ok here's the problem

[Space_Ace113]

I can write a good song but can't get the music and can write good music but can't get any lyrics. any suggestions

[johnbegone]

When I write, I usually always write the music first. The way the lyrics really seem to "fit" the music. But you can obviously go the opposite way. I've done it with success a couple times. So maybe write some lyrics (not a melody), then later on, when you have some good music... try to fit in the lyrics, probably with some minor adjustments.

 

It may or may not work. But you can always try

 

Some poems make the best songs.

[george costanza]

Seems hard to believe---to what music are you writing the "good songs"?

By that I mean, I might understand that you craft a catchy melody or affecting chord progression but then can't make a good lyric but if you're writng a "good song" (& I presume that means a lyric) you must be composing these to something, right ?

Aren't you using good music there?

[Kendrix]

Ive mentioned before that some of my best results come about when I have a number of musical thoughts seperate from a number of lyrics.

I play mix & match with them and am often surprised by what pops out of this matching process.

 

Keep at it till you have a handful of each.

If you cant get any to fit together then Id suggest you should question your assumption that they were good to begin with.

[Chaz]

Learn to accept the fact that that is how it is with your craft.

 

What I do is if I get hung up on a part, I leave it alone and go to something else. Then, I go back to it again when some time has past by. Sometimes I am able to finish the piece and sometimes I just have to put it back on the back shelf again.

[ManInTheBox]

so on one hand, you have a bunch of music without words, on the other hand, you have a bunch of words without music.

 

Maybe we should put in a call to Ms. Cleo, to figure out this conundrum????

[circlethedrain66]

When i find a good progression i record it in heavy repitition for two minuets or so. After a while i collect a rather large library of chord progressions and things on guitar or bass. When i am in the mood to write lyrics, and that is rather often, i look in the collections of progressions that i accumulated. I find one that suits the mood and just let the track play in repeat and just improv some words untill you get something that sticks and of course the beginning of a complete song is spawned. However, to do this you need something to record with....If your not making serious demos and your just using a recording unit to help you write, then i reccomend the Boss BR-532. its a simple digital 4 track.

[Skip_dup1]

there`s the crafter`s way, which is to try a variety of things until they match, and there`s the intuitive way, which is to say, if you have music, what kind of mood does it invoke? what does it make you think about? if it evokes a topic, how do you feel about the topic? write some words to describe how you feel and then work with the syntax until it fits the music.

[aithien]

There is an easy solution for this, find someone that can... !

[knunchucksammy]

Space_Ace, I believe that through experimenting any different ways of writing music, the best approach is free writing.... you know when you get a piece of paper and you just write whatever comes out of the pen and sort of get rid of the block that you may have???

 

Well you can do that with music as well. Get the music first (for this method) so that you can mold your melody to the mood of the song, and make a good piece of music... Get a basic idea of what you are going to be playing and then just sort of humm a possible harmony over it, this is a skill like any other... i.e. When hip-hop artists can freestyle about anything on and on and make it rythmic and neat-o.

 

If you learn how to do this with melodies you can really write some cool ones which in the end means cool songs. Try it out, rememeber, it is a skill like anything else, and a skill that you have to build to get good at it.

 

Matt

[george costanza]

Guys, I don't think Spacey is coming back to see what we think....but if (s)he does, I hope to find out the answer to my earlier question; i.e., if you can already write a good tune and can already write a good lyric...what keeps you from doing them both in the same song?

Doesn't pass the logic test.

[jeremymd]

I've written some songs that I myself believe were really good. And that instance is VERY VERY VERY RARE! Out of almost 30 songs, I think, I only liked 4 of them. 2 were music first, the other 2 were lyrics first.

 

Sounds too convenient? You don't believe me? I can honestly say I have nothing to gain by bragging, I can even honestly admit I am but a little tot here surrounded by real grownups. But I believe I know some stuff that can help.

 

To me, a good melody "begs" for a specific theme and words, and a good phrase "begs" for a certain pattern of notes and rests to match its message. This applies(to me, at least) usually when beginning a song. It doesn't matter(for me, at least) where you start your song (chorus? verse? bridge?). If you manage to construct even one phrase suggesting a theme with matching melody, all you have to do is tell the rest of the story. This works for me, at least.

[boosh]

`My way of dealing with it: I recrd the song and loop it.

Play it all day long continiously.

After 2 hours my GF gets annoyed as hell and tells me she walks out on me if I don't finish the lyrics.

Working under pressure helps me a lot.