Help Needed: Composing a Song for the First Time

[rhuthwaite]

Well I am having to write a song and I have no idea where to start or what it should be about... I was wondering if you had any ideas on what my song should be about and if you have any tips for composing a song? I have composed purely instrumental pieces before and done arranging of pieces but have never written a song (containing lyrics) PLEASE help me

 

[Cyrus]

www.linkinpark.com

Hope your good at screaming.

 

[rhuthwaite]

Screaming... Only on occassions
But when it comes to screaming in songs no can do...
haha thanks cyrus

 

[Cyrus]

http://youtube.com/watch?v=8sgycukafqQ

Man I've been listening to this song non stop now.

Everybody had a good time...

 

[rhuthwaite]

It is a great song! Quite inspirational

 

[Kurdt]

You could try the old method of chopping together a few headlines or writing one line and seeing where it takes you from there. Some of the lyrics can be quite surreal and not always make sense but sounds good.

 

[Type 7]

Find a song that you like with lyrics that resonate with you. Write two more verses for it and a chorus. Set those lyrics to your own music.

First verse
Chorus
Second verse
Chorus
Musical bridge
Repeat first verse
Chorus


"Hang your hair down in your eyes. You'll make a million dollars."
Todd Snider
Talkin' Seattle Grunge Rock Blues

 

[rhuthwaite]

wow that's an awsome idea!
Thanks

 

[moe darklight]

Listen to bands who write good lyrics and find out what it is that makes them work...

"How" by Joh Lennon is has some B-E-A-utiful lyrics (and the song itself is very pretty if you get a chance to hear it).

How? (John Lennon)​

How can I go forward when I don’t know which way I’m facing?
How can I go forward when I don’t know which way to turn?
How can I go forward into something I’m not sure of?
Oh no, oh no

How can I have feeling when I don’t know if it’s a feeling?
How can I feel something if I just don’t know how to feel?
How can I have feelings when my feelings have always been denied?
Oh no, oh no

You know life can be long
And you got to be so strong
And the world is so tough
Sometimes I feel I’ve had enough

How can I give love when I don’t know what it is I’m giving?
How can I give love when I just don’t know how to give?
How can I give love when love is something I ain’t never had?
Oh no, oh no

You know life can be long
You’ve got to be so strong
And the world she is tough
Sometimes I feel I’ve had enough

How can we go forward when we don’t know which way we’re facing?
How can we go forward when we don’t know which way to turn?
How can we go forward into something we’re not sure of?
Oh no, oh no

What do you need to write a song for? is this for school or just for fun? ... post it when you're done

 

[Ki Man]

ok, i can help you with the creative process but there are some things i need you to do here to get the creativity flowing

1) get up out of your chair

2) stare at your computers mouse while turning your head from side to side

3) go into your kitchen

4) open your refridgerator and close your eyes

5) [with eyes closed] reach in and feel around for something, then take it out

6) without opening your eyes, try to guess what it is, describe it out loud to yourself

7) then, sit down, and while eating it slowly, think of words to describe it

8) pick the the top 3 words you liked and write them on separate pieces of paper

9) go to your waste basket and throw away 1 and 3

10) if possible, rearrange the letters in word 2 to make a new word (if not word 2 will suffice)

11) start your song with that word, and end it with it

 

[turbo]

Ruth, if you feel strongly about something, you almost certainly have a song ready to come out. If you don't feel strongly about anything, you may be able to compose something clever, but it probably won't resonate with many others (not that that is the test of whether your song is good). I can't help you beyond this point. I have written stuff (if you can call it that) that emerged pretty much finished and I have struggled to express an idea that just isn't ready.

 

[Ki Man]

Ruth, if you feel strongly about something, you almost certainly have a song ready to come out. If you don't feel strongly about anything, you may be able to compose something clever, but it probably won't resonate with many others (not that that is the test of whether your song is good). I can't help you beyond this point. I have written stuff (if you can call it that) that emerged pretty much finished and I have struggled to express an idea that just isn't ready.

