Does anyone have a specific setting or place they got to where they find their write their best songs? As an example, a bench at a specific park, or just at home in your studio? Where does it all start and what's your personal process? Do you have a specific place that make you inspired to write whenever you visit it?

I'd be curious to hear your stories!

Nope..... I go to places in my head when I am writing so the physical setting is not very critical to me.

HOWEVER..... I now have a studio out in the woods.... I walk out the door and my house is 50 feet north..... the fireplace/seating area is 50 feet south.... and the woods are all around....

So there's no trains or trucks coming through like I had in Sims.....and no lawn care guys with motors running or dogs barking.

Most of my best ideas come while walking - in the woods,trying out the lines on any wildlife in the area. Coming soon - a song about that activity!

Hi Ember,

That's a great question.

I don't do anything special other than think of some concept that inspires at that moment and then I write around 150 words in essay style on that concept making sure to focus on the senses of touch, taste, smell, sight, sound and body movement and body feelings.

The above writing helps sharpen my mind and it also gives me ideas about where I might go in the lyrics.

If you're interested, the pdf below contains some notes I made a few years ago on how I wrote the song "Walk With Me". Using 'Destination Writing' is how I write 90% of my material.

Lyric background to "Walk With Me" (pdf)

...and here is a link to the song on Soundcloud.

"Walk With Me" (audio)

All the best,
Noel

Very good question My writing process differs between when I'm working on the music and when I'm working on the words. I write all the musical aspects at my house, usually by my lonesome. I'm not a social writer. I need to be alone, in silence, with no distractions.

However, when it comes to lyrics they will come to me seemingly at random, and I'll often jot them into my phone in a notepad app I have. Sometimes I'll be on the bus, sometimes it will be 11PM at night and I'm laying in bed, sometimes it will be when I'm at the grocery store. Often times I'll come up with a line or some key words I want to use. Then, at home when I'm in my own space by my lonesome I'll kind of piece everything together into a cohesive tune.

I don't think my way of doing this is really the norm - that being said, there are definitely things that inspire me. I find much of the content of my songs deals with nostalgia, nature, and certain moods. I draw a lot of inspiration from nostalgia, anger, and sadness. I find entropy, consciousness, and remoteness fascinating. A lot of memories from my past wiggle their way into my songwriting as well.

I'm excited to hear about some other people's writing processes and what inspires them

That's super interesting! It never occurred to me to write it out in an essay format first! That's actually a rather unique way of doing it that I had never considered before. I wonder if anyone else does it in a similar way? Food for thought!

That sounds so serene and like the perfect space to get inspired. I find that getting outdoors and kind of being with nature in a quiet way can be all inspiring all on its own. It lets you get in to your head and let your mind just wander off to creative places.

Thanks for sharing that with us. I'm a little jealous that it's so where quiet where you are.

It seems that getting back to nature helps a couple people here at the forum! I agree, it's a great way to get the mind working.

Sounds like I'm not alone in this! For me I'll randomly have a sentence come to me that I just really need to run with and apply it to lyrics. I thought I was the only one that had this sort of thing happen, but I guess it's not just me!

I have often sat down to finish uncompleted songs, and often sat down to revise songs that i was unsatisfied with.
However, i haave never, in my entire life, said to myself, 'Now i am going to write a song'.

Every song i have ever written has just come to me. I do not feel as if i am 'writing' the songs. I feel as if i am 'channeling' the songs from my subconscious. The more i have purified my self, the better will be the quality of the song i channel. When i want to write a song merely to express my own angst, the song does not turn out as well.

However, when my main motivation is to write songs that will uplift other people, and only present a problem in a song if i can also provide a solution; then that sort of mindset will enable me to write the best songs i am capable of writing.

A number of times i have read about scrawny mothers whose babiy had crawled under a car and that scrawny mother had miraculously been able to lift one end of the car, by herself, to enable the baby to crawl out.

