How do you start a song write ? words first ? music phrase/ a favorite progression? I usually start with a phrase, Or a conversation I might over hear in the line at the coffee shop. How do you start the process?
19 Comments |
 | Boog says:
2/7/2011 1:46:28 PM
It can happen with anything, but it's usually something I hear or see. I wrote a melody a while back called "The Forth" ... for the Forth Bridge just north of Edinburgh. The melody just popped into my head one day when I was looking at a photo of the bridge.
youtube.com/watch?v=PWvxWbBlRRw
... will make a better recording at some point.
I like to keep a little notepad in my pocket to jot down ideas ... I'm doing this more and more with my iPhone where I can also record myself humming a tune.
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 | alprice says:
2/7/2011 2:35:56 PM
It varies with me. It may start with a link that i get to messing around with. But most often, it starts with a hook or just a story I want to tell.
Though a bit of a tech geek, I still like writing drafts with pencil and paper.
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 | Greg Connor says:
2/7/2011 2:42:33 PM
That's a great idea about the IPhone Boog. I have a small Tascam DR-07 recorder for remembering licks etc.
I'd say most of the time the melody comes first for me, but the idea is right there with it.
Lately we have been doing a few challenges on EZFolk.com. The last one was "Write a Valentine Song" . With that in mind I came up with the melody.
I guess it can go either way.
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| Greg Connor says:
2/7/2011 2:47:30 PM
Alprice, I envy you. My handwriting is so bad, that I have to type it, or I can't hardly read it.
Fortunatly for me, I'm a fast typer.
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 | Sultans of Claw says:
2/7/2011 2:51:27 PM
Haven't managed to actually finish any that I've started so far to my satisfaction, but they're usually based on a suggestive phrase that I keep turning over and over in my head that just kind of "sticks." But as Ian says, it can be almost anything that becomes the germ of an idea.
I'm not particularly good at making music to go with the lyrics I write, so I'm determined to write a hook for my latest song idea before I go much deeper into it.
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| alprice says:
2/7/2011 6:29:17 PM
The hardest part is figuring out when it's done for me. Icab rewrite something for years.
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| alprice says:
2/7/2011 6:30:00 PM
Ha! Should have rewritten that last sentence!
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 | maryzcox says:
2/7/2011 8:01:36 PM
Billy Dean has a song writing website. I think he really has good advice. I went to one of his workshops and really enjoyed it. I really have not done any song writing--I've recorded some original melodies, but never any true songs crafted with words and melodies. :)
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 | ELWOOD says:
2/7/2011 10:28:40 PM
Some of my Tunes start as a little Musical phrase on banjo. The tuning has a huge effect on inspiring me Double C and Last Chance Tuning are my Favorite starting places
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| Greg Connor says:
2/8/2011 4:41:25 AM
I only know one tuning on the banjo, but I know several on the guitar and you are right Elwood, the tuning has a huge effect.
I've been trying to "Let it Cool" before declaring victory so I have time to fine tune the words.
There is nothing better than playing the song 20 or 30 times to work the kinks out of it too.
I had fun last Saturday playing at a local Tavern /Pizza place. I gave the other guys in the band my lyrics and chord changes. They had never heard the song before, but we did great, and I heard things in that song that I had never heard before. It was a lot of fun.
I recorded it, here is the link:
c1.ezfolk.com/Greg_Connor/?song=21812
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| Sultans of Claw says:
2/11/2011 7:35:13 PM
Nice, Greg. Thanks for sharing. May I ask, what was the spark? (I pretty much hate the word, inspiration) :-)
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| Greg Connor says:
2/12/2011 9:55:34 AM
Hi Lee, The spark for "Love Song" was actually Elwood. He challenged everyone to write a Valentine Song over on the EZFolk.com site.
Once he lit the fire under me, I started thinking about my wife Rita, who has been putting up with my crap for 35 years now.
She will most likely be my Valentine for as long as I live, and the thing that makes us the most happy is being outdoors, enjoying the seasons and wild life etc. So I wrote about Spring Time, Fall, and the birds. She knows I'm too cheap to buy her jewelry.
Just for fun, let's ask Elwood what inspired him when writing his Valentine Song.
I know the answer, and I know how his wife received it.
It's pretty funny!
