Song writing, how do YOU do it?

[Crimson Idol]

I have often wanted to write songs, sometimes its been for someone because I think it's nice to show them how you feel in and what more personal way? (although I imagine playing a well known existing song would have greater impact, no matter what you write it will always feel cheesy ), sometimes its because I am very down and it's a potential outlet, others I just want to write something 'epic!'. But.. honestly, due to the way I have learnt I struggle a lot. If I was put in a band and given tablature to read (and a tune ofc) then I will play along, but when it came to writing material I would be useless - "Okay lets jam and see what we get, play something in E minor" .. "huh? Don't know scales!"

So, when it comes to writing there are many different things, Music or Lyrics first? If I have my guitar on hand I'll sometimes just muck about and think "oo that wasnt too bad", but due to not having drums or bass etc to fill in the gaps I have a tendency to try and just fill all available space with guitar (Chord driven verses like DWYBO just don't enter my head!). Sometimes lyrics will come and I'll write them down and can even think of some sort of melody, others (always in the bldy shower!) I'll end up imagining an entire tune, every instrument - then forget it

The problem is fitting all these things together, and more importantly, writing them down so I don't forget them. I use Guitar Pro mainly but just cannot do the whole time signatures, note lengths and timing and stuff. I can play it on the guitar exactly how I want it to sound but writing it down for future (writing it on paper doesn't help me as I won't remember speed etc in years to come when I see it) seems impossible for me. Lyrically.. everything feels cheesy or doesn't feel like it 'fits' a song structure, then I listen to others and realise the lyrics are pretty straight forward not all cryptic and poetic.


So, for those of you who DO write music/songs, how do you go about it? I'm not exactly asking for advice (although I take any I can get, everyone is different and what works for one may not work for others). Do you find yourself coming up with lyrics and melody first, do you work out the chord sequence then build on it? Do you write verse or chorus, or intro. Etc. How many of you can write full pieces (all instruments) and how many can only write for their respective instruments.

I'm curious as to what people find works for them, great thing about music is the diversity and I think that applies to both the end product AND the journey to it.

 

[Forostar]

Crimson, my advise to you is: if you have trouble writing it down, you can also record separate parts. Even if you think a part is not well enough or recorded well enough, that doesn't matter. At least you've archived an idea which you can use later. Use in the sense of recording or changing it again. You can build a song from the smallest beginning as long as you think it's good.

When I create music, I am not necessarily writing. I record. I try things. I am lucky that I know two other guys who are more into lyrics so they see if their parts fit with the pieces I have, or vice versa.

So, for those of you who DO write music/songs, how do you go about it? I'm not exactly asking for advice (although I take any I can get, everyone is different and what works for one may not work for others). Do you find yourself coming up with lyrics and melody first, do you work out the chord sequence then build on it? Do you write verse or chorus, or intro.

I don't have one way to do it. I often start with a melody or chord scheme on keyboard, before deciding where the piece has to land in the song.

Etc. How many of you can write full pieces (all instruments) and how many can only write for their respective instruments.

My respective instruments are drums, keyboard and guitar (these are often enough to make music for a song imo).
I don't have a bass and haven't played bass yet. Somehow I've always thought that this instrument would fit me better than guitar so I might check it out when the time comes.

 

[Crimson Idol]

Totally agree on the point theres no set way to write, I'm mostly just interested to see the comparitive ways everyone finds to do things, what is more common amongst a large group etc. I like little observations and diversity, they intrigue me a lot 

I originally actually considered the bass before the guitar, for no real reason other than "Everyone plays guitar" (Same reason I originally tried to study engineering instead of IT), but decided that if I played guitar at least I could play by myself, acoustic and failsinging rather than needing a band.

Plus in the end, the average person will remember vocals and guitar and the whole "OMG that solo!!!". The people who tend to pick up most on a drum or bass player and those who already perform the instrument, simply because they tend to be lower in the mixes. Although that sounds like I'm saying I chose guitar for popularity.. which isn't the case, as just mentioned I basically picked out guitar far more on an album when I first got into metal so that's what struck a chord (oh dear) with me. I have since played bass on occasion just for the hell of it, but guitar is what I enjoy.

Not knowing anything about drums really sets me down in the writing department I think too, sometimes I can think of a drum beat in my head and I like it, but its very very rare. And drums are something I cant record OR write.

 

[The Flash]

I play the bass and it's really hard for me to create melodies on bass. (kudos to Steve Harris once again) I don't own an electric guitar (I want to, but need some budget) but own a classical and an acoustic guitar. I just pick up my classical guitar and improvise. My improvises often sound like Eastern sounding stuff and I like it that way. Then I transcribe those melodies to bass. Bass is fabulous for writing heavy riffs, that's one thing.

However, I'm not good at remembering the melodies I played. Even though my memory is powerful, it's incredibly tough for me to listen to my record of the riff or melody and then play it regularly once again. I'm not a pro That's the reason why I can't record those improvises because it means nothing for the future. I don't know how many nice melodies I wasted because of that 

The thing is not writing the melodies, riffs, the thing is connecting those melodies and riffs to each other. Bridges, interludes, that kind of stuff. That's how I see "creating a song"

So I'm not really into composing but I love writing stuff. Actually I'm not really a lyric writer but I write poems, articles on a regular basis and people appreciate it really. I also work as a columnist for some websites (also wrote columns for a national newspaper, being at the age of 15, that's one of my greatest achievements so far ), that's profit of reading so much books.  But making words sound enjoyable, creating rhymes and writing vocal melodies for them is also really hard.

 

[Crimson Idol]

I've been told I write (words) very well when I'm writing something that means a lot to me.. even if its just venting sometimes, I'm not very big fan of poetry but some things I think would fit poetry great, but turning that into lyrics is... so much harder. Even excluding melodies things just don't fit quite right.

Songs don't nessecarily have to rhyme, one song that I really love atm is "I see a darkness" by Bonnie Prince Billy (Will Oldman), and it doesn't rhyme at all or even really have that much melody, but it works very well. That makes me think anything can really work as a song, but whenever I write thiings of that vein I look at it or listen back and think God thats bad! because its not what you expect

Lack of being able to write things down has probably wasted a lot as you say, but then if I was to write it down and find a band they'd probably just go "WTF?" when I couldn't even give them a time signature or key to play in ;D