Me?I've been a songwriter for about six months and the earliest song i tried to write but miserably failed at age 5 or 6 after listening to a greenday song.Now I usually go blank,wait a few days then look over what i've done and try to scrape up a song.Sometimes it just comes to me naturally or i am randomly playing guitar and think of a catchy tune then make a song to match it. But the question is how do you write songs?

Basically by coming up with a progression or riff and then waiting for a melody to hit me. I have pages of lyrics but was never good at writing lyrics first and then coming up with the music. Once I have the Melody it just usually all falls into place and then you wind up changing a few lines here and there for better ones before you are content.Sometimes they come in droves and then you feel like you will never write something good again. I would play this little game with people and say it was a well known song by a band they were not familiar with to get an honest reaction.lol

I'll usualy have an idea for some lyrics, a topic or a phrase running round in my head. If I havent shook it off for a week, I lock myself in a room and pick a guitar up. Until something I half like comes out.

Isolation and time are key to my writing. If either is interrupted it all goes to pot.

_________________
No no and no

Hi rschereck97: mostly with appalling difficutly. I have great trouble with lyrics. I have awful trouble with melody. Chord modulations, slightly easier but still troublesome.

A handful of times I've had songs just kinda write themselves. Each element arrived like it had been waiting there all along. And once I literally dreamed a song and awoke with it almost fully formed.

But mostly it is hard, hard work over an extended period. A massive amount of trial and error. Emphasis on the error part of that process...

Good luck with it - C

Depends what comes first when I'm "noodling around" on the fretboard. Either a riff or a chord progression, then I build from there. Once the music is worked out I start writing lyrics based on how the music sounds/feels.

About the only thing I don't write is love songs. I can't stand them.

_________________
"Life is like eating jalapenos. What you do today may burn your arse tomorrow"

Badly

_________________
Rated "M" for meaty.

I have learned that there are countless great musicians out there, but few great songwriters. And ALL the guitarists that we love are where they are because they are great songwriters, and not -- ironically -- primarily because of their guitar playing. Think about that for a moment ...

For me, I can write music, but I need a collaborator. I need someone to give me the vocal melody and write the lyrics. That part of the music is impossible for me to create. And I also tend to over-complicate the music; because I am always concerned that I am boring the listener, I tend to make the music more complicated, which -- I have learned -- is definitely not always "better".

_________________
Laughing out loud with fear and hope, I have a desperate plan ...

Sometimes I'll write a song with lyrics, but mostly I write instrumentals with a melody line.

If it's a tune with lyrics, it's usually something that has or is going to happen in *my world* it seems.

Once in a while it will be something I saw or heard about.

Melodies are what I usually come up with (whether lyrics or instrumental) before going any further.

This also works well for jingles.

_________________
Being able to play and enjoy music is a gift that's often taken for granted.

Don't leave home without it!

alot of the time, i have some words in my head that can either be a verse or the chorus, but i write it down, and i usually have a tune with it, but i just build off of what i had in my head. and no matter which part of the song it is, i can easily build off it and make a song.......so ya thats how i do it....if you needed hepl that may or may not help....

_________________
Eat, sleep, ditch class, jam on the guitar all nite--- my life

she said: "Lie to me."
he said: "I love you."
haha

I can [i]barely[/i] write a good soundin riff, & scrap some lyrics togther. But usually my lyrics sound pretty catchy

_________________
"being a rock star is the intersection of who you are, and who you want to be." -Slash

Music comes first, lyrics come last.

I play a bunch of random riffs, if they sound good I put em into songs.
Then with the lyrics, I take a line out of a poem that I wrote on the topic that the songs gonna be on, and put it in there and try to "get" the rythm and tune.
Sometimes when I'm out in the dirt roads of benalla, words just come to me. Like, "so sickening, who am I kidding me?", and sometimes hole verses. i get home, and try to remember them and think, "damn, why dont I carry a pad around!!"

_________________
riley

Every way.

I had a bad habit of coming up with one verse and a chorus and then getting stumped. I learned to not worry about making a "personal statement" and to just go with the flow. Pretend to be somebody else. I would take on a different perspective, or write a song for a female vocalist. In the end, what you come up with is completely yours.

I have no problem with starting with a guitar in my hands, but I also write a complete song in my head and then have to figure out how to play it. That approach can really change the songs you create. I wrote a song in my head while I drove across the U.S. It is one of my favorites.

I suggest not being critical of your efforts. Love your song and it will love you back. Think of yourself as good at what you do and see value in your effort. Remember that there are a lot of simple songs that many (many) people love.

Usually the music comes first,sometimes no lyrics come at all.I'll be sitting around just randomly absent mindedly plinking out chords while watching TV(the guitar is always in my hands while viewing)and stumble across a progression I like and I build on it 'til I get a song.

_________________
'65 Strat,65 Mustang,65 Jaguar,4 more Strats,3 vintage Vox guitars,5 Vox amps,'69 Bassman with a '68 2-15 Bassman cab,36 guitars total-15asst'd amps total,2 vintage '60s Hammond organs & a myriad of effects-with a few rare vintage ones.

I find it relatively easy to come up with fragments of ideas for songs (ie. a riff or melody line) -- the trouble always seems to be developing those ideas into full-fledged songs.

I think the trick is to sit down and force yourself to build a "framework," so to speak, around your initial idea. Once you have some kind of basic song structure in place (with chords, melodies and lyrics), you can set the song aside for a little while, than go back and make changes as needed. It's easier to tweak something that's almost done than it is to create something new from scratch.

For me, lyrics almost always come last. I find it very difficult, actually, to come up with lyrics that I think don't sound cheesy or contrived.

Through emotions... and feelings, what you feel now reflects what you play.. and sometimes a tune follows...