General Music Chat

A decent song needs to start with a good idea.


That idea could be lyric or musical, but there has to be a reason to work on it at all.


It seems like 100 out of 100 songs will be written using a different technique than the last one, but there are some general rules that need to be understood so you understand when and how to break them.

cadence is key

Writing songs has always been easy for me. Lyrics pop into my head and if get them written down fast enough - bingo. The lyrics suggest the music.

The hard part for me is recording.

Editing can be a pain as well - it seems like nothing is ever so good it can't be improved.

Of course that was Charles Babbage's problem - he was never satisfied so computers were over 100 years late arriving on the scene.

Talbot

Vinnie... so you are third generation East Coast garment industry?? Out here sometimes it's tough to get people to wear garments at all:
http://abcnews.go.com/blogs/headlines/2 ... lawmakers/
c

why is it that those who like to protest in the nude are never people you actually want to see naked?

It's depressing.




Hey dawg, you should contact others who put these kinds of event on. The Dallas Songwriters Network comes to mind...as does TMA in Austin.

You might be surprised at how easy it is to get a top-name songwriter involved too. They're more accessable than a recording artist and this would stroke their egos to do. I've got a couple of people in mind if you want to do that...
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Send the names Ted, ...I will eventually follow up ... Got lots on my plate at the moment.

In a workshop you don't TEACH people how to write a song, you get them to interact and use their minds (maybe in a new way) in order to create.

Excellent point, Mike!

I would ask them if there was any type of song they would like to try to write first. Genre

Then I would ask them to try to write one or two lines. Then take the ideas and submit them to the whole class one at a time to get a group approval for a beginning song.

Ask them to come up with a simple melody so that cadence can be set for the rest of the lyrics. Group effort group approval. Then write a collaborative song using the best submitted ideas from each of them, and explain why they were good or not so good.

Then go on to the next best opening lines and start all over again... kind of a learn as you go think tank.

If that doesn't pan out then tell them my ideas suck and go with the next suggestion.

Ha ha Actually your ideas do not suck at all... I think I agree that the focus should be on getting them to collab together...
SOng themes are the product of many smaller pieces. Plenty to go around.

Great info guys,

Wish there was workshops where I live. Im sick of writing alone all the time. Alot of people are really shy and afraid to spit things out and give input. I generally come up with a melody and cadence pretty easy but I have a hard time keeping the lyrics relevant. The majority of the time I just spit out nonsensical lyrics just so I can get in the groove.

When im writing the only thing I pay attention to is if it sounds cool or not and I forget to pay attention to the meaning. The only person I write with is a good friend of mine I play a duo with and she is the total opposite of me. She writes lyrics first and music later so the whole proccess is one long battle when we write. But we write some cool stuff when its all said and done.

I wrote the material in the last band I was in and it was cool watching them come to life. One of the guitar players would take the song and sit in his basement and write a solo for days but but refused to make anything up on the spot. Everybody is different I guess but thats the beauty of it.

Wow! Dog, you are probably the most prolific songwriter here and you are asking us how???

LOL! I cant even tell you how I write my own songs...That is, I dont know why I break or bridge when i do, other than it just seemed like the right thing at that time... I'm just wondering how I am gonna explain it... I have no Idea!

When it starts feeling like its gone on too long or is getting monotonous. Break!
Good time to try a middle 8. (Bridge)

Wow! Dog, you are probably the most prolific songwriter here and you are asking us how???

LOL! I cant even tell you how I write my own songs...That is, I dont know why I break or bridge when i do, other than it just seemed like the right thing at that time... I'm just wondering how I am gonna explain it... I have no Idea!

When it starts feeling like its gone on too long or is getting monotonous. Break!
Good time to try a middle 8. (Bridge)

Excellent Point!

4 o'clock in the morning I wake up (no cold medicine last night!) and the tune I had been noodling with on the piano last week (lyrics are all written) is in my head, but with a nice rocking guitar-and-bass thing going. Went over it a few times in my head, thinking 'hey, yeah! that'll work!' Then stupid me went back to sleep. This morning I have no memory of what the guitar/bass line sounded like. Should have got up, gone downstairs and grabbed a guitar and worked it out.

4 o'clock in the morning I wake up (no cold medicine last night!) and the tune I had been noodling with on the piano last week (lyrics are all written) is in my head, but with a nice rocking guitar-and-bass thing going. Went over it a few times in my head, thinking 'hey, yeah! that'll work!' Then stupid me went back to sleep. This morning I have no memory of what the guitar/bass line sounded like. Should have got up, gone downstairs and grabbed a guitar and worked it out.

It happens to all of us