Everyone's Writing Process

[Oldrottenhead]

God bless the individual that can say "I think I'll sit down for a couple hours and write some riveting poetry".

i think i am cursed with an insatiable drive to write lyrics for all the tunes i like. i thought it comes easy cos it all comes so quickly to me but last weekend i wrote quite a few and was absolutely knackered afterwards completely burnt out, so sat back from the forum for a couple of days to recuperate, am feeling refreshed now, but i'm sure i'll get sucked back in again this place is so addictive.

[antisocialworker]

Im so lazy musically, If I cant finish writing a song in 15-20 mins I garbage it.
its musical ADD. I find that my ideas work with my skills if i move fast with it.
if I try to come back to a project half way through, I cant seem to get back into it...
although with my last two songs I have been taking a different approach. I start with a pun, or punch line, or just one good lyric, then try to come up with simple catchy riffs/rhythms to sing to. and I'm illiterate so most of my solos and lead are made up on the spot, if you were to ask me to play a solo from one of my songs I would have to re-learn it. some of them I wouldn't know where to begin (thank god it was recording)

The faster you go with an idea, the better. for me atleast.

[Oldrottenhead]

i can relate to a lot of that antisocialworker.

[AndyR]

I've got loads to say on this topic - a very cool topic... but I'm just about to leave work and struggle home... so I won't start.

Hopefully I'll remember to come back to this one

You didn't !

And I really wish you had !!

SO DO I!!!

I can't remember what I was going to say, and I could do with a bit of help meself...  

I've been really stuck songwriting and recording wise over the last few months. Musically I've been having a lot of fun with guitars and stuff, but no songs at all.

I've got two weeks off now, so I'm getting geared up to get some stuff out (I have a huge pile of songs from years ago, which I'm relearning at the moment). With a bit of luck, recording and posting them will cause some new songs... so I'll try and get my thoughts in order at the same time and dump them in here  

EDIT:

i can relate to a lot of that antisocialworker.

+1 on the songs that I write as I record.

Most of the songs I own though were written without any recording devices other than a pen and an A4 pad!

[Gu Djin]

I like threads that try to identify how we write songs.  I've contributed to several on other forums at various times.  When I look back on my replies they're all different, yet I believed them at the time.

So the things that work my songwriting muscle are probably not definable.  Maybe it's like a bubble.  It's there in the physical sense, but when you try to examine it closely - poof.

What do I do?  Well I get an idea - maybe a story (my projects), or a phrase, musical or lyrical, or a mood.  Sometimes I see, or hear something and it triggers a cell in my brain - and I jerk it around till it takes form.  It probably helps that I hate following rules - and I think my songs reflect that. In the same way I've had no formal training, so I just do what I like without worrying too much if it doesn't fit.  But whatever it is, the process is addictive and I'd hate to dry.

Done for now.

Leigh

[Gu Djin]

Another avenue of where do the song ideas come from.  Mishears.  The other day I was idling a few minutes listening to some music on another site - and heard a phrase that I thought was a cool bit of nonsense.  So i wound back and relistened - it wasn't anything like what I thought.  But it's now being worked into a song.

[peterp]

Well while sitting on a mystic mushroom songs float down to me to be encoded,
Or more likely while sitting in a bath with my electric typewriter balanced across a board the words come to me.

Sometimes it is really easy and things just seem to flow, other times it is a major struggle that ends up getting stored away in a dark place to age for a long time before I try again.

[MDV]

I pick up a guitar

I put my fingers in different places at different times while hitting the strings. When I like the sound of it I try and remember what I did so I can do it again.

[vierge99]

I try to write songs in groups that all follow a certain theme. It allows me to get different takes on the same idea and then choose the best one. Or mix n' match ideas I like into one 'best' song. Regardless, I write just to write. If all else fails, I've got a pool of bits to pick from that I can piece a song together with.

[galestermusic]

This is crazy....I don't even remember asking this. lol I'm glad I did and glad I read it again.

Sorry OHR if I was redundit in asking you this acouple of days ago...I honestly don't remember posting this