Song Writing, any tips?

[dannyboy65]

I was wondering if anyone on this site has written music before. If so does anyone have any tips I could use to make it easier to write.

 

[worrywort]

I write songs!! erm, giving yourself permission to suck helps a lot for me. I find, before I get started on anything, it's good to write a bunch of intentionally crap songs, just to get the juices flowing. If I try to write the perfect song straight away I tend to freeze up. Quantity over quality is the peculiar secret in songwriting I find. So instead of trying to write one killer song, I write tons of crap ones and slowly learn from my mistakes.

 

[dannyboy65]

I write songs!! erm, giving yourself permission to suck helps a lot for me. I find, before I get started on anything, it's good to write a bunch of intentionally crap songs, just to get the juices flowing. If I try to write the perfect song straight away I tend to freeze up. Quantity over quality is the peculiar secret in songwriting I find. So instead of trying to write one killer song, I write tons of crap ones and slowly learn from my mistakes.

Thank you for the reply I will try that

 

[Kiwong]

Strong imagery, write about things that people have a universal connection and will therefore reach your listener. That is what I like about songs. Learn about rhythm and phrasing. Write from the heart about what you know the issues that move you.

 

[Metal_isthe_Answer]

I started off writing and recording in 2000. What I did at first was literally listen to a bunch of songs and write out how to pace the songs, how many lines should be in a verse, how many in the chorus etc etc. Think of "lines" like this:
Line 1: throw your hands in the air
Line 2: like you just dont care

I use college ruled note books and space lyrics like this:
Verse1:
throw your hands in the air
like you just dont care
etc
etc

Chorus
etc
etc

Try free throw writing, that is, writing without giving your songs too much thought. I find that stopping, especially for more than a day, usually results in unfinished lyrics. Write like that, and wait till you have music (if youll be recording) to put the lyrics to to revise the lyrics (sometimes a line wont flow as well as what it sounded like in your head)

Also try rhymingdictionary.com if you want words to rhyme, sometimes seeing a word helps come up with ideas. Thesaurus.com will also help as well. Finally realize that getting better at song writing means getting better a writing, the more you write, the more youll come up with methods that work for you, and the better the quality will be.