Songwriting (1 Viewer)

[Deleted member 3435]

Where's Ro?

I tells ya what, I've been playing bands for 14 years, and I've written two, maybe three songs. Ever.
All terrible.

You're more of a sound man than a song man though really aren't you? Like you'd be much less likely to listen to the song behind the production? you'd just get annoyed at the way something sounds if it offends your sensibilities?

Or am I wrong?

 

[Moods For Mallards]

Where's Ro?

I tells ya what, I've been playing bands for 14 years, and I've written two, maybe three songs. Ever.
All terrible.

Bang one out there for us. Let's get a sing-song going.

 

[Unicron]

How important do you think it is? Like, if you didn't do it, would it matter? Not really

I misread that. I need some form or artistic outlet and playing music is the one I enjoy the most, so yes.

That being said, if I ever wrote one song half as good as anything on "Nebraska" I'd probably be cool with packing it in.*

* This is a lie, I'd go "cool, I'll try to do that again so I don't have to work for a living".

 

[Deleted member 3435]

You're more of a sound man than a song man though really aren't you? Like you'd be much less likely to listen to the song behind the production? you'd just get annoyed at the way something sounds if it offends your sensibilities?

Or am I wrong?

Didn't mean that to sound so pointed/aggressive, red tape sorry, nor was it really directed solely at you...

I find this interesting though.

To what extend do ye think about the sound of something or of recording a song as part of the songwriting process?

I know I think in these terms to some extent.

Is it a style versus content thing or are style and content one and the same when it comes to music?

HELLO 0 0 0 ECHO 0 0 0

 

[snakybus]

I do the whole endless-playing-the-guitar thing as well, sometimes. I might go through 30 musical ideas in a week and end up after all that hitting on one that works. It's fun messing on the guitar, though.

Then other days something just pops up out of the blue and bob's your uncle.

 

[egg_]

Do you write songs?
Yep

How often do you write?
Whenever I get a chance, which means not very often. I might get an hour or two a week (4-5 on a good week) to piss around with a few ideas

How do you write?
Haha!
I've tried everything. Music first most often, I come up with some kind of seed then everything grows from there. The seed can be a little rhythmic thing, a bass riff, a couple of chords

Tried doing a complete words-only song lately, was hard work, and didn't really get going until I found a bass riff that did what I wanted. Often when I'm driving I'm generating ideas in my head, little bum bum bum bu-DUM things, but they rarely come to anything

Do you ever collaborate?
Yes. It's rare that a Stoat song will ever be a complete collaboration, but we do a lot of discussing of songs and contribute ideas to each other's song

Do you chuck songs out?
I'm more likely to abandon an idea that's not going anywhere long before the song is complete

Do you need to play a song to someone before it feels real? ie do you bounce them off people?
I do bounce them off people, but I don't need that for them to feel real. The lyrics though I do have to sing them in front of the band before I know for sure they're ok

How important do you think it is? Like, if you didn't do it, would it matter?
It's important to me. Been doing it as long as I can remember, I wouldn't feel like myself if I didn't have some piece of unfinished music knocking around in my head

What do you write on (instrument)
Guitar/bass/piano

Do you come up with music first or words?
See above, usually music, thought often a lyrical idea will come along with the first bit of music

For folks who do the whole non-song thing, what's your process for that?
For my piano stuff I start off by putting my hands down randomly and see what happens. Been playing it since I was six, so there seems to be all kinds of stuff in there. Then when I have something to go on, I play it a bit and see what pops into my head, and then play that ... etc etc Then I go back to it later on and see if it works - trouble with the piano is kinda complicated stuff comes into my head, so it takes me a while to learn it well enough to see if I like it

 

[Kid Lovebeach]

songs about songwriting suck
so i'm writing a song about songs about songwriting
songs about songwriting suck
so i'm writing a song about songs about songwriting

A guy that i saw play once at this open mic
Said "here's a song i wrote that i don't like"
he sang about how there was no point to anything he said
if he really felt that way he should've just shut up instead

because songs about songwriting suck
so i'm writing a song about songs about songwriting
songs about songwriting suck
so i'm writing a song about songs about songwriting

A women that i saw play once up around woodstock
thought i'd be glad to hear her sing about her writers block
but anytime i hear someone say that they have nothing to say
it goes in one ear and out the other and it quickly fades away

cos songs about songwriting suck
so i'm writing a song about songs about songwriting
songs about songwriting suck
this is a song about songs about songwriting

there's nothing wrong with singing songs about being low and blue
just don't feed me crap about how you know your saying nothing new
either have the confidence to tell me something real or something fun
or put down the guitar until the muse returns to turn you on

because songs about songwriting suck
because songs about songwriting suck
everyone knows that songs about songwriting suck

 

[dudley]

Do you write songs?
I do, yes

How often do you write?
Very rarely. Everytime I pick up the guitar, if I don't come up with a new idea that I think is something cool within seconds, I put it down in disgust. Could be weeks before I pick it up again.

