This thread is for discussion of songwriting. Feel free post your songs and ask for feedback, discuss songwriting methods, hints and tips, discuss your favourite songwriters and lyrics etc.
I’ll start by posting a love song I wrote, Ashton Lane, comments and feedback much appreciated. clyp.it
How do you write a song? What do you start with, chorus, verse, melody?
soundcloud.com
im stuck af and can never get back to something like this, i have the smae attitude i had when writing it, but i can't get the same eerie vibe in my lyrics or chords
Can’t listen right now as as work unfortunately.
I go through phases of creativity with songwriting, I haven’t had inspiration for about a month though but I’m not bothered as I wrote three decent songs in the space of a few weeks before. I think the most important thing is when a good line, title or idea comes to you try and act on it as soon as possible, it’s so easy to lose your train of thought or inspiration. My best songs were all written in one sitting in the space of a few hours.
Is that an actual recording of a guitar? Because if yes, then damn that's some good production.
I also like how the singing is just slightly offbeat, it adds character.
Love songs are kind of hard to write these days with how much material has been written already, these lyrics are definitely quite good. Wish I could say more but I listen to the voice as more of an instrument, as in how the words fit into the melody.
soundcloud.com
Here's my stuff, two songs. One acoustic, recorded with low fidelity but it was a perfect moment and I'm still happy with it. The second one was recorded with the boys in the band, my only contribution to our list of songs.
Thanks very much user, very kind of you. Yeah, I don’t know the first thing about sound production so I always record vocals and guitar in one take on my Zoom H2N then just crop it to size.
Will listen to both your posts when I finish work in a few hours.
>love music, specifically songs
>I myself write some cool riffs time to time
>hate my voice
>hate singing
>always write riffs and never bother writing any lyrics for them
Really wish I could get over this desu. Playing guitar is the only thing I've ever put in any effort into in my life and I don't have one song to show for it
songs are for gays anyway unless you're writing something really good (which 99% of musicians don't, they just write some random garbage words about some garbage problem that 100 other people already made a garbage song about)
just try and write some good music
Do prog rock
>>hate my voice
>>hate singing
Well, the second one is the direct consequence of the first one. You gotta practice more, the first time I sang and recorded it I was ashamed of it too, then I got some singing lessons and started experimenting with how I could bend my voice and focus the pressure on different parts of the mouth and throat.
>>always write riffs and never bother writing any lyrics for them
Still got this problem, sort of. Lyrics seem to be a very spur-of-the-moment thing for me, but that's probably just because I need to work on my writing discipline.
I can only encourage you to try your hand at it user, songwriting is really rewarding. For me there’s no happier sense of achievement than when I write something I am proud of.
In terms of getting over your fear of singing, I recommend trying your hand at three and four chord songs at first so you can focus your attention on relatively easy vocal melodies. The Beatles for example are really hard to sing well, whereas a lot of Bob Dylan and Johnny Cash songs are quite simple. You’ll quickly discover which keys you find difficult to sing - the capo is your best friend for this reason, if you are struggling to hit notes always try singing in a different key until it is comfortable.
I wish i wrote this
Pretty interesting, I like it.
My ambition is to write a song that tells stories as well as Tangled Up in Blue, I love the different narratives all contained in one song.
I always start with a big climatic moment. I do classical composing, so it's relatively easier for me in that sense, but even when I'm operating within music I always think of what is the big moment of the song. That said, I reccomend one of the basics of music that everyone forgets - study your favorite songwriters. Study their use of form, the instrumentation, the melodies, anything. It's only by study and reconstruction that you can become a good songwriter, because now you understand what those before you did, and you can build on those inspirations.
What instruments do you all start with? I've heard drums then bass then guitars and then all the rest, is that a helpful way to start?
I tend to start with hook and write the song around that. For example my latest song I came up with after reading a Chekhov story called Song of the Sirens, the title stuck in my head and I started thinking of it in songwriting terms. I came up with the chorus “I would sail ten million miles ‘fore I fell for the song o’ the siren’ then wrote a sort of rebel song around it.
my mom knocked on my door hehe so i had to cut it short
ignore the lyrics it's mostly stream of consciousness random stuff until i can come up with some better words
The first verse sucked but the rest of the song is great
fellow scot! I like your singing
got soundcloud?
huh that's funny
i feel like the exact opposite i really like that first part but i'm iffy on the rest
just goes to show how subjective some of this stuff is
Cheers pal! I do but it’s a bit shite, if you follow my Facebook page (Neil Matthew Fox Music) I’ll be putting out a decently recorded album soon. M
Just throwing it out there:
Billy Corgan, one of the greatest songwriters to me personally (his music arguably had some of the best lyricism) posts a lot of great songwriting tips on Instagram that helped me in some ways. His handle is @williampcorgan, good stuff.
Thanks for the advice user.
When I first started songwriting I scoured through many Bob Dylan interviews, he acts the bellend quite often but I did get some pretty good advice from the one’s where he isn’t being an elusive arsehole.
Oh, I should add his radio show Theme Time Radio Hour is not only comfy as fuck but very helpful for hearing a variety of both popular and obscure songs, really good if you want a bit of inspiration.
is shit like this youtube.com
I've noticed that a lot of what I make follows a similar pattern to this, I love low-key choruses like this but I think I do it too much. I'm worried that it'll start being repetitive and boring
If you write a few songs like that you’ll be a very rich user indeed.
I was trying to be careful to say that i didn't write stuff like that, just that I really enjoy making shit with low-key choruses (choruses where the riff changes very little, or doesn't actually change key). I probably do it too much, but I don't really write anything else. Could this be a problem?
The way I see it, if you like your own songs that is the most important thing. Ultimately the odds of any of us making a living out of music as minuscule, I write to entertain myself and if others like my recordings and live performances then that’s a welcome bonus.
John Prine is my favourite songwriter at the moment, his lyrics are witty, succinct, beautiful, never any bullshit. Man’s an absolute genius.
Here’s a song of my own influenced by the same song.
I like it user, keep at it.
whichever ever one you think youll stick to. there is no progression here
where does he post tips? his story or his posts?
I start with lyrics, will usually have a vague melody in my head as I write them, then work out the chords on guitar.
Post great lyrics
>I know it’s not much but it’s the best I can do
>My gift is my song and this one’s for you