songwriting methods
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- KVRAF
- 44108 posts since 11 Aug, 2008 from clown world
I was at a songwriting workshop the other night. The guy giving the workshop is a famous songwriter in my country.
(a) Write down any thought that comes into your head.
For example: Age
(b) Write down some thoughts related to (a)
For example: Past, in the present, future etc.
(c) Write down some verses related to (b)
For example: When I was old, before I was young. I worried about, what I'd become.
(d) Start strumming any chords (or whatever instrument you use) and sing the verses you composed with whatever melody that pops into your head.
In this way you're allowing the song to write itself.
He advised not to criticise the words or the lyrics. Keep thinking positive.
He also recommended repitition. For example: The Beatles - She Loves You ... Yeah, Yeah, Yeah ... is full of repitition. In the example above you could sing ... When I was old, old, old etc.
Another suggestion was to embellish the tune with oohs and aahs. Ornaments if you like.
You'd have to have been there to fully appreciate it but I've done my best to simplify what he was getting at.
Good luck. Hope I made some sense.
(a) Write down any thought that comes into your head.
For example: Age
(b) Write down some thoughts related to (a)
For example: Past, in the present, future etc.
(c) Write down some verses related to (b)
For example: When I was old, before I was young. I worried about, what I'd become.
(d) Start strumming any chords (or whatever instrument you use) and sing the verses you composed with whatever melody that pops into your head.
In this way you're allowing the song to write itself.
He advised not to criticise the words or the lyrics. Keep thinking positive.
He also recommended repitition. For example: The Beatles - She Loves You ... Yeah, Yeah, Yeah ... is full of repitition. In the example above you could sing ... When I was old, old, old etc.
Another suggestion was to embellish the tune with oohs and aahs. Ornaments if you like.
You'd have to have been there to fully appreciate it but I've done my best to simplify what he was getting at.
Good luck. Hope I made some sense.
Last edited by Aloysius on Wed Mar 08, 2017 10:39 pm, edited 1 time in total.
This is the same method MJ used when he was working on Anthony Marinelli's Thriller.
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- KVRian
- 730 posts since 17 Sep, 2007 from Planet Thanet
I like to take a shower. Personally I think it's something to do with the white noise-like sound of the water getting me singing. Alternatively it might be because my other half can't hear my abysmal singing so I'm a bit less self-conscious about it. The only problem is recording it 
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- Boss Lovin' DR
- 14312 posts since 15 Mar, 2002 from the grimness of yorkshire
Rip off something else.
Less flippantly; look at other songs you like and how they're constructed. Swap the chords about; use the verse for a chorus; play the melody backwards; use different chord inversions.
By the time you've finished messing about it will nothing like the original, but you'll be well on your way.
Less flippantly; look at other songs you like and how they're constructed. Swap the chords about; use the verse for a chorus; play the melody backwards; use different chord inversions.
By the time you've finished messing about it will nothing like the original, but you'll be well on your way.
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- KVRAF
- 1724 posts since 31 Dec, 2004 from betwixt
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- Boss Lovin' DR
- 14312 posts since 15 Mar, 2002 from the grimness of yorkshire
That nice Mr Putin sent me the chords. I didn't do nothin.Codestation wrote:You been WATCHIN medonkey tugger wrote:Rip off something else.
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- KVRAF
- 2110 posts since 5 Oct, 2015 from Swedish / Living in Hong Kong
The best ideas Always come to me when I have absolutley no chance or no time to record it or get it down on any media. I can relate to the difficulty to finish songs and especially within reasonable time. One thing that helped me focus more is that I joined the OSC here in KVR some times. You have one month to do the sound design of one synth only, come up with a song and record the whole thing. If you are in the top 5 you can win something.
Win 10 -64bit, CPU i7-7700K, 32Gb, Focusrite 2i2, FL-studio 20, Studio One 4, Reason 10
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- KVRer
- Topic Starter
- 22 posts since 15 Sep, 2016
For me it's not finishing songs
It's finishing songs faster
Finding a melody faster then progressing to the chorus. Then finish the song within a couple of hours.
The finding of a melody that is worth singing is the hard bit.
It's finishing songs faster
Finding a melody faster then progressing to the chorus. Then finish the song within a couple of hours.
The finding of a melody that is worth singing is the hard bit.
