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Guitar chord forum - chordie → Songwriting → hats off to you
Hiya chordians,
admire all you song writers out there, what inspires you? Does a tune pop into your head or do you think and write the words and then think of the tune to go with it? Or if you could write the lyrics i suppose someone else could write the chords. After all the thousands and thousands of songs that have been written, i am amazed at folks coming up with new ideas all the time.
I usually come up with lyrics first. Often its not so much ideas that pop into my head, for me its more memories or certain things that occured in the past. A lot of my songs are based on things I thought ,said or did, or something someone else did. Of course I always write a couple of those spur of the moment songs that just kind of happen when they happen.
Hello hopeful - For me, writing songs is not so much about inspiration as it is about perspiration. I invest some time each day to chip away at ideas. The ideas are the easy part - it is mostly a matter of observing carefully and jotting down phrases or words that just might be the 'germ' of a song.
Writing songs takes practice (just like anything else). If I waited around for the perfect moment for inspiration to strike - I probably wouldn't start (or finish) many songs. The popular myth of somebody writing a song in 'just a few minutes' conveniently ignores the reality that that person was in the habit (through lots and lots of practice) of transforming raw ideas into songs.
For me, writing songs is a theraputic challenge - like putting together invisible puzzles. It can be very satisfying or very frustrating - but it is never ever boring. James
I actually try to mix it up. Sometimes I'll just sit and try and think of basic ideas until I start to run dry. Other times I'll sit and finger pick some chords until I get a few that sound good together.
Lately, I'm been coming up with ideas on my commute to and from work so I have to turn the radio off to keep from losing it. When I get home I'll sing what I remember into my tuner to get the basic chords I'm looking for and then I'll try the chords, adjust as needed since chords don't sound exactly the same in your head as they do coming out of a guitar. Then I write the words as best as I remember, usually pretty quick after I get home to keep the idea fresh. I dont have a tuner at work so if I think of a song going to work I'll usually just write down the lyrics in the parking lot at work or just when I sit down to my desk and hope I can remember the music that went with them at the end of the day when I get home
What really gets a good song out of me though is when some sort of event brings on a strong emotional reaction of some sort from me. Love songs, songs about loss, songs about happiness, songs about songs...what ever really brings the deep feelings out of you usually turns out to be a great song.
Hi Hopeful,
For me it was my first Teacher, "My Mam", she had the natural ability to make all 11 children feel special! She always encouraged us to have an opinion on life! She would write out big long words, and get us to make as many 2, 3, 4 or 5, letter words from the letters? As we had no tv, this was a great pastime!!
My second Lady was" Miss Blake" my first teacher! She always had her silver hair softly tied up on top. It always had little fine trails of hair, hanging like wisps of smoke coming down her neck! I loved her softspoken voice and the magical way she used words!
I have been writing down things for years! I could be walking my dogs, and words would come to me, Or the other day I watched some wood wasps in my garage for a long time, making a nest under the roof. Now how could one not write about that kind of Magic! No instructions, just doing what they were born to do, and you should see the structure. When they have vacated this i will take it to the local school for a nature table.. "Young Kids need to see these things".
I also get a vibrational feeling about people,even though i may never have met them, and words just come to me for them?
Roger Guppy Mó Cára, has written a beautiful piece of music to one of my writings. The first time i heard it i cried and cried, As it was exactly as i heard it in my head! He instinctively like the wood wasp knew what to do, and thats the magic of his gift... You see Hopeful I never know when to stop, I am Evangelical when asked a question?
Thank you so much for asking! Día linn [God to You } Good Night and start writing! In your chosen career you would have tons to write About?
Old Doll.
hi there,
each person finds their lyrics in their own way,sometimes i just sit and go through some chords until i like how they sound together,then pick a topic ie love/death/seasons/kids/money and just try to put the words to the chords.sometimes i find the tune first then keep that tune till i find lyrics later.but i started by writing lyrics and singing them in a tune i wanted to myself untili found chords to them , i rarely do it this way now as i only did it before because i could'nt play guitar.i still dont play too greatbut enough to get by. Some people like to make their words rhyme like me,some dont i spose it's preference,i just find it hard making my songs sound good without a rhyme- perhaps i should try that for my next song.some say that my songs tend to be quite long but thats just because i dont want to get off the mic at open mic night-at least i'm honest.i listen to other peolpes songs and somtimes it inspires me to write.My hubby recenly said your songs are all love songs why dont you think of somink else but it shows how much attention he pays as they're not.you have to write what your'e feeling ie passion/sadness it does not have to be about you,just somink you are thinking about ie (i wrote one about losing a child to war after watching hotel rowanda.) i just wrie and hope peolpe like them. dx
Guitar chord forum - chordie → Songwriting → hats off to you
