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Songwriting
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Joined: Dec 2009
Posts: 139
Apprentice
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Apprentice
Joined: Dec 2009
Posts: 139 |
I agree with David in that I approach them differently. When I'm writing something for a film score I'm working on, it's obviously focused on the building of the arrangement.
When I'm writing something with lyrics, I'll usually start with some nugget of the chorus or a verse, and write it out from there, but usually always with a melody in mind.
However, there are times when I run across a chord progression and grabs me and I'll set that aside and write lyrics to an existing arrangement, but this is the exception and not the rule, at least for me.
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Songwriting
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Joined: Feb 2017
Posts: 3,414
PG Music Staff
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PG Music Staff
Joined: Feb 2017
Posts: 3,414 |
Wow - reading through this thread's been a treat. Lots of nice little tricks I'm excited to try implementing!
Cheers,
Deryk
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Songwriting
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Joined: Mar 2013
Posts: 4,497
Veteran
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Veteran
Joined: Mar 2013
Posts: 4,497 |
Hi, Ember !
The problem is rather that
I do not publish the tune
at all if I am not sufficiently
happy with the end result so
possible tweaks have already been
passed ! This means that I can
have songs in store until I´ve
done some alterations ! Songs can
also get stuck if I just don´t have
the power to finish it they way
I´d like to ! There are a couple
of tunes in store at the moment - one
of them is with lyrics in Spanish !
Cheers
Dani
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Songwriting
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Joined: Jun 2017
Posts: 2,991
PG Music Staff
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OP
PG Music Staff
Joined: Jun 2017
Posts: 2,991 |
Interesting thread. I tend to differentiate between songs and compositions--because they require two completely different processes for me in terms of music and lyrics. A song, to me, is something you can do on a piano or acoustic guitar with nothing but a vocal and it will sound great unplugged. For those works, I have found that you can't *try* to write a song. It either lights upon your head like the proverbial butterfly or it does not. The harder you chase it the more it flies away. But if you sit still...as they say. For SONGS, the words and music come to me at the same time almost all of the time and the ones I like usually take 15 minutes. Then there are artists who do COMPOSITIONS. I would put Yes and Rush into this category. They spent months figuring out each part. When I take a whack at a composition it also takes a while to put everything together. I love compositions and I really enjoying listening to Close to the Edge by Yes all the way through in one sitting, but I can't say as I have ever walked around humming anything from it. I find myself walking around humming songs all day though. When I "interpreted" Clifton's Vietnam song (which became 1969) a few nights ago I didn't write anything down at all, or even rehearse, because I didn't feel like it. I simply propped a tablet on the music stand under the mic with the words from the forum original in front of me, plugged in, hit record, started strumming and sang what came to mind. What happened in between record and stop was what I printed. Sometimes I think it is best to just go ahead and do it--tap into that Divine Muse--and just go for it. It is really easy to overthink a song. To me a song is like love--just let it happen or you will spoil the mood.  This is very thought provoking! I never looked at it that way before. Thanks for the enlightenment!
Cheers,
Ember
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