Swindon Music

Hello all

Recently been trying to write some music for a band thats currently being set up and just wondered if anyone out there has any tips,trick or indeed a method to which they go about writing songs?

Cheers and i look forward to your replies

-Mike

Some good tips already here.

Just keep plugging away. And even if you think it's shit, finish it anyway, that's always been a good tip. Get closure on songs! Also:

* If you have chords but no melody, work out the key, then play around with the scale till you find something you like. Even just a note to start on can be enough!

* Stuck with lyrics? Just babble along with the melody making random sounds, words etc. Record yourself doing it (don't worry if you haven't got a home recording setup, nearly all phones now have a "Voice Record" facility these days) and listen back and try and find words that sound like what you've just said. Odd, but often works.

* Have an IDEA. How do the chords make you feel? How do you want the song to make OTHER people feel?

* Get a capo, and try playing the song in different keys. Weird, but sometimes this makes a hell of a difference to how you hear it.

* Don't piss about with an intro if it's stronger than the rest of the song. Use it as an integral part of the song, or even base a whole new song around it.

* GET SPOTIFY! Then listen to something completely off your usual radar, and learn how to play it and/or sing it. Even if you hate it, you'll learn something.

* If all else fails, write what you have down or record it. Make a note of key, time etc and then when you are stuck on another song you can go back and see if an old idea will suddenly fit and create a great chorus/bridge/verse/whatever.

If you don't already, get a basic knowledge of scales, song structures and chord theory. There are *billions* of resources for this on the net, but if you get stuck PM me and I'd be happy to help.

OOOH - "Zen Guitar". Go for a walk, have some food, have a beer/spliff/Happy Meal and then just SIT THERE AND HIT THE GUITAR. Don't think about it, don't even change note or chord, just really feel the instrument, and after a while your fingers'll magically start finding new and exciting avenues to persue.



Hope this helps

thank you very much sir there is some great advice in there and some things id never of thought of

Getting dumped. That's pretty useful on the songwriting front.

it works for our singer , I know how to put music to words , we find the songs come out better that way .

the music supports the singing much better .

Deluk

All you need is here

all this spam is making me hungry

mmmmm fooood .

This works for me:

Stop trying and thinking

....Ill expand....

Heres a line i use nearly every day in my profession:

"if you always do what youve always done, youll always get what you always got"

If your thinking about it, you will nearly always come up with something the same, or very close to it. Its very hard to break away from what you know. By trying to eliminate conscious thought, which isnt the easiest of feats, then something else takes over. Its here that you truly "create". Some of the best music ive written seems to "come from nowhere", and youll find a lot of artists say the same. "i was just noodling about" etc..

"nothing else matters", one of Metallica's most reputable songs, i believe was written whilst Hammet and Hetfield were on the phone, and one of them had a guitar (hence the open strings at the beginning)

Another is to play other peoples songs, thus expanding your knowledge of your instrument, and how others write songs, eg phrasing, rhythms etc..

Hope this helps, and i know it sounds weird, but all i can say is that its works for me

I dunno, I tend to find, from a lyrics perspective, that ideas appear when you are the furthest away from pen and paper, hence always a good idea to carry a little pencil and some scrap paper to jot down ideas when in a restaurant, or out having a beer or something.

Just come across a set of video 'masterclasses' available at the moment on BBC Introducing if anyone is interested...

http://www.bbc.co.uk/music/introducing/

Just watching the lyrics masterclass with Tom Robinson who makes some good suggestions