I guess that would work too

 

[moe darklight]

I'll agree with turbo-1 on that. ... it's got to be something you really feel for to make the song powerful... there are no ABC's to song-writing. You read some Nirvana or Radiohead lyrics and they barely make any sense at all... yet somehow (together with the music) they bring out something that people really relate to.


Here's another classic that will hopefully bring inspiration:

SMELLY CAT, SMELLY CAT
WHAT ARE THEY FEEDING YOU?
SMELLY CAT, O, SMELLY CAT,
IT'S NOT YOUR FAULT!

THEY WON'T TAKE YOU TO THE VET
YOU'RE OBVIOUSLY NOT THEIR FAVORITE PET

YOU MAY NOT BE A BED OF ROSES
AND YOU'RE NO FRIEND TO THOSE WITH NOSES

SMELLY CAT, SMELLY CAT
WHAT ARE THEY FEEDING YOU?
SMELLY CAT, O, SMELLY CAT,
IT'S NOT YOUR FAULT!

 

[Huckleberry]

Maybe you could play with some melodies and see how they make you feel. Find one that makes you feel poigniant about an experience you had and then examine why it made you feel that way. When you have some descriptive thoughts work them into the melody recreated the memory. Then fine tune the whole thing over and over until you can't think of anything else. Then keep it on the back burner for a couple of days and kind of mull over it occassionally. Maybe something will occur to you that you just have to add.

This kind of feedback cycle works well for me when I need to be creative. I think this method would be helpful in creating a relationship between the music and the lyrics. Weaving seems much more appealing to me than stiching.

 

[turbo]

Ruth, did you get that song written? I once had to compose and perform a song for a music theory class. I took about 20 minutes to compose a neat little finger-picking instrumental on my old Gibson 12-string, then it took me all one Sunday afternoon to transcribe it (I can't read standard musical notation for guitar, though I played semi-professionally for years and can improvise freely). The instructor looked at my transcription, made me play the piece in front of the class, then asked if anybody else in the class played guitar. A guy that I really respected as a performing guitarist said that he did, and the instructor handed him my transcription and made me play the piece again and asked if he thought the transcription was accurate. He said yes (though he hadn't a clue because the piece was very lively with lots of fingerpicking, hammer-ons and pull-offs!) and the instructor gave me an A. After class, the other guitarist asked how I came up with ideas like that and we became friends and collaborated and even visited one another after college. He was the lead guitarist in a regionally-hot group and our paths crossed periodically - it was neat when about 30 years down the road he showed up at a blues/rock open-mike jam that I was hosting weekly. After all that time, his first words were not "Hey! How're you doing?", but "Wow!, you've got that vibrato down good!" Guitarists!

 

[Artman]

I've written songs based on nothing more than a title idea or an overheard phrase, or even a new spin on a cliche. For instance, I heard someone say on the news that there was a "rock slide." I thought the title "Rock Slide" would make a good rock song. So I wrote it. My wife calls a moon partly hidden by clouds a Cinderella Moon. I thought that idea would make a nice romantic somewhat jazzy song. So I wrote it.

My process is to think about the phrase, and what it means. The first line to Cinderella Moon describes immeditately what it is, since it is a phrase unfamiliar to most people.

Moonlight peaking through,
Clouds of deep dark blue.
Oh I'm holding hands with you
Under a Cinderella Moon.

My song "Rock Slide" needed a connection between rock music and rocks sliding down a hillside. One of the verses goes like this:

The newsperson got it wrong.
They said there wasn't a quake.
Well if there wasn't, what could it be
What made the ground shake?

(Riff)
(Chorus:)

Rock slide
Jumping from a rock slide
You can't run. You can't hide.
Rocks are falling, rolling down
Feel the rock beat and hear the sound.

If you want to check out the actual finished songs they are here at my band page:

http://www.soundclick.com/bands/pagemusic.cfm?bandID=605126"

My recommendation is listen to people talk, find a phrase that you can use and expand to make your own.