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Songwriting
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Joined: Feb 2023
Posts: 117
Apprentice
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Apprentice
Joined: Feb 2023
Posts: 117 |
I have the musical basis (chords and melody) for a song, but no lyrics.
Andrew I am probably no help here . . . Only twice have I ever tried starting with music and no lyrics and both tunes still sit on my hard drive - one with no lyrics and one with 2 lines of a "chorus". It's been quite interesting to read everyone's style and flow. For me 80% of the time it's my acoustic in my lap and pad & pencil on the desk and I write the music and lyrics together. The other 20% I have the lyrics or at least a real strong idea of where the song will go and then I grab a guitar and see what the lyric flow needs. I probably work this way because I typically write story songs so I can't be chopping lyrics up to make it fit a tune, I need to let the music fit and support the words. Finding lyrics and ideas, for me, is the easy part. I probably get two or three song ideas every day and about one in ten I'll actually remember, or like enough, to do something with. Pretty impressed with y'all out there who can just sit down and write a song whenever you want. I have to have something (or someone) to write about.
Don't ever try and be like anybody else and don't be afraid to take risks. -Waylon Jennings
PC-Win 10 Pro-Intel i9 9900 3.6 GHz-32 gig ram-SSD (X3)-AMD RX 550
AUDIO INTERFACE-Presonus FP10/Firepods
SOFTWARE-Sonar X3 / BiaB 2026 UltraPAK
~Russell~
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Songwriting
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Joined: Apr 2017
Posts: 2,081
Veteran
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Veteran
Joined: Apr 2017
Posts: 2,081 |
I write them on fledgling pad. Since my left arm became crippled, I now write on a Mac or iPad. I used to consult a rhyming dictionary and bought Barry DeVorzon’s MasterWriter to access its builtin rhyming dictionary and thesaurus tools but I haven’t used either in years. I started on the stand-alone version and apparently, I still have a subscription to the cloud version that I should cancel someday. I’ve played with AI lyric tools but have never generated anything I could stand.
BIAB 2026 Audiophile Mac
24Core/60CoreGPU M2 MacStudioUltra/8TB/192GB Sequoia/Tahoe, M1 & M5 MBAir, 2012 MBP
Digital Performer11, Logic, Finale27/Dorico/Encore/SmartScore/Notion/Overture
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Songwriting
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Joined: Jan 2014
Posts: 2,649
Veteran
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Veteran
Joined: Jan 2014
Posts: 2,649 |
My only advice is, write from what you know, don't write a line just to get it to rhyme with another and avoid cliche. They're just a turn off imo.
Vic
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Songwriting
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Joined: Apr 2016
Posts: 7,293
Veteran
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Veteran
Joined: Apr 2016
Posts: 7,293 |
Having been writing lyrics since before I wrote songs, (backing to 1974), I've had a large pile of partially completed text for decades.
That made things easy.
The supply has diminished and has been cherry picked to oblivion. I've been writing what comes to me and, of late, since I've been working on melodies in the absence of words, writing what repeated listening to the melody suggest.
I've written a couple of autobiographical songs, a few about domestic circumstances and a bundle about the way of the world so I don't have A way.
One strategy I do employ when writer's block settles in is to rewrite a classic lyric using a different perspective or bouncing words off a classic melody. This has produced a couple of good songs but, more importantly, gets me started again.
Cheers
rayc
"What's so funny about peace, love & understanding?" - N.Lowe
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Songwriting
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Joined: Mar 2024
Posts: 596
Journeyman
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Journeyman
Joined: Mar 2024
Posts: 596 |
G'day Andrew
I write for the waste paper basket! IOW Just start writing and don't overthink because the first draught will be nothing like the last.
Also never restrict youself to what you know - research is your writing partner.
Get Bizzy sez Izzy.
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Songwriting
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Joined: Nov 2025
Posts: 175
Apprentice
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Apprentice
Joined: Nov 2025
Posts: 175 |
I always begin with the melody. Sometimes the melody gives me the title and what it's going to be about right away. Sometimes I have to wait months, even years, for it to let me know what it is about. I'm not really a lyric writer. I just write words. By far most of my songs are something from my life. I write what I've experienced, what I've felt. That's what gets down to what really means anything.
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Songwriting
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Joined: Mar 2025
Posts: 1,230
Expert
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OP
Expert
Joined: Mar 2025
Posts: 1,230 |
Hi everyone! While I haven’t responded to recent posters to this thread, I want to let you know I have been reading your responses with your ideas, methods and preferences. I find it fascinating to understand different approaches and some similar to my own. The song that was giving me grief that instigated this thread is ‘No matter how’ and can be found here. I am happy-ish with the end result - some lines and rhymes feel a little contrived or cheesy - but I was comfortable enough to record it. I liked how the title line in the chorus seemed a good fit with the melody (I write music first, usually). Andrew
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Songwriting
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Joined: Dec 2011
Posts: 16,200
Veteran
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Veteran
Joined: Dec 2011
Posts: 16,200 |
Lyric notions typically come to Bud when biking or hiking and a quick note is made of them. Often they are developed sitting on our porch in the midst of a forest. It’s not unusual for a collection of seemingly unrelated lines to be tweaked into a single narrative.
Our 90+ collabs over the years with master writer floyd Jane taught Bud 99% of what he knows about writing.
Our next step is Janice works with Bud to make sure she can feel a meter and that the lyric is as she says “singable.” She also offers narrative tweaks.
Next she sits down with her old Martin D-18 and develops a melody/progression. Bud occasionally has input into the progression.
And our music partner PeterF provides excellent input.
J&B
Our albums and singles are on Spotify, Apple Music, Amazon Music, YouTube Music, Pandora and more. If interested search on Janice Merritt. Thanks! Our Videos
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Songwriting
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Joined: Sep 2010
Posts: 8,269
Veteran
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Veteran
Joined: Sep 2010
Posts: 8,269 |
I almost will always create a backing track first, and then try to create a melody to fit.
Once that's done, I try to - as David said - figure out what fits the "vibe". I imagine what person might be singing the lyrics, how they're feeling, what is causing that feeling.
I'll often work out the "story" first in the verse, and then try to come up something that summarizes that in the chorus.
And then it's time for endless rewrites to make it conform to a structure - moving lyrics about, discarding ideas that don't support the focus and replacing them with something that hopefully works better.
It's a pretty backwards way of doing things, because I'll often start with no idea what the song will be about. It's a long process of discovery.
-- David Cuny My virtual singer development blogVocal control, you say. Never heard of it. Is that some kind of ProTools thing?BiaB 2025 | Windows 11 | Reaper | Way too many VSTis.
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Songwriting
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Joined: Nov 2003
Posts: 463
Journeyman
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Journeyman
Joined: Nov 2003
Posts: 463 |
Andrew, I can't say that this will be any help to you, but when I write a song it's like writing a short story about something that I've either lived through or am familiar with. Each new song has a meaning that grows out of a real moment, something I felt, something I saw, or something I couldn’t shake. Sometimes it’s a memory I’ve carried for years, and other times it’s just a single emotion that hits me out of nowhere and refuses to leave until I give it a place to live.
The melody becomes the mood, the lyrics become the details, and before I know it, the whole thing turns into a snapshot of who I was in that moment. I guess that’s why every song feels a little like a confession and a little like a release. It’s the closest I can get to putting my heart on paper and hoping someone out there recognizes a piece of their own story in it.
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