Writting songs
Printed From: Progarchives.com
Category: Other music related lounges
Forum Name: Music and Musicians Exchange
Forum Description: Talk with and get feedback from other musicians on the site
URL: http://www.progarchives.com/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=22821
Printed Date: February 16 2025 at 19:53
Software Version: Web Wiz Forums 11.01 - http://www.webwizforums.com
Topic: Writting songs
Posted By: Cygnus X-1
Subject: Writting songs
Date Posted: May 04 2006 at 13:03
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how hard do you find it to write a song?
I can come up with riffs for songs all the times but I can never seem to make a song out of them. I've managed it once with the help of our guitarist and lyrics are especialy difficult, seeing as i'm not too poetic. ------------- http://www.last.fm/user/Bodins/?chartstyle=DarkSide5Big"> 
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Replies:
Posted By: JayDee
Date Posted: May 04 2006 at 19:58
Yeah, I can relate. But for me, its the melody that Im having problems with. I have lots of good (at least for me and my girlfriend) lyrics and themes that I cant seem to fit into the actual music. Most of the time Im at work, a riff or melody pops into my head, but before I can even put it into writting, its gone with the wind . We'll make a great pair, dont you think? ------------- 
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Posted By: Moatilliatta
Date Posted: May 05 2006 at 01:45
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I can do it, I just sometiems lack motivation, or other days I just can't make my visions relaity. In the latter case I just rest on it for a while. It'll come through. Music writing isn't nearly as difficult for me as lyric writing. I have some great material, and some great visions, now I just have to worry about finding people to play these songs with me. I've almost assembled the group too. Progress is minimal, but hopefully we'll pick up soon. ------------- www.last.fm/user/ThisCenotaph  
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Posted By: Bleat
Date Posted: May 05 2006 at 12:05
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I can write lyrics / poetry.....just...my singing sucks so bad!
I also get this strange phenomena known as PMT......(Pre Music Tension)......the ideas sorta build up ...i get frustrated...i can hear music in my "3rd ear" but it just dont manifest into reality......i throw things at people,kick the cat etc......then it sorta just flows out of me over a few days and i seem to acheive a lot in a short space of time.......and all is good with the world again.......any1 else get this or am I........."weird"? ------------- http://www.soundclick.com/circlesofstone http://www.myspace.com/circlesofstone |
Posted By: Rosescar
Date Posted: May 05 2006 at 12:24
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I'm not very good at riffs, harmony's more my thing.
------------- http://www.soundclick.com/rosescar/ - My music! "THE AUDIENCE WERE generally drugged. (In Holland, always)." - Robert Fripp |
Posted By: darren
Date Posted: May 05 2006 at 16:10
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I find that I write using three different methods.
One is the one that is inspired and I'm writing as fast as I can to get the idea down. I'm done in minutes. This happens so rarely. Another one is written over time. I come up with a beginning, an idea for the lyric or maybe some chord progression but it just doesn't seem right. I keep rewriting and reworking it for hours (days? weeks?) struggling over every word, every note. Sometimes I write several different drafts. Eventually things piece together. The other way is similar to the second way; I come up with various ideas that seem to go nowhere. I have many notebooks filled with bits and pieces. Eventually something in my head clicks and I combine bits with a similar theme into one finished piece. If one doesn't work for you, don't sweat it. Try another way. Nobody writes the same way, so there's no way to say "Start with 'A', then 'B', then 'C"... " (etc.) ------------- "they locked up a man who wanted to rule the world. the fools they locked up the wrong man." - Leonard Cohen |
Posted By: Bleat
Date Posted: May 05 2006 at 16:17
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you......write ...things ...down? I did that once in about 1989 on a scrap of paper.......since then Ive been saving up for a new notepad......but yep i agree with ur comments ------------- http://www.soundclick.com/circlesofstone http://www.myspace.com/circlesofstone |
Posted By: Firepuck
Date Posted: May 05 2006 at 16:43
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I'm a Bernie Taupin not an Elton John ------------- Kryten : "'Pub'? Ah yes, A meeting place where humans attempt to achieve advanced states of mental incompetence by the repeated consumption of fermented vegetable drinks." |
Posted By: proger
Date Posted: May 05 2006 at 20:29
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me and my friend can right a song in one hour or one day.
------------- ...live for tomorrow... |
Posted By: Alpine Jones
Date Posted: May 06 2006 at 15:06
study music theory, look at scores from any classical musical piece. This works for great progressive writing. Form and analysis of chord structure and phrasing seems dry at first, but then try applying it.  ------------- Support your Local Record store. |
Posted By: darren
Date Posted: May 07 2006 at 06:33
Yes, I use Ballpoint Pen 5.2.2 or Lead Pencil 3.0, both are perfectly compatable with Pad Of Paper 2.1.1, Ringed Notepad 4.2 and Paper Recycled From The Trash 6, among others.
This system allows me to switch back and forth from writing words to drawing musical staff and notes in both treble or bass clef. It's pretty much the cheapest I can find on the market, little power supply problems, very portable and I find the controls are the most intuitive than most systems. It also tends to not crash or freeze up very often, boots up and saves very quickly and I rarely lose data.
