does anyone have any good songwriting tips?

[NoelleNC]

If you were being serious about the disorders, I'm sorry! I thought you were kidding so that's why I said "Lol"...

[morningsting]

If you were being serious about the disorders, I'm sorry! I thought you were kidding so that's why I said "Lol"...

Yeah, I'm being serious...
I really do have all that shit.
Nah, I didn't take any offense to it.
I get alotta raz about it already, so it's cool.

Don't worry about it hun.
No harm done.

[VanessaPiana]

Always have a pen and paper on hand so that when an song lyric idea comes to mind, you can write it down right away, or else you could forget it. Just take it from the most influential songwriters and musicians. I'm a writer, so that's what I do.

[Melody]

I'd say that what's helped me the most is reading other artists' music.  That way I've gotten a general feel for the way chord progressions are in most songs.
Don't try to write lyrics about something you don't understand.  If you are absorbed by a feeling or really moved by something, then the words should come easier, because there'll be so much more to say.
I'd also say keep to a general structure: verse, chorus, verse, chorus, bridge, chorus.  I mean, you can shake it up, but most songs follow that.
And most importantly, keep writing.  I don't think anyone's songs are very good at first, but as you write more and more you'll get better.

[Rick]

i just keep writing forever.. when you feel mad, sad, happy, funny, or even wanna write songs for fun. do it. it actually (tune) pops in your head when you want to sing some of the song you write.

[thirdmovement]

yea I ususally just sit down at the piano, and don't really look at it. I kinda just let my hands move around on it until something good comes out.  Then I fiddle around with that little melody and add on to it so it becomes a song.  If you're going to write a song, a key thing to concentrate on is contrast.  You don't want the whole song to sound the same.  Ways to do this are to have one chord structure for the first verse and use that chord structure for every other verse.  Then change the structure for the chorus and bridge.  The chorus is most often higher (at least voice-wise) than the verse, which further adds to the contrast and lets the listener know that, hey, this is the chorus. Lyrics? I can't give you much advice there.  When I first started writing I just wrote whatever random thought popped into my head.  But then I realized that random thoughts usually aren't very original/inventive.  And when writing a song it's essential to make your song a piece of art, not a paragraph with music in the background. a poem of sorts i guess.  Now when I write songs I figure out what the melody of the notes means.  Why I wrote the song.  Then I write about that.  For instance, I wrote this really angry melody on the piano the other day and then asked myself, "why did I write this angry song?" then I realized that it's probably because of my friend's depression that's completely changing him...and so I began the lyrics.  I focused on each line and wrote the whole song not in one day, but in about a month.  I was always thinking about it...and when a new line or that phrase I had been dying to think of popped into my head, I wrote it down.  Soon enough, it was complete. I hope that helps!

[MeganJane]

That's cool. Check out Thirdmovement's thread. http://forums.nessaholics.com/viewtopic.php?t=9176 It's cool.

My songwriting tip...
in a song you can say what you want to say to someone's face but for some reason hold back. (A song that comes to mind is V's "Wanted"... she actually played the song to the guy she wrote it about, but he was stupid and didn't realize it was about him, hahaha or Kelly Clarkson's "Because of You".) You are the only person who can write that song you're trying to write. Anyone else would express it differently. You have the chance to express it your way. No one else can do that. It helps me to keep that in mind. Maybe that sounds a bit silly- but it's very important to be in the right frame of mind or you may unknowingly sabotage your chances to express yourself fully.  Let me know if this helps, anyone.

[MeganJane]

MY NUMBER ONE SONGWRITING TIP:
(probably)

Go out and get your heart broken.
Hehe

[bluebutterfly]

^  :lol:
wait...why am i laughing... it's sad but true.  The best songs come from crappy situations and when you're angry and feeling like crap.  8O

[MeganJane]

Yeah. It's true. Life can really suck, but I'd prefer to write about it than kill myself. It's more productive.  

[bluebutterfly]

indeedy do.

[Jameson]

"Melody first, and then the lyrics."  - Benny Andersson

Was it not walt disney that said "melody first, my dear, then lyrics"  god i could have sworn a hole through an iron pot. oh well.  :oops:

[Ryou-Neko]

There is no way. I've been writing for three years, and I'm here to tell you exactly that. It comes to you. It doesn't have to rhyme, which is a common misconception of some people I really don't like who are not members of this forum, but to make it good, it has to come from the heart. It has to have a part of you in it, and it has to be real. Like I said, there is no set way to write a song, whether musically or vocally or lyrically. As long as you think that it's good and you understand it and you believe in what you did and what you wrote, then that's enough. If you do that, it will be good.

[zurielshimon]

"Melody first, and then the lyrics."  - Benny Andersson

Was it not walt disney that said "melody first, my dear, then lyrics"  god i could have sworn a hole through an iron pot. oh well.  :oops:

That was Roger Radcliffe!!  Don't you remember that song he wrote about Cruella De Vil?

[Ryou-Neko]

Jameson wrote:
zurielshimon wrote:
"Melody first, and then the lyrics." - Benny Andersson  


Was it not walt disney that said "melody first, my dear, then lyrics" god i could have sworn a hole through an iron pot. oh well.  

Melody first my ass. =) I'll never hear the end of it, but lyrics are so much more important. The song is nothing if the lyrics don't mean anything, but the song can be everything if you have mediocre music and amazing lyrics.