To musicians of Yea Forums

You don't even to experience something to write about it necessarily. Johnny Cash never shot a man to watch him die y'know. Most love songs tend to be about falling in love anyhow, I'm sure you've had crushes in your life that you can write about.

Jet Set by Alphaville
youtube.com/watch?v=IINxAibJJfk

>she is though.
Nah bitch. Sorry you got offended by the satanist stuff.

me

I mean the only reason I start out like that a lot of the time is because that way I don't have to think too hard about it before I even begin, because I fear that if that's the case, I will lose the motivation to create. Though one of my projects did start the way you tend to do your stuff, and I found it pretty refreshing to start with vocals/lyrics/melodies, because that way I had free range vocally, which opened up new possibilities, plus I was forced to get more creative with the "instrumentals" (the project I'm referring to is actually built entirely out of my voice). But ultimately I think whatever works best depends on what genre(s)/style(s) you write in, because my music is mostly "experimental" (honestly it doesn't often get too specific), but I have a thing for folding pop elements into it. Im assuming you write music that is far more direct, and you probably write "songs" as opposed to whatever someone might call that which I compose. In pop and other more direct styles, I think having the vocals/lyrics/melodies come first is advantageous, because that's what sticks the most. I think an effective way to be great all around would simply be to write as often one way as you would the other

yikes

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If you struggle with songwriting maybe you shouldn't even try it at all, I figured it's one of those "either you have it or not" abilities, same with singing and playing violin

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personally, I'm not really fond of writing about my own experiences, or myself in general for that matter, so I've always turned to communicating someone else's experiences (notably people who perhaps aren't very adept writers, but have something to tell), or reinterpreting real events not specific to me. Of course, storytelling is another significant way, not necessarily making shit up about your life, rather the way that a fiction writer draws up a story

Whenever I think of weird phrases and bits of lyrics I write it in a text message to myself. It ends up being huge walls of incoherent text with ideas seperated by semicolons and I go through that to find a jumping off point or filler lyrics to keep from getting writer's block. There's no right way to write/arrange a song, I try to take at least 3 somewhat related musical ideas and find a way to arrange them to keep it interesting and dynamic. With all of it you're walking a thin line between coming off as pretentious or cliche but it's stupid to worry about what people will think before it's even written.

ALL I EVER WANTED
ALL I EVER NEEDED
IS HERE IN MY ARMS
LYRICSFAGS ARE UNNECESSARY

Go pray.

yeah. once i started actually writing and making music i kinda just easily fell into being "direct". i hope to eventually get into making more unconventional stuff but i really like the progress i'm making already with what i currently do. i think "pop" songwriting has this problem where you can easily fall into just being extremely narrow minded about things. you almost have to catch yourself when you forget about having a nice depth to a song just because you are already content enough with the initial jumping off points you have.

uhhh i'm a catholic who hasn't been to church since i was 15 which was about 6 years ago.

I would also add that a lot of the time I write as a means of learning, or remembering things, so you don't always need to be communicating something relatable or familiar, it can just be something personal

singing and playing violin are not "have it or not". Both of those things anyone is capable of doing, and doing well, you just have to work really fucking hard at it. Granted, some people have aptitudes in those areas, or are born into environs that give them an advantage, but anyone is capable of doing those things. Personally, I consider myself first and foremost a vocalist, and I'm well aware of my skill level at this point, but it took me several years to even get to a point where I even considered myself decent, relative to all other singers. I used to be awful, my only advantage was that I have a great ear, so my sense of pitch is without flaw, but that didn't mean I could hold a steady pitch, or sing through my bridge, or anything. The earliest memory I have of singing is having a weak falsetto, in which I attempted to sing everything. I had to listen and mimic all throughout middle school and high school to be able to hold a steady note, transition between chest and head voice, produce vibrato, etc. It then took another three or so to become the vocalist that I am today, and I mean I'm pretty fucking solid now, but I could still be so much better. The point is, this stuff is difficult, I used to consider giving up singing because being as great as I wanted to be seemed way out my reach, but years later I'm pretty much where I thought I couldn't be, and that's because the past couple years I've spent like 15 hours a week working at it, which is a balancing act of doing the same stuff over and over, and challenging yourself with new techniques and (in the case of singers) new areas of your voice. I can't stress this to you enough, everyone sucks at something at first.

again

and I would say the same goes for songwriting, though songwriting is a little more ambiguous, because I personally don't believe there's an honest measurement for how good of a songwriter someone is. In one breath, a good songwriter may be someone who writes stuff that is insanely catchy and appeals to a vast amount of people. On the other hand, a good songwriter might be someone who creates very intriguing or challenging compositions that are more admirable and awe inspiring than catchy

Thanks

that's all fair. But I mean, as exciting as I think the world of experimental/unconventional music is, I won't discredit pop in the least, and there's absolutely nothing wrong with being direct. Experimental music thrives on being completely unnecessary, while pop is in a sense three minutes of necessary musical elements. The best pop is stuff where nothing feels out of place, while the best experimental is stuff where the entire sense of "place" is being redefined, or ignored. So idk if I completely agree about pop songwriting leading to narrow-mindedness, obviously it can, but overall I would just say pop is efficient, and that's important, just as important as having artists on the flipside going against everything that pop stands for

I masturbate to the point of getting blue balls and then stop and write my thoughts down. I could stop coming up with ideas for lyrics for years by now.

Open up Renoise and start with a patch with my ms20, usually bass, then add pads. If I'm feeling it's non-ambient track I put together a beat using Bazille. I only know basic music theory.

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I play guitar and have been writing music in a shoegazey punk band. my songwriting process usually goes like this: I start with the chord progressions for the rhythm guitar. once that sounds interesting and varied enough I'll start writing lead parts over them. then bass. then our drummer will come up with drum parts. and then lastly the other guitarist/vocalist and I will put some lyrics together.

How do you guys write lyrics. My composing skills are coming along but I still feel retarded when trying to come up with words even when I have a general theme. It just comes out kinda clunky.

I have to be inspired or what's the point. Usually frustration but maybe not. I also usually have to be playing guitar for a riff/song to just come to me, very rarely do I come up with a song when I'm away from my instrument.
This usually coincides with a bender of drugs and alcohol, which makes me feel absolute bliss. Eventually I get burned out and I don't get the thrill anymore. I then grab my guitar and fuck around till I make something so beautiful it summons all the dopamine i have left. Then I try to fully flesh it out once again to get that sweet dopamine release, the dopamine release I can't get doing anything else.
Music is magical. The way it makes you feel can exactly mimic real life feel good situations, and even boost the feelings you can get from those events to unrealisic proportions. You don't need to get a girlfriend to feel like you have one, even if for just a little while. You don't have to single handedly defeat an army of evil demons and save the world to feel like you did, you can just summon those feelings with music. As long as you can imagine what that feels like, you can learn to make music that makes you feel like that and it'll make you happy.

All of the autistic people in this thread should definitely post any stuff they’ve got recorded

i get intoxicated

Kinda just pull it out my ass to be honest. I'll jam a progression and make some lyrics on as I go, record every thing and then forget the words. If I remember the words it is worth singing again. If I remember the chords there worth playing again. I let the soul speak and let the music live.

and a great songwriter is someone who does both

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