Help needed on songwriting

[Gritter]

Sandy Gritt

Making something out of nothing: Song structure simplified.

An ad-libbed video on ad-libbing.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nDJK5h5r9x0

[henwrench]

Hey, that's great Sandy!! Good to see you and nice hat!!

                                                            henwrench

[Bluesberry]

Hot damn Sandy...you are one funky monkey........right down to your shoes...This is a damn great song man.....kinda like a Feist song.......

[cuthbert]

Those are some funky licks, Sandy.  Damn good lesson!

[Farrell Jackson]

Up until now I have stayed safe doing covers. There are so many good original songs on here that it has inspired me to have a bash...

Where do you start,  music or lyrics first.  Do ideas just come or do you sit down with the intension of writing.  I have sat here long enough staring at a blank piece of paper.

Cheers

Well as you can see by now, as I have after reading all the excellent replies, that songwriting is done in many ways. You just need to try some and figure out what techniques work best for you. For me, I've used everyone or at least parts of all the songwriting techniques that have been listed on this thread. The most common one for me is to just plunk around on my guitar until something strikes me as sounding good (Chord combinations or a guitar riff). I then hum or scat out a vocal melody. Usually I get the chorus first and then the verses.   I then record a scratch track so I don't forget it. I'll listen to it later and if it still sound good, I'll write a lyric for it. The good ideas are the ones I do a final recording on.

I have many songs saved like this that have never made it to a real recorded state. When I find I'm at a loss for new song ideas, I'll check my files and pick one to work on. That's my most common process.

Farrell Jackson

[phantasm777]

when i was 14 i decided that, yeah my writings - lyrics, poetry, are going to suck initially, but if i kept at it, in time, perhaps a long time, it will get better, keep that in mind as a driving force. also i think writing a song then lyrics, or lyrics then song doesnt really matter as long as it works for you. i can do both, but currently writing the music first. sometimes when writing the lyrics firts you have to do a lot of arranging in composition to make them fit, whereas, if yo0u write the song first, you know where the lyrics would be, figure out how many lines of lyrics you need then constrcut it from there, which for now, is easiest, though not easy.