no click. This way I'm not held to a tempo I didn't like. Later on I can use my software to 'see' that tempo and match it. Anything that takes away energy from the initial idea is bad for me. 

It helps me mentally to think- "ok, I want to play a piano ballad. I'll hear it in my head and decide if I want to make it larger or stay with just a few parts. These decisions really seem to make or break the idea in the early stages.

One thing too that I've noticed is I need to determine if it's instrumental or might have a vocal. If it will have a vocal I need to purposely keep it sparse because it's very easy for me to make the instrumental parts too complicated for a lyric.

We are very different. I don't think about any of that (usually)... Usually just start something and see where it leads. 

 

Yes i always work to a click when recording... But the rest is too much thinking, especially if you're only just getting into making songs with words.

 

Everyone is different so work your way... But as an experiment I urge you to pick up your acoustic, play a chord progression that just feels good, and without thinking more...just sing along. Take it seriously and do it until you find a melody that sounds good (not just something throwaway)...but then just go for it with the first words that come to you... Record it. 

[McnaughtonPark]

24 minutes ago, MonoStone said:

We are very different. I don't think about any of that (usually)... Usually just start something and see where it leads. 

 

Yes i always work to a click when recording... But the rest is too much thinking, especially if you're only just getting into making songs with words.

 

Everyone is different so work your way... But as an experiment I urge you to pick up your acoustic, play a chord progression that just feels good, and without thinking more...just sing along. Take it seriously and do it until you find a melody that sounds good (not just something throwaway)...but then just go for it with the first words that come to you... Record it. 

Although I don't do it enough, I have written two songs just this way and I actually still like both of them.  Most of my songs I stop liking after a bit, but these two have always been among my favorites and they both started with a simple strum and the words that followed.