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| ELWOOD says:
2/15/2011 6:52:18 AM
I see Greg let the kitty out of the Burlap. I wrote a song for the valentines day contest. The title is "The Rose of Las Cruces". My wife wants to know Who is this rose person anyway. Its just a made up song, says I. Its about love dummy , Says she. I've made bigger mistakes before, but none tuogher to make right. ezfolk.com/audio/index.php?t=p..._id=21730
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| Greg Connor says:
2/18/2011 11:22:32 AM
The Rose of Las Cruces Dedicated to Elwood
Based on a fragment of truth and a big imagination
banjohangout.org/myhangout/med...archived=
Oh the Rose of Las Cruces
Shes my baby now
I pulled into the drive thru
And she left with me somehow
I still can see her apron blowing in the wind
She swears that she will love me
As long as love dont end
She spotted my banjo in
The back seat of the car
She said a banjo playin man
Could really make it far
I said theres lot of chords to know
And I was up to three
She stuck her tongue right in my ear
Said play them all for me
She had herself a boyfriend
A couple days before
Met him through a tequila haze
He was lying on the floor
And they were going steady
By closing time that night
It was over the morning
When she saw him in the light
I only have found true love
A time or two for me
But 300 lb of Rosie
Shakes me at my knees
And she can hold her liquor
Like any man I seen
But if I hold back on love
She surely can get mean
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| ELWOOD says:
2/18/2011 1:09:12 PM
Yah Greg, thats her. The ROSE is quite a woman
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 | dpete210 says:
2/21/2011 5:56:43 PM
Thanks for the tip on ezfolk, Greg. That was new for me. I'll check it out.
Now on the question, even though I'm a latecomer. Most of the time I work up the text from something I've heard, such as a personal story, or experience, or from something someone has said, or a thought that crosses my mind. I've had ideas come to me in my sleep, and if I can remember enough can work something out later when I am awake, or if I wake up in the middle of a dream, and can remember the just, Ill jot something down to help me remember the train of thought the next day. Ideas can pop up anywhere, anytime, so it pays to be ready. I've had good ideas disappear because I depended on my memory and neglected to write the thought/phrase down that I figured would start a good song text, and poof, it was gone.
After the text is pretty much finished a melody will come from what I feel from the text. This will often lead to changing words to make them fit the melody or flow better.
I identify with those of you who wonder when a song is done. There are times I've thought a song was "finished" then after leaving it for awhile I'll spot something that I previously didn't notice, or after a time away from the text I spot something I don't like and then work on a revision of whatever it is that I've discovered. Rarely have I written a song and been satisfied with the first writing. At times it can be just one line that bugs the heck out of me until I finally come up with something that better says what I want it to say.
I just love it when an idea comes to me and I get one line down, then Ill work on it and it becomes 2 lines, then 3, then a verse or in some case becomes a chorus. Then it grows to another verse and maybe another until it is finally a song or in some cases a poem. Sometimes after Ive finished I wonder how the heck I did it!
Sorry if I offend anyone, but I must give credit to God for the gift I have been given. Not so many years ago I couldnt write a song text or poem that wasnt just a bunch of gibberish. I would start something and realize it was junk. Id crumple up the paper and throw it away. Once in awhile Ill find a notebook or something where I started a song and stopped because I realized it was going nowhere. Ive saved a few of those efforts to remind me that on my own I was spinning in the wind. I asked for and received the ability to write songs. Ideas came in abundance, like a flood at first. Now that they have slowed Ive learned that it is more important to focus on quality rather than get caught up in how many songs I can come up with. ☺ Whether anything ever becomes of the songs or poems Ive created is not important to me. I am satisfied knowing the opportunity to share my gift in my music endeavors has positively affected others.
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| Greg Connor says:
2/22/2011 5:02:16 AM
Good analogy Dave of the writing process. I agree, the inspiration comes from somewhere else.
I wrote my Irish Song yesterday in response to Elwood's Challenge. I have no idea where that song came from. It was just there.
As far as rewriting, well, that's nothing more than sanding before you varnish. It's part of the process for me to make it as good as I can.
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 | Ottawa says:
3/1/2011 12:40:39 PM
I find I just start writing around a thought , image or sentiment and continue to write circles around it until it begins to unravel itself. The story or message begins to reveal itself and then I begin to firm it up around the edges so that it doesn't get away too far, remains coherent, but at the same time, holds some poetic fluidity. Anyway, works for me.
I find my songs come out from writing first and then the melody, but needs to have some structure as to maintain a uniform shape.
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| ELWOOD says:
3/1/2011 1:04:30 PM
Wow you guys are great responders. I guess thats not surprizing as you are all writers
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