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Songwriting: Decoupling Lyrics and Chord Progressions


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These days, most of my songs start with chord progressions. This is because I'm testing out some plug-in, or technique for a blog post, or whatever, so I reach for a guitar and...a chord progression pops out.

 

I'm finally smart enough to press record, and sometimes, voila - lightning (or at least, static electricity) in a bottle. No lyrics yet.

 

If I come back to the song in a few days, hook up a mic, and start singing a melody line to the chord progression, I'm usually pretty happy with the results...still no lyrics, just "bahm ba bahm etc."

 

The final step is coming up with lyrics that fit the melody. This may see bass-ackwards ("shouldn't the melody fit the lyrics?"), but what I'm finding is that the melodies tend to be fairly compact, and melodies are super-important. Without the baggage of thinking about lyrics, the melody lines are IMHO better. Constraining the lyrics to fit into the melody is also a worthwhile exercise in self-control. Like if there's a short melody line, I better come up with a couple punchy words...and that in turn leads to the title.

 

Anyhow, I've kind of settled into this workflow. Does this make sense to anybody? What's your songwriting workflow?

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It makes sense to me and I've worked in a similar fashion to write songs.

On the other hand, I've gotten up at 3am before and an entire song lyric gets written down in 10-15 minutes. That is subject to improvement, like a puppy that pees on the carpet.

Sometimes it's not appealing, at least not right now.

 

Other times I'll just be playing and either chords or words or both just flow out into the world.

 

I honestly don't know where any of it comes from. I am grateful when it does.

It took a chunk of my life to get here and I am still not sure where "here" is.
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I typically try to just sit and noodle for a bit until I seem to find something that has a mood or atmosphere - usually it's a combination of chords with a riff or bass line or a short phrase of melodic material. Might be only 4 bars, but it's like an egg of an idea - I can feel there's something living in there to hatch out.

 

If I'm lucky, instead of just bah-da-bah-ding with the melody, I'll get some words that seem to fit. And this is pretty crucial - the words and the melody have to work together to express something in line with the mood or atmosphere that I seem settled into. So I might just talk, not sing, for a bit, until I have a phrase that rhythmically works with a string of words, with strong syllables and weak syllables, and at least one real accented note that has a sort of gesture to it. Like it seems best to swoop up to it, or hold it for a few beats - some expressive gesture that melds word, mood, rhythmic accent, statement.

 

At this point, the song still won't have much, but a successful proto-song does seem to have a DNA inherent in it, that just needs to be teased out to length. I may have no idea what the actual topic or message of the words will end up being even - the words so far might even make no particular sense other than they feel right somehow, make gestures, express a mood and message if just in the dynamics and rhythmic shape that is forming.

 

In other words, the meaning of the song and the music get put in place bit by bit, going back and forth between lyrics and chords and melody and gestures, etc. I don't have a good track record taking pre-written lyrics and setting them to music. Or taking a nice musical idea or instrumental song and writing lyrics that go with it. My lyrics and chords and riffs and sections all grow together bit by bit, reacting to each other - is very much a multi-strand weaving sort of slow development.

 

These things are hard to describe -

 

nat

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Black Market Daydreams just came to me as I was sitting on the couch with my acoustic guitar

 

The whole thing took about 15 minutes to write :idk:

 

Black Market Daydreams

 

As I've often said, that song is indestructible. I bet it sounded just fine the first time you played it.

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Can't remember. According to my songwriting file I recorded it in 2005

 

Back on topic, though, there are a myriad ways to write songs. Your method is just as valid as that of anyone else

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I used to try and restrain myself to some rules (can I play this live?, is the chorus catchy enough?, can I keep it to three minutes?) but no more. When I get back to recording my backlog soon I'll just do whatever feels right.

 

My only problem with doing whatever feels right is that I feel a lot of different things :) My last album of "tropical pop" got a really good response, but the songs I'm working on right seem to be channeling the 60s more than anything else. All my "albums" are very different from each other. I'm sure with each one I lose people, and gain different people. It's not good for "brand identity," and if I was still signed to a label, they would hate me.

