HOW I STARTED WRITING SONGS

[Got The Tee Shirt]

In may Late Teens  I  was asked to sing for a local band   , I was initially 

 

very nervous  singing in front of   a large audience as this band  had  built

 

up a big Following ,  I rarely  even introduced my songs as we had a set list

 

and just seemed to play with very minimal gaps  in  between        

 

The band was not into writing original songs  so after a couple of years

 

I left and joined a band who wanted to do original songs besides covers

 

In General I find a problem with  Lyrics  First  Song Writing .    Even though  

 

the first collaboration I ever  ventured  was with My Girlfriend who became  my 

 

wife  ,   (Still together and Four Beautiful  Adult  Offspring  later, )  That song

 

became a stepping stone to a wonderful relationship that  has stood the test   

 

of TIME 

 

 

Over the years I have always  tried to come up with  an original title first 

 

and I usually write  a Chorus  first  and then  find the story line   

 

As soon as I have an interesting starting line  the melody follows  straight away

 

I will often  just record  the  first few lines  with backing chords and  let  my sub 

 

conscious  write  the song   I can be doing  some Do it Yourself  or taking part

 

in some sporting venture , and I will come up with lines and jog them down  on

 

scraps of paper     Re Writing plays a big part in my finished songs ,  I often  get a backing

 

track done ,  and  work  from there ,  it's easy to drop back in and change  a chord at a later

 

date or even scrap the song and start again,       

 

I  have a pretty good vocal range  and   often my songs evolve into  something  that 

 

is far better than the original idea,      I do my own recording of vocals an adding musical riffs

 

where needed     No number ones but I seem to get better as each year passes

 

I am hyper critical of my own songs  ,  and  I  currently have around Ten Songs  I am 

 

100 per cent happy with   I must have written  Four Hundred songs over a  period of thirty years 

 

 My Two Main Song Guides are    One   Does iT Sing Properly ,  and Two  Does it Stand out as an original

 

rather than a copy of someone else work

 

I am interested in how other song writers work ;   feel free to reply  

 

Thanks for reading   

 

[Michan]

Hey @Got The Tee Shirt

 

In my case it depends what am I doing, or what kind of material I am working over.

 

When I write lyrics from scratch, the first thing I normally come up with is a melody. nahnahnah, lahlahlah. I try it over and over until I decide it sounds cool. I don't know if it will be the chorus or the verse or what, at first. Later I focus on how the melody feels, and depending on the mood I start writing the lyrics. When I finish to write them, I sing along until I reach the end and focus on the melody that fits great the second part. And once I got it, I write the lyrics.

When I work with somebody else's track I do pretty much the same, with the only difference that, for finding the melody I play first with harmonies that work over the whatsoever chord progression they are doing, and I experiment with different rhythms and harmonies until I find the one that in my opinion feels better. After that's done I write the lyrics, again, depending on the mood of the melody.

 

Everyday I cycle from home to work, about 20-25 min. In that moment I normally go humming a melody or experimenting with the lyrics. When I arrive to my workplace, I normally find a quiet place and record my idea with my phone, and I go back to it at night or whenever I have some time.

When I'm working over a track that is already done, I normally listen to it many times during the day (I have a job that allows me to listen to music almost all the time). And when I'm familiar enough with the track I start trying the melodies, that I work further when I have the chance.

I guess everybody is different. It's a very interesting topic!

 

UPDATE: oh, and I forgot to say. When I work with my band, normally we save a bit of time from the rehearsal to do "Free session". Guitar and drummer start to build up something and when they feel happy with hoe it is sounding, we start humming possible melodies. Later, when I go back home I listen to the recordings, tune up the melodies, and write the lyrics over them.