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- Banned
- 12367 posts since 30 Apr, 2002 from i might peeramid
given our cultural context,
i'm not sure that most people have any idea about songs.
a song is a resonance of pure being. pitch modulation with words used to sell margarine isn't a song, it's a shit (for the purpose of rhetoric).
while shitwriting is certainly more prevalent, i'm not sure that it's doing anyone any good, to have actual shit injected into their ears and thoughts.
there are many methods for making up shit. for producing a song, i would think the process is more subtractive, for many people. stripping away the detritus until finally, something pure and visceral is revealed.
a song should communicate, resonate from one being to another. this is the tangent strength of music, why it feels powerful. if we resonate shit to one another, until we are so acculturated that that is all that happens, of course, it is going to be very, very difficult indeed, to produce actual *song*
because the first piece of shit in your mind will want to jump on it and own it, "i know, i can use this clever clever hook technique, and turn this song into total shit". lots of boys know clever ways to make shit.
chances are, no one will ever be able to discern the difference, unless it is a poignant moment, and those are few, in a world where people crave shit and worship it.
stop writing shit and wait for your dreams. it could take years, but the difference is inimitable.
i'm not sure that most people have any idea about songs.
a song is a resonance of pure being. pitch modulation with words used to sell margarine isn't a song, it's a shit (for the purpose of rhetoric).
while shitwriting is certainly more prevalent, i'm not sure that it's doing anyone any good, to have actual shit injected into their ears and thoughts.
there are many methods for making up shit. for producing a song, i would think the process is more subtractive, for many people. stripping away the detritus until finally, something pure and visceral is revealed.
a song should communicate, resonate from one being to another. this is the tangent strength of music, why it feels powerful. if we resonate shit to one another, until we are so acculturated that that is all that happens, of course, it is going to be very, very difficult indeed, to produce actual *song*
because the first piece of shit in your mind will want to jump on it and own it, "i know, i can use this clever clever hook technique, and turn this song into total shit". lots of boys know clever ways to make shit.
chances are, no one will ever be able to discern the difference, unless it is a poignant moment, and those are few, in a world where people crave shit and worship it.
stop writing shit and wait for your dreams. it could take years, but the difference is inimitable.
you come and go, you come and go. amitabha neither a follower nor a leader be tagore "where roads are made i lose my way" where there is certainty, consideration is absent.
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- KVRist
- 449 posts since 24 Jul, 2013 from Wisconsin
For some reason that I can't quite identify, I really like that xoxos, I'm drawn to what he says, but I surely don't always understand him. Can I call him Shirley, do you think?
Gaslighting...is a form of mental abuse in which information is twisted or spun, selectively omitted to favor the abuser, or false information is presented with the intent of making victims doubt their own memory, perception, and sanity.
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- Banned
- 12367 posts since 30 Apr, 2002 from i might peeramid
de chardin, aesthetogenesis "sensitivity creating" the process of transforming matter into spirit 
(booya.. it sounds dubious but consider the inverse)
we have a distended function of music in society, we want what music is, but do not realise, that there is far, far, far, too much music. we are generations into consuming GMO music, no spud boy knows what a real potato is any more.
music can no longer soothe the worried thoughts of monarchs, it can only tell you when it's time to buy margarine or copulate.
when i was recording songs that became 'payola' i had a dream that i was seated next to a country musician, and an interdimensional alien being, who enquired about our musical development. the chorus to 'forget' was the other guy's song. (i know a lot of people remember music from dreams... santo and johnny "sleepwalk"). i tagged the verse on (a bunch of shit) so that the recording wouldn't be sixteen bars repeating.
a signal in quadrature has a real component and an imaginary component. each compels the other to produce oscillation, like hindu deities and milk i suppose. without the imaginary component, terrible things would happen. without the real, terrible things wouldn't happen :p
it's a "pretty shit" recording, someone called it beautiful once. now and then i want to "produce", since i make plugins, but i don't try to tell myself it's song.
the precedent generation of electronic musicians existed under the auspices of pwei's m.m. sample -
but today, half the plugin users on this board are younger than this recording.
(booya.. it sounds dubious but consider the inverse)we have a distended function of music in society, we want what music is, but do not realise, that there is far, far, far, too much music. we are generations into consuming GMO music, no spud boy knows what a real potato is any more.
music can no longer soothe the worried thoughts of monarchs, it can only tell you when it's time to buy margarine or copulate.
when i was recording songs that became 'payola' i had a dream that i was seated next to a country musician, and an interdimensional alien being, who enquired about our musical development. the chorus to 'forget' was the other guy's song. (i know a lot of people remember music from dreams... santo and johnny "sleepwalk"). i tagged the verse on (a bunch of shit) so that the recording wouldn't be sixteen bars repeating.
a signal in quadrature has a real component and an imaginary component. each compels the other to produce oscillation, like hindu deities and milk i suppose. without the imaginary component, terrible things would happen. without the real, terrible things wouldn't happen :p
it's a "pretty shit" recording, someone called