How do you write?
Badly

Do you ever collaborate?
Yes

Do you chuck songs out?
Write too few songs to be able to throw them away

Do you need to play a song to someone before it feels real? ie do you bounce them off people?
Almost always

How important do you think it is? Like, if you didn't do it, would it matter?
Life would be a lot greyer

What do you write on (instrument)
Always guitar

Do you come up with music first or words?
Music 95% of the time


Thread for songwriting

​

 

[Deleted member 3435]

songs about songwriting suck
so i'm writing a song about songs about songwriting
songs about songwriting suck
so i'm writing a song about songs about songwriting

A guy that i saw play once at this open mic
Said "here's a song i wrote that i don't like"
he sang about how there was no point to anything he said
if he really felt that way he should've just shut up instead

because songs about songwriting suck
so i'm writing a song about songs about songwriting
songs about songwriting suck
so i'm writing a song about songs about songwriting

A women that i saw play once up around woodstock
thought i'd be glad to hear her sing about her writers block
but anytime i hear someone say that they have nothing to say
it goes in one ear and out the other and it quickly fades away

cos songs about songwriting suck
so i'm writing a song about songs about songwriting
songs about songwriting suck
this is a song about songs about songwriting

there's nothing wrong with singing songs about being low and blue
just don't feed me crap about how you know your saying nothing new
either have the confidence to tell me something real or something fun
or put down the guitar until the muse returns to turn you on

because songs about songwriting suck
because songs about songwriting suck
everyone knows that songs about songwriting suck

That's great!

 

[GO]

Do you write songs?
Yes

How often do you write?
Not half as often as I'd like

How do you write?
A nifty couplet or something will present itself to me and I'll try and fit that into some bigger kind of scenario.I'll usually get an idea of the melody at the same time.If i start out straight on the guitar it invariably turns out too convoluted and noodly.

Do you ever collaborate?

Sort of.The other people in the band tend to have certain notions pertaining to the arrangement ie.de-noodling any noodles that have snuck on board.

Do you chuck songs out?
The stinkers reveal themselves to be such eventually.Although I have been known to like my worst shit.

Do you need to play a song to someone before it feels real? ie do you bounce them off people?
No.

How important do you think it is? Like, if you didn't do it, would it matter?
It matters immensely and I get really frustrated by the constrictions placed on my time by the mundanities-work.

What do you write on (instrument)
Mostly my brain.

Do you come up with music first or words?
See above.

For folks who do the whole non-song thing, what's your process for that?
Spliffs and beer.

Thread for songwriting
​

 

[ann post]

Do you write songs?
songs + instrumentals + sometimes film music

How often do you write?

constantly

How do you write?
lots of ways, typically in pencil on the wall, improvisation, jamming, writing notes out on paper, sending text messages and emails to myself at house parties while off me head

Do you ever collaborate?
about half the stuff i've recorded has been collaboration, more if the once off improvisation stuff is included.

Do you chuck songs out?
not really, not a finished song or an idea that wont go away, i generally just wait till it figures itself out.

Do you need to play a song to someone before it feels real? ie do you bounce them off people?
i've never played a song live to anyone other than jolene when we recorded the last album, and it was done first take on all occasions, so i've probably done it about 5 times ever. so no i suppose. I do enjoy giving cd's to folk when its all done.

How important do you think it is? Like, if you didn't do it, would it matter?
see above.

What do you write on (instrument)
Various Guitars, Various Keys (organ and piano), Bass .. Paper/Plaster (doing the lyrics first).

Do you come up with music first or words?
Both, I find it easier if the word come first, but if i like the music i'll hang on to it till it gets its shit together.

For folks who do the whole non-song thing, what's your process for that?
When i do those its generally an idea i cant take any further, but still has enough character to make me want to play it to somone
​

 

[RED(tape)MENACE]

I tells ya what, I've haven't been in a band, and I've written tons of songs.
All terrible.

We should start a band, it'd be AWFUL

You're more of a sound man than a song man though really aren't you? Like you'd be much less likely to listen to the song behind the production? you'd just get annoyed at the way something sounds if it offends your sensibilities?

Or am I wrong?

Y'know it's funny, and I don't know how well I can explain it in 'print'.

