[fishmonkey]

i used to play music in an all original band with a group of friends, in this band i was the main songwriter... to cut a long story short we broke up due to members wanting to travel and the usual shite..... cut to 6 months after when the remaining members decided to start a new band that play a variety of covers for the sole reason of making some €'s, basically... fun times.... now cut to the present day when this new band is getting just a little itchy playing someone elses songs and start to look to me for some new originals..

now heres my quandry.... i havent written an original song in so fuckin long i'm begining to wonder how i ever did it in the first place, i cant seem to get my head back to the place i was a year ago banging out 3 minute growlers..
i love playing music but i dont know if i can get back to writing originals.

if anyone out there songwrites... what is yr muse... what gives u inspiration?

[alyasa]

Find out what turns you on, and quickly... Then let it drip or pour into your song.

[NooNer]

Creativity is like a dissease.. There's no cure for it.. When you're cured.. you never were sick in the first place..

[fishmonkey]

Originally Posted by NooNer

Creativity is like a dissease.. There's no cure for it.. When you're cured.. you never were sick in the first place..

?????????????????????? WTF?

*bump


c'mon ta fuck, i need some advice.

[Savage Clone]

I like collaborating best.
Jamming a bit, remembering the best parts, making and tweaking arrangements from there.
I can write songs totally alone, but I usually find it less satisfying.

[Gogogonorrhea]

Sometimes I play along to electronic music like Kraftwerk or something or classical music and make up my own additional guitarparts. Usually it just flows.

The mathematical part of songwriting on the other hand, arranging, puzzling pieces of music together, confuses the issue a lot to me. I wish I was like good old Ludwig van, when it comes to arranging things. The Ninth, oh yeah, the ninth.

[jon boy]

turm all the amps on and up and then spaz out.

[Trasher02]

When I write a song I first take a subject, what I'm gonna write about because writing random shit is just stupid. When I did that I get into the mood of which mood I want the song to have (grammar??) for example if I'm making a sad song I listen to sad music if I'm making an angry song i blahblahblah... Then I just describe my feelings on paper and voila!

This may sound stupid but It works for me... I once wrote a song about a Batman episode which was pretty cool too.

[Savage Clone]

Huh.
I have never been able to write lyrics first.
Gotta have the music to bounce them off of first.
That is BY FAR the hardest part for me, which probably accounts for the fact that 85% of my music has no vocals.

[Trasher02]

I always write the music too it's almost impossible to write lyrics first.

[raging_nelly]

Close yr. eyes... bang somethin' out, see what happens... record it all... then sift through it pickin out the bits you like, mix them together, then re record it...

[h8kurdt]

Originally Posted by Trasher02

When I write a song I first take a subject, what I'm gonna write about because writing random shit is just stupid. When I did that I get into the mood of which mood I want the song to have (grammar??) for example if I'm making a sad song I listen to sad music if I'm making an angry song i blahblahblah... Then I just describe my feelings on paper and voila!

This may sound stupid but It works for me... I once wrote a song about a Batman episode which was pretty cool too.

I diagree. Just play and sing about anything.

An example sort of in the same lines. When writers get 'writers block' they say the best way to cure it is by just looking at the screeb/paper and writing. Just writing about anything and evetually something good comes out of it.

Hope that helps.

[alyasa]

It helps to read a bit first, to loosen up your intellectual juices. If you already have a mood or atmosphere or theme in your mind or heart, then read something specific to the topic. For me, when the lyrics flow, the song cannot be stopped.

[Norma J]

"If I knew the theory to writing a great song, I'd write one every time"

[SuchFriendsAreDangerous]

Originally Posted by fishmonkey

i used to play music in an all original band with a group of friends, in this band i was the main songwriter... to cut a long story short we broke up due to members wanting to travel and the usual shite..... cut to 6 months after when the remaining members decided to start a new band that play a variety of covers for the sole reason of making some €'s, basically... fun times.... now cut to the present day when this new band is getting just a little itchy playing someone elses songs and start to look to me for some new originals..

now heres my quandry.... i havent written an original song in so fuckin long i'm begining to wonder how i ever did it in the first place, i cant seem to get my head back to the place i was a year ago banging out 3 minute growlers..
i love playing music but i dont know if i can get back to writing originals.

if anyone out there songwrites... what is yr muse... what gives u inspiration?

I wrote my first song in over a year last week. my advice, forget all about it. keep playing whatever you feel like, and don't let anything keep you from progressive evolution as a player of instrument. the real advice I would give you is to come off of your high horse, cuz yr old band might not be as itchy as you thought, or even worse, they just might not need to come to you for new music, and if thats the case, you might let that event break your musical progression even more. the less important you think you are, the better, in all things.

[Everyneurotic]

Originally Posted by Savage Clone

Huh.
I have never been able to write lyrics first.
Gotta have the music to bounce them off of first.
That is BY FAR the hardest part for me, which probably accounts for the fact that 85% of my music has no vocals.

that was my songwriting mo when i first started; when you have a very strong sense of the vocal melody, then writing a song starting with the lyrics (and vocal melody) is fairly simple. but it's way easier and more complete to start with the music to lead you into the vocals and lyrics.

as for the advise: the thing that works for me is being casual about it, just grabbing a guitar and trying to come up with anything; most people get frustrated when they start writing a song and not nailing at the first attempt, that can lead to pressure and writer's block, and that's hard to shake off without therapy (took me a good six months, i beat it by carrying sheets of paper with me and writing any number of random crap on them and then i would piece lyrics together from those lines). so go at it relaxed and for the fun.

i have an occurence: a couple of weeks ago, i was trying to come up with an acoustic drone thing a la jack rose and by the time i was done, i had written a fucking song with lyrics and vocals and everything when i was trying to find microtonal intervals to tune my guitar to and make a huge ambient sound. i got an unplugged song instead.

i can't believe i'm agreeing with suchfriends...

[acousticrock87]

When I practice I usually switch back and forth between playing songs, scales, and just messing around. When I'm messing around and I hear a section that sounds appealing, I just tab it out in a manuscript paper notebook. Ya know, with all the lines already. Makes it less tedious. I even buy standard notation notebooks cause they're cheaper and just write in the 6th string notes below the bottom line. So I just leave that and a pen next to me when I practice and write down everything I like. Later I can go back and mix and match different pieces or pull out stuff that's especially good, and build on it.

[Style]

For me it begins with the concept. I always write the lyrics first. I figure out what the song is going to be about, and then I write it. Choruses are the most difficult for me, which is why I leave those and bridges usually out.