When you engage in any activity, songwriting or otherwise, for the primary motivation of wanting to help others, you will find capabilities within yourself that you never knew you possessed.

For me living in beautiful surroundings, like Colorado, is a motivation to write but not necessarily about the place I live, although I've done that. It sneaks into songs like "Not Every Day Was Sad"or "Don't Call Me When You're Lonely" because it just happens to be incidental to the story. Mostly, I write in solitude, safely ensconced inside the womb of the studio, or in a comfortable chair as the day is just beginning.

With the exception of PG Music contests like Xtra Styles PAK 3 that happened last summer, for which I wrote four songs, I usually have a lyrical idea first. In the case of the competition I let the song styles suggest something to me. But it's not normally how I write.

I usually start with a lyrical hook that moves me in some way and then I make up a story that surrounds it by writing a short paragraph which is a complete synopsis of the story. Often I'm "seeing" the story and visualizing it's progression as I'm writing. The song "One More Thing" came from something a former girlfriend said to me which stuck in my head until I finally wrote it down and fleshed it out. The title or hook, if you will, was something very powerful to me because it was personal. I find it difficult to write good songs by "forcing the muse" as folks in the "album a month" or "song a day" do. I need an emotional connection and substance, not an exercise in lyric writing, to justify all the time and effort that goes into producing a song.

I recently published a romance novel, "The Songsmith" which follows the life of a professional songwriter, his motivations, his love for a special woman, etc. The book is filled with references to my own songs and lyrics intertwined with the story. In one of the first few chapters we watch as he is motivated to write "One More Thing" from influences in his life. This is not actually how I wrote the song, but it was a great exercise in making up a story about how someone else could have created it. I think if you're going to write songs, you need a vivid imagination. You can then fill in the often boring truth with more interesting events. Fun stuff, boy.

Thanks for reading this far...and listening to the music.

Bob Buford

That's so fascinating. It's like you're the vessel for the music and it just flows through you. That's a really cool way of looking at it, actually.

Thanks for sharing.

That actually makes me wonder how many people write their lyrics first also! I think I know what my next forum question is going to be. Thanks for inspiring me to ask more about people's songwriting methods!

Bob,

Congratulations on publishing a novel! That's a magnificent accomplishment! I hope it does really well for you.

All the best,
Noel

I don't have a specific place that I go to write but relative peace and quiet helps. Having two young children that can sometimes be hard to achieve, so much of my writing of lyrics happens at home when they are sleeping or taking a nap. All of my vocal recording happens then too for obvious reasons.

I will come up with ideas when out and about sometimes. When that happens I try to jot down the idea or a couple lines so I can go back later and expand upon it. I also frequent different Facebook groups that have weekly song prompts for inspiration. If I find a prompt that I like I will add it to a list of ideas that I keep on my phone. That way even if I don't have time to write a song that week I can go back later for inspiration.

Thanks, Noel...

Hallmark channel has it at the moment. We'll see.

Buford

I am a believer that the music and melody must come first. Maybe that comes from being a keyboard oriented person. I think of lyric writing as a craft, like woodworking, where the challenge is that the words must be carefully chosen to fit the melody that has already been given. To start, I often choose a style from BIAB that seems interesting. Then I play around with chord sequences that also seem interesting, let the software generate the song, and listen; then modify/expand the chord structure as I wish. I typically only work on the melody after I get the song “roughed out” in this way. Once I’m happy with the music I’ve created, I work on the lyric idea...sometimes it comes quickly, other times years go by before something seems to fit. My lyric ideas come from things that are in my mind generally in life, I less I decide to give myself a “lyric challenge”, like writing with alliterations, or creating a special/weird rhyming scheme. All my work takes place in front of the computer, with my midi keyboard at my side, and my indispensable rhyming reference book “Rhyming Dictionary”, written by Gene Lees.

Very cool! Thanks for sharing that. It has been really interesting to see where everyone draws their inspiration from.

Hikes are great for this! The increased amount of oxygen, out in nature. Definitely a great spot for inspiration!