I used to be all about the sounds. Lyrics were the last thing I listened to in a song. Dead last.
But over the last few years, songs and lyrics are becoming more and more important to me, both in and out of my work.
It's one of those things that sneak up on you.
Maybe it's a byproduct of hearing a song you're working on literally hundreds of times, but I'm finding that I can get to the meat of song much quicker these days.
Of course, it also means that you enjoy a good song even more.

Mixing is definitely still more of the latter, where I'm running around basically changing things that annoy me.
Even so, I'm finding more and more that I'm paying close attention to the song and even the lyrics in taking my cues as to where and what a mix should do next.

Blah, anyway. Ramble Ramble.
It's easier to talk this shit than type it.

Yeah, great topic though.

 

[RED(tape)MENACE]

Also, the band I'm playing in at the minute is improvised, so I guess you could say I'm 1/4 writing the songs there. We tend not to play the same thing twice terribly often, so I guess I'm as much unwriting songs as anything.

 

[Pantone247]

Do you write songs?
Yes...

although I would probably say "I record stuff" quicker then I write songs.
Paul Simon writes songs.
I record "stuff"

How often do you write?
lots

How do you write?
Find a chord change or tune, record it immeditely. Pile other stuff on top of it, pile more stuff on top of it. Delete most of the stuff. Put reverb on everything. Tambourine. Write some words on an envelope 2 minutes before you sing them. Leave for a week. Try to figure out what the hell I was trying to do in the first place. Remove reverb. Click "Mix To File". Repeat.

Do you ever collaborate?
No, I'm an asshole, I imagine it would be unbearable for the other person

Do you chuck songs out?
I put them in a folder (optimistically) marked "Demos", it's always amusing to look over these things later on

Do you need to play a song to someone before it feels real? ie do you bounce them off people?
No, no, no. If I says it's real, it's real.

How important do you think it is? Like, if you didn't do it, would it matter?
How important is writing songs? It's better then talking to yourself on the bus.

Neil Young was once asked "what do you do if you can't write a song" he said "cut the grass, go to the shops, do something else..." I thought this was brilliant, treating a dry spell as a chance to catch up o the mundane shit, rather then freaking out about "writers block" like a dork. Yay Neil.

What do you write on (instrument)
Anything that is to hand. Playing intruments you don't know how to play is, in my book, a good way of coming up with stuff

Do you come up with music first or words?
*shrug*

For folks who do the whole non-song thing, what's your process for that?
What's a non-song? A Poem?
Thread for songwriting

everyone should buy this, it's The Daddy

http://www.amazon.com/dp/0306807777/?tag=thumpedcom-20

 

[ann post]

Yeah, great topic though.

I thought it was some kind of FAS focus group for washed up musicians.

 

[Squiggle]

I tells ya what, I've haven't been in a band, and I've written tons of songs.
All terrible.

Haha, same here. Started when I was a kid and sharing a room with my younger brother. Used to make up songs to get him to go to sleep and never seem to have gotten out of the habit.

I go through mad phases of putting together lyrics and have taken to listening to music on my walk to work because it means that I'm less likely to be walking along singing or humming away to myself.

But I'd never let anyone hear any of it, and rarely let anyone read any of the lyrics.

 

[egg_]

Funny enough, last night I tried something new for the first time - sketching out the structure of a piece on paper on order to get some idea of where it was going while it's still only half-written. I spose it's more useful to do this for non-songs (this is a piano instrumental) rather than songs cos the structure is looser. I think it's a useful way of concentrating the mind on the big picture rather than getting bogged down in the detail - time will tell I suppose, but it's feels right at the minute

 

[Jill Hives]

But I'd never let anyone hear any of it, and rarely let anyone read any of the lyrics.

I never let people read what I write. I keep everything in hidden in files on my computer or on little pieces of paper shoved in books. I'm a stuffer. I have to be careful lending things. I haven't been trying to make them into lyrics until recently. I have words and how I want them to sound in my head... I just can't sing or play anything. I have now have help in making them come to life just for my own amusement. Our fake bands should collaborate.

 

[Squiggle]

I never let people read what I write. I keep everything in hidden in files on my computer or on little pieces of paper shoved in books. I'm a stuffer. I have to be careful lending things. I haven't been trying to make them into lyrics until recently. I have words and how I want them to sound in my head... I just can't sing or play anything. I have now have help in making them come to life just for my own amusement. Our fake bands should collaborate.

But that would mean having to let someone else listen to/read some of the stuff

If we come up with a name that sounds ironic enough - something like "writers of rubbish songs" and call our albums stuff like "don't buy this, you won't understand it" we could make a fortune though.

 

[Pantone247]

Egg, you ever see Stockhausen scores?

they're boot-i-ful, like works of art on there own

john cage...

probably more like what you're talking about

http://www.ubu.com/aspen/aspen5and6/denmark.html