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My only problem with doing whatever feels right is that I feel a lot of different things :)

 

Well I'm never going to get too far out, there are certain boxes that are nearly impossible for me to break out of; limits of my vocal range and the fact that I'm only proficient on guitar and keys aside from my ability to manipulate technology. Even given all the amazing tools at my disposal there have been times when I couldn't quite get the right sound or effect I thought I really wanted.

 

After all my time playing in this area I have a wealth of talented people I'm sure would enjoy coming to work with me on some recording but alas, I'll soon be moved far away.

On the bright side however my wife of five years now is an amazing musician and I fully intend to tap into her abilities for creative input and expect to have some very fun and creative collaborations.

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I can't stay in one "box" either. I write country songs, folk songs, sad songs, happy songs, etc. The styles are fairly diverse as well and this is to say nothing of instrumental compositions, where anything can happen.

 

Having played in dance bands for so long I am somewhat beholden to the groove but also well known for "breaking the music". Our current drummer and I have played in bands together for 10+ years, he's learned that I will always come back down hard on the One eventually, after playing something that is in time but the incorrect count. He just ignores me and sticks to the groove, perfect.

 

It's taking Chuck Berry's "it all comes back in time) thing another step or two farther. It is not popular in the current band so I refrain since it throws some band members off a bit. Recordings are "ally ally outs in freeyo" that's a big part of the fun for me.

 

But so is a straight - 2 chord country song if the story is engaging. I recently wrote a song that is intentionally not about anything at all, it insinuates but not in a way that leaves you with an awareness. I don't know if it's good or not, I no longer think about that - some people will like some things and other people will like other things. Same as me!!!!

 

So it goes. I'm with Greg though, you gotta just let it flow through you when it comes.

It took a chunk of my life to get here and I am still not sure where "here" is.
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The other element I don't really understand is how sometimes there's a creative flow, and sometimes it stalls. I can't seem to correlate it to anything specific. It's not like I'm in a good space so I write, or in a bad space so I write.

 

The only time I was able to correlate to something specific was, interestingly enough, wanting to do a cover of "Black Market Daydreams." I thought it was a really cool song, and Mark would enjoy hearing it through someone else's ears. IIRC that was almost 10 years ago, and there haven't been any significant stalls since then, other than work projects monopolizing my time. But that didn't stop the impulse to write.

 

At one point I didn't play guitar for two years. I still don't know why. But what's interesting is that when I came back to it, I was a more advanced player. It was almost like I had been practicing during those two years. My only explanation is that maybe I spent more time listening to music than playing it, and all the things I learned by listening coalesced.

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The other element I don't really understand is how sometimes there's a creative flow, and sometimes it stalls. I can't seem to correlate it to anything specific. It's not like I'm in a good space so I write, or in a bad space so I write.

 

The only time I was able to correlate to something specific was, interestingly enough, wanting to do a cover of "Black Market Daydreams." I thought it was a really cool song, and Mark would enjoy hearing it through someone else's ears. IIRC that was almost 10 years ago, and there haven't been any significant stalls since then, other than work projects monopolizing my time. But that didn't stop the impulse to write.

 

At one point I didn't play guitar for two years. I still don't know why. But what's interesting is that when I came back to it, I was a more advanced player. It was almost like I had been practicing during those two years. My only explanation is that maybe I spent more time listening to music than playing it, and all the things I learned by listening coalesced.

 

 

I don't know why I can write sometimes and not others either. I do know that I can always come up with something if I am collaborating with certain people and I cannot collaborate with others. Again, not sure why that is either.

 

I've taken breaks from playing guitar, never for 2 years, but probably for a total of 2 years or so. I think I sort of "plateau" and lose interest and then by not playing much or at all, I somehow overcome the obstacles that left me at the last plateau and I start heading up the hill to the next one.

 

I am grateful for any and all creativity that comes my way!

It took a chunk of my life to get here and I am still not sure where "here" is.
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