Songwriting Tips Thread

[Ska Lagos Jew Sun Ra]

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.

[sarahdmoore]

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.

[Bloozcrooz]

Originally Posted by Scarlette

Avoid lyrics like why, fly, high, sky...

You must not like Lenny Kravitz then lol...
I thought he kind of made it work..for as simple of chord structure and lyrics were as well.

[Robin333]

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?

[Howard the Duck]

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

[The Virgin]

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.

[Howard the Duck]

Originally Posted by Robin333

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?

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

[Lisnaholic]

^ 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.

[michael111]

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

[Roseanne]

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