Songwriting (1 Viewer)

[Scientician 0.8]

I'm fond of the stupid saying "this song writes itself" and sometimes it feels like that, I'll start singing and playing and the whole thing will tumble out. I used to like jamming on dictaphone, haven't done it ages but. I've never found there to be a neat or single process for songwriting. Obviously actually spending time writing helps but for example I've had melodies for years and sometimes more than one set of words, other times Ive had lyrics that never adhered to music for ages, and other times the two arrive at the same time.

 

[ernesto]

fuck sake, i always come up with alot of lyrics when i cant sleep and ive to get up stupid early. like right now. happy im getting some ideas down, or saving them as draft text messages on me phone, but pissed off at the insomnia.

 

[travispickle]

I've got meself locked into a non-completion cycle...my mobiles voice memo is my notebook. I run for a quiet corner or the jax(wife reckons I've bowel issues) when i've the tune, chords and feel of a song gaining traction in my head. I have around 150 snippets of ideas, verses, gibberish, melodies on the phone. I've completed only a handful. Would kill to have a week to record....feckin pro-tools hasn't been opened in six months. Piss poor time manager me!


and I may have bowel issues.

Neil Young said before that for him, location is vital in producing songs. So he books himself into a motel somewhere or rents a house outside of his usual jurisdiction, so to speak.
As I can't do that, I've been experimenting with different parts of me flat. I've always written in me living room, so at the moment I'm trying out the jax (nice acoustics). So far I haven't written anything from the "jax sessions", but I have a thing I like that I wrote as soon as I went back to the living room...hmmm....
Gonna try the kitchen next.
Screw you Neil Young.

 

[Anthony]

I brought my acoustic to my folks' place in Mayo. Only got to play it for about half an hour (in 5 minute chunks) but it gave me the bones of a song that I finished at home. It made me use chords I'd never have used at home, maybe it was the mountains.

 

[travispickle]

I brought my acoustic to my folks' place in Mayo. Only got to play it for about half an hour (in 5 minute chunks) but it gave me the bones of a song that I finished at home. It made me use chords I'd never have used at home, maybe it was the mountains.

Hmm, maybe Neil was right.
Must line up some house-sitting this year!

 

[george mcfly]

@snakybus, @The Scientician @The Ian @travispickle @Moods_For_Mallards @das nugs @Flux @Unicron @Bunny @kevin gallen @egg_ @dudley @Shneaky 6Pack @Pantone247 @george mcfly @Bad Intentions @Anthony @Wilbert @corksongs @MDR @lympog @coast to coast @MilanPan!c @Milker



its a good question.

really good question but it's hard to answer. when it comes to music, yes. when it comes to lyrics, no

i find it impossible to sit down and write a song. it's usually just a melody that gets stuck in my head for days that ends up becoming a soundtrack to whatever events are going on at the time. usually by the time i sit down to turn it into a song, the full structure is there in my head and the music part is finished

i listen to a lot of soundtrack stuff and i play and write on synths mostly. so i try and and make it about the feeling of the song as much as possible. emo synth!

lyrics i do have to write down but again if i try and force it i end up struggling. once i have a few lines down it usually starts to flow but what is weird is, i never usually set out to write a song about anything in particular. i usually end up figuring out what they're about afterwards

hope that doesn't sound ridick. it's hard to explain

 

[Anthony]

Doesn't sound ridick, sounds familiar.

 

[Goodbye]

 

[george mcfly]

all my songs end up being about Vin Diesel in the end

 

[MilanPan!c]

MilanPan!c

its a good question.

I write most of my tunes almost all the way through before writing anything down... most of the time lyrics are done in my head while I'm driving or falling asleep, etc....

Our song Not If But When was written almost entirely on a walk back from Tesco... lyrically.

Musically, I usually write songs by finding a "way in," a hook or a interesting or fun to play chord sequence, then I expand on it deliberately, but never with a pen/paper.

Sometimes, in fact many times, I'll record a snippet, then listen to it obsessively for a few days, to try and figure out how to make it into a song I'd like to hear...

Some songs come fully formed, our song Lights was like that, written and recorded (demoed) in a few hours, start to finish, other songs take years to complete. I wrote the vocal melody and a few lines of lyrics for our tune, "Last Song" 3+ years ago... I tried and tried and tried to finish it; finally as I was falling asleep, I figure out in my head the stupid chord I needed, went down stairs and wrote the strong, start to finish, in about 10 minutes.

Don't give up on good melodies.

 

[GO]

Blah blah blah blah blah....
Don't give up on good melodies.

AGREED!

i'm sitting on a melody I have about 15 years!(well I stole it off someone who did'nt realise what they had and threw it away)I go back to it every once in a while but it has'nt happened yet..but when it does....UNSTOPPABLE

 

[cycling]

so your saying your a lying thieving prick. you get your inspiration from someone elses idea hmmm.... fair play most people wouldnt admit that.

 

[GO]

thats exactly what I'm saying

 

[GO]

who's saying I won't give them credit when its massive?

 

[cycling]

good point didnt think it through. its like nirvana song "rape me" brilliant song how many people have got inspiration from that song, its not like all of us are owensie, really i walked into that.

 

[GO]

No problem...it was a simple wrong assumption to make.

 

[GO]

Funny you should mention that cycling old bean ..Owensie's gonna be on my new album...know him do ya?

 

[MilanPan!c]

jaysus... must be a bad night for sleeping

 

[jonah]

Weak people sleep.

 

[GO]

The craic is 90 in here tonight!