I have several of these systems throughout the house, notably by my Telephone 20th Century Edition which, if you didn't know, is great for carrying audio signals that allows me to talk to other people in real time. Again, you can't beat the price. ------------- "they locked up a man who wanted to rule the world. the fools they locked up the wrong man." - Leonard Cohen |
Bleat wrote:Posted By: Certif1ed
Date Posted: May 07 2006 at 16:13
Definitely not wierd. I tend to find the same sort of thing. Disturbingly, my main creative bursts tend to be around the time of the Full Moon - and particularly around the time of the Equinoxes and Solstices. For example, at the Spring Equinox this year, we wrote no less than 8 songs - and most nights we manage 1-2 tops (including writing, arranging and rough mixing). Yeah, I know it sounds like hippy stuff, but it's just what I've observed. ------------- The important thing is not to stop questioning. |
Posted By: Tony R
Date Posted: May 07 2006 at 16:42
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 http://img25.exs.cx/img25/6259/Cartman.jpg - |
Posted By: stonebeard
Date Posted: May 07 2006 at 19:26
 ...I've taken watered-down, college-level music theory for a year, and I can tell you I could punp out a song with no trouble at all. Of course, it would be sh*t, and I'd not be proud of it at all, but music theory is definitly the best tool in a musician's arsenal. That's why I can tell punk rockers like Green Day never took 10 minutes to analyze music, because once you get into thinking complexly, analyzing symphonies and such, I couldn't write a simple song for the life of me. Unless, of course, I was purposly trying to write a parody or joke song.------------- http://soundcloud.com/drewagler" rel="nofollow - My soundcloud. Please give feedback if you want! |
Posted By: Bleat
Date Posted: May 07 2006 at 22:23
I still cant fully work out where the Celtic thing with me comes from......I listen to "some",but not a lot of Celtic related music,but have never made a concious decision to throw it into my music.....it has always been there.....thats just how its always happened......Past life stuff creeping in maybe?.....They worked naturally with the seasons and moon phases too,so it does all make sense..........it is all very interesting..............good idea for a concept album maybe :p
The New Age has finally arrived at the prog rock forums...........
------------- http://www.soundclick.com/circlesofstone http://www.myspace.com/circlesofstone |
Posted By: Certif1ed
Date Posted: May 08 2006 at 05:08
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I'm fairly convinced that, since the moon has a physical and observable gravitational pull on the oceans, that it must do on other bodies of water (ie us, since we're a very high percentage water), and this will affect us all somehow.
Look on the back of almost any Gong album and notice the mentioning of full moons and other such wierdness. It all seems very odd to me - I'm not a tree-hugger by any stretch of the imagination, but as far as creativity is concerned, it's pretty much a constant. It also seems logical that if you're of Celtic stock, then your music will also be. Consider (for example) how many people of Asian origin write music that is distinctly Asian in flavour - it's hardly an accident or pure personal taste! I would also disagree with the point made by another poster that if you study music theory that it becomes impossible to write simple songs - the tunes I have written most recently are pretty simple (deliberately); yet I have studied theory in some depth, and composed in styles from Elizabethan through Ragtime to specific 20th century composers such as Schoenberg and Messaien. I just prefer to write simple rock songs  ------------- The important thing is not to stop questioning. |
Posted By: Valarius
Date Posted: May 12 2006 at 20:26
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Mike Oldfield said he use to have the same trouble when he wrote Tubular Bells.
He said he had loads of ideas but the didn't blend together very well.
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Posted By: Abstrakt
Date Posted: May 13 2006 at 05:31
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everything good has already been done... almost
so it's a bit hard
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Posted By: Crazy_Chester
Date Posted: May 14 2006 at 11:31
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I just let songs come out - I never sit down and think, I am going to write a song. I find poetry easy to write, lyrics are a bit harder - but I am learning how to write lyrics over melody. My older bro (guitarist) is really good with lyrics. ------------- No one knows what the purpose of it originally was or if it had a purpose at all. Personally I think it was a pure artistic creation from the beginning. - William S. Burroughs |
Posted By: squire99
Date Posted: May 18 2006 at 21:06
| High ideals but low energy has always been my problem. But I do like talking about writing songs. |
Posted By: mystic fred
Date Posted: May 23 2006 at 06:10
not in a million years! some of the best songs are waiting to be written, so get busy!  -------------  Prog Archives Tour Van 
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Posted By: Wilcey
Date Posted: May 23 2006 at 06:35
I live with a song-writer..........................sheesh, we have a system similar to darren's............not as advanced obviously we have Ringed Notepad 1.01 in EVERY room of the house, in the car, under the bed, in the garage...........it really works a treat. No crashing errors, easy to go back through past files, now and again we have to deal with migratory issues............(they all tend to like livingin the studio and have to be replaced around the abode for easy access) And hey the kids DON'T want time with them, so that's a bonus!!! and Abstrak.............shame on you!!!! that is SO defeatist............YOUR VOICE (whether in music or, you know, your actual voice  ) is what is important, it is what is in you, not what others have done. To quote the GREAT Eric Morecombe, "It's all the right notes, just not in the right order"............. music is about YOUR expressions. Folk don't stop saying "I love you" cos it's been said before!!!
It's in there...........let it out! P-c |
Posted By: darren
Date Posted: May 24 2006 at 02:45
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Pete Sinfield is a great songwriter. He's written songs for ELP, King Crimson, among others. His website has some great info on songwriting: songsouponsea.com
------------- "they locked up a man who wanted to rule the world. the fools they locked up the wrong man." - Leonard Cohen |