Topic: Any song writers here?
no photo
Tue 12/11/18 10:31 PM
I have not but wanted to try my hand at it. Any advice?

ParadoxicalPsych0pomp's photo
Sun 12/16/18 10:33 AM
Hey! I write lyrics and help produce tracks for artists via other sites. It was difficult at first, but once you find your voice, it becomes as easy as breathing.

General advice? Like any creative writing, you need to be willing to "kill your darlings". That means even if a line or chord is really good, don't shoehorn it in. It makes everything else feel forced at best, or changes the track entirely at worst.

Specifically, there's a lot. What are you trying to do or say? Is there an intended audience? What are the genre norms? What are you capable of (technically speaking, i.e: vocal range, vocabulary, speed and accuracy with instuments, tempo, etc.)?

Let me know what you want to go over. I'd be happy to help!

IgorFrankensteen's photo
Sun 12/16/18 11:35 AM
I taught myself how to write various things, including songs.
I'd suggest for a rank beginner, that you don't make your challenge any harder that you need to, to get started.

Basically, you can decide that you want to write to an existing format you like (blues, rap, etc), and then try to get your words to fit into the format you like, or you can come from the side of things where you start from the words you want to say, and then let the words generate the song.

One of the methods I use for my own stuff, is to begin by writing the first line that comes to mind, or with the core thing I want the song to say. Then I SPEAK those words out loud, and repeat them, listening carefully to how my voice naturally rises and falls, due to how I happen to speak naturally.

That provides the beginning of the melody, and of the pacing of the song to be. By only slightly exaggerating the natural rise and fall of how words are spoken (such as, ones voice tends to rise in pitch at the end of questions, and to fall in pitch at the end of statements), a writer can "sing talk" the words to get the melody started.

From there, the chords to back up the song can be found in various ways (assuming you want a melodic song), including picking out the notes of the melody and playing them all at once, or looking up chords in a chord book or reference, and trying each one out until you like the way it sounds. That part depends on what your other musical skills are.

If you are JUST a singer, and want someone else to play your music, you'll need a partner who can play, and who has the patience to put up with you saying "no, that's not right, try something murkier" or whatever.

This is all based on the songs I grew up enjoying the most. When I set out to write my own, I started by figuring out why the songs I liked, sounded as natural as they did. And that's how I noticed that with a lot of popular songs, the melody comes directly from the normal way people say the phrase.

Simple example in time with the season: "All I Want For Christmas Is You."

That phrase itself, as sung (especially by Mariah Carey) is EXACTLY as anyone would say it as a spoken phrase.

no photo
Sun 12/16/18 02:45 PM
Hum. This will help to inflect the emotion you wish to impart, or rather, your emotion will impart itself. Then the words come naturally, probably when your only half aware, or like a kettle boiling, they'll just come tumbling in.
If your lucky, you'll just hear it in a dream. And not even realize that it's new. It will sound familiar, and you'll be sure that you've heard it before.

Earthica 's photo
Mon 12/17/18 07:33 PM
I am a songwriter
you can hear some of my original home studio recordings here

https://myspace.com/westernjestern/music/songs
...(all instrumentals and voices are myself)...

and this should take you to a playlist of videos of me live

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jWFoBZC6uBk&list=PL82F89957C7E48706

Louie592's photo
Thu 12/20/18 09:01 PM
Hi names Lou i'm a rapper/singer can you give me any advice on playing the guitar or can you teach me?

Hemi89's photo
Thu 12/27/18 12:18 PM
Don't put it down.

GuitarRon's photo
Sat 12/29/18 12:14 AM
I have wrote a few songs.

originalsin1000's photo
Sun 12/30/18 07:11 AM
I am a song-writer/lyricists,tunefull shouter,I have material on Reverbnation,I taught myself guitar,little bass and keyboard,but your never done learning.

Fel1x's photo
Tue 02/12/19 02:56 AM
I have at least two songs in English.

no photo
Mon 02/18/19 12:41 AM
I'm one of those amazing singer with the worlds most beautiful voice.

no photo
Sun 03/24/19 01:22 PM
You'll need to write it like a poem. This will make it easy to understand. The hard part for me though is getting a rhythm

DaenerysIRL's photo
Wed 04/03/19 04:23 AM
Yes! I was 10 when I wrote my first song. I teach singing & songwriting as well. Happy to help anyone developing their creative process- esp. finding and honing your style. No one's gonna write like you do, because no one IS you! ;)

DaenerysIRL's photo
Wed 04/03/19 04:24 AM
I agree, well said!

no photo
Mon 04/15/19 10:41 PM
Yeah, I write. Not a lot of songs actually. It's hard to compose a music. I can read music :grinning: