For me the best music just kind of comes naturally to me. It's really cheesy to say that but it's true. I can't force out good music. The hardest part for me is vocal melodies. I've never been a great vocalist so writing catchy vocal melodies is difficult. My greatest strength is chords because I have a strong jazz background making my brain a massive library of chords.

101
always write when experiencing extreme forms of emotion
whatever the cause

If you would like to hear some inspiring lyrics check anything by Saul Williams.

Do acid and listen to Devin Townsend.

mmmmm I don't know about anything. I'd highly suggest "Penny for a Thought" but some of his songs can be kind of whacked and I don't know if its a good place to start. Robeson for example...

Would you like to play guitar? You are a band to play with other people? The text is something subjective and wide. Some of the most famous musicians were some of the simplest and often think the worst song. Simplicity is not necessarily a bad thing. I think the Beatles are a couple of words more deliberately. It very much depends on what you are going and for what purpose they were written. If you are the same texts, that is what I do, no matter what others think.

wow a 4 year old thread still going strong. good advice i can see why

You make a lot of good points, but a lot of your ideas are generally negative rather than positive, and focus on individual symptoms of a poor song. For me, this ain't particularly the right way to go about it.

Beginners: If you abide by this one rule, you'll be writing great songs before you know it:

Keep Your Hand Moving. If you keep writing, you'll begin to recognise the poor qualities in your older work. I certainly produced a whole load of crap in my first few years of songwriting.

But I kept writing and writing through the crap, and began to recognise the weaknesses in my previous work. It's a personal process of growth, and no-one can really tell you how to go about it.

For more ideas on inspiration and general tips, visit my silly blog at pianoplonker.wordpress.com

Lyrics are like poetry, they need to flow, they need to express an idea. But they should be carefully crafted, and try to be subtle. Remember, the thing that drives us to music is that we are trying to express something that requires more than just words. The lyrics aid music; don't let them run away with the song.

All these are great, very helpful!

I can cut it down to one tip:

1. Listen to as much music as you possibly can, and crop the aspects of other things you like, and mix them together. Then **** around and distort that enough to where it flows with itself, and it is it's own beast.

There is really something beautiful about songwriting. Regardless of the number of the songs I write, I am still amazed and a little awestruck that it happens at all.

Can someone help me, when I write my song lyrics I always see that I have a good way to sing them but most of the times the lyrics aren't very 'highstanding'. Can someone give me some advise how I can get them better and that they are still easy to sing?

my tip is keep it simple

i usually write in I, IV and V chords, keep the melody simple, keep the lyrics as trite as able

and voila you have a top 10 hit in your hands

I've only done like 1-3 songwritings in my entire life, but I'm going to advise you as sincerely as possible:

1) When writing songs, make sure the essential parts are present and in order
verse (1-2)
chorus
verse (1-2)
chorus
bridge
chorus (can be repeated twice)

2) make every line on your lyric as rhymable as possible

3) as much as possible, avoid listening to too much songs when writing as it may affect you're writing in a negative way (copying) rather than positively

4) always make sure that you are telling a story in your song. and the bridge is the climax to it

5) stick to the emotion you're trying to write. if it's a happy song, don't talk about divorce and death. oppositely, if it's a sad song, don't talk about butterflies and cute guys. you know what i mean.

6) lastly, put a beat to it or at least a melody. indicating a few musical notes at the end of every line won't hurt.

read more poetry - especially from the Romantic era - Wordsworth, Coleridge, Byron, Shelley

^ That`s probably good advice, though I`ve never read those guys myself.

On the subject of historical exemplars, I think Dylan went to the Bible to get some ideas, and Shakespeare is also full of examples of good writing. One bit I vaguely remember goes something like this;
" blahblahblah... whispered thoughts to my deaf pillow."

I like the way he uses simple, non-abstract words in an original combination to nail an idea right on the head; and in this case it`s an idea so universal that anyone can identify with it, whether they are from 1611 or 2011.

Hello sleepy jack. Nice efforts by you.
Write better songs and chords by learning The Essential Secrets of Songwriting
notice these points:
write lyrics that really connect with listeners;
create melodies that everyone will remember;
build chord progressions that actually work!
great hook might save your song

Song writing tips thread
 

As a newcomer, I found this thread interesting, as it made a lot of sense.

Think I'm going to enjoy accessing the site, and hopefully will get used to posting to the right subject matter! lol!

Roseanne xx

i find that quite a nice way to put it, really

stick around

hi samkaiye here, just read your tips section, pretty much agree with all u had to say. just posted too songs, bleed alone, and the drifter, would be interested to see whot you think of them, if you have the time !! cheers samkaiye

Bubble Diagram!
 

You guys all have awesome tips for songwriting! If you want to see some songwriting tips in action go to my website and check out the video From Zosia her hit song "Monday" was played on the hit TV show The Hills. She does this crazy bubble diagram that really stretches your creativity.

Great stuff on here!

Here is a tip I found that works very well for me.

Find an instrumental of a song you admire (by a professional artist) that captures the essence of your own song, or comes close. Then sing in their melody but your own lyrics. It takes a little bit of warming into but once you get going, you can come up with some really great ideas that might fit your project, or at least can be saved for another!

I think there are no hard and fast rules to writing, there shouldnt be anything limiting your creativity - except maybe make it original, but even then its alright to pick up things here and there, you cant avoid being influenced by whats out there, but the best advice I ever heard given was from Harry Connick Junior on Austrailian Idol when he said "dont listen to these bozos" (meaning the other judges) and do what you feel you should.

I think just developing a tune in your head and recording it with your phone or something else is great because then you won't forget the tune while you are in the zone.

Writing
 

I try to relax and take breaks. I find it clears my mind Doritos help too!

Whenever it happens to me, it is a flash, it happens very fast, and then it is done. It is usually very simple, that is the foundation for a great song.

It's all about mood and environment for me. They always change the style or tone of songs I write. Sometimes if I'm not feeling it, I'll change the scenery a bit.

Hi, everyone! I try to make songs and sing them.. Still have a lot to learn.. But i want to ask you - what do you think about online singing courses? I don't have an option to attend singing and songwriting classes..

treat your voice and instrument and think how your words fit within the music

Just write directly from your soul. Avoid all delusional feelings like love as most love songs just turn out crap, but for some reason people can relate. Songs are supposed to express emotion. You should make it so that people can see it in different ways, there are no answer to the song

generally, you're poem must interpret u .. it will contain the emotion u have on that time u made the poem.. keep it real.dont fake for fame !! be known for the poems which represents u as a whole

Since I'm new to the forum -- and that's some good advice, by the way -- I hope I didn't miss any implicit rules or anything. So here goes:

Make notes
Whenever you hear or come up with a great idea about how to phrase something; make a note of it. Keep a notebook handy, use your phone or whatever is handy. It's really annoying not recalling that thing you thought about in that place.

Find your inner child
Plenty of the greats (Shakespeare, Wordsworth, Miller etc) seem to have had the ability to look upon the world through a child's eyes, but still use their own voice when putting what they saw into Words.

That's a great tip, dreadman.
Before I started carrying around a small book, I would try to remember cool lines or phrases I'd heard only to forget them later on.

i too suffer from writers block but you have to work through it, making notes on paper helps a lot.

Try to avoid writing when you are in emotional extremes. Sure you could write a masterpiece and many have done it but you could also write a bantering piece of crap (which is about 95 % of the time). I have found that my best work was written when I was minorly emotionally stimulated (a little frustrated,a little angry,somewhat glad etc). When I wrote my only good love song I wasn't in love at all. When I was all my love songs sucked majorly

The above really is a great tip, I myself tried in a not-so-good state and it was literally the worst piece of garbage. The lyrics literally seemed like a combination of various depressing lyrics. So yeah, be emotionally incline.

These are pretty good tips! I think Ive seen some of these(or similar) around.

I am stuck with my writing, I have come up with a perfect (or at least a good) theme and the first 2 verses. Do you guys have any tips about getting your flow back and pushing yourself into the right mindset. Or is it just best if I would just get back to it when I have moore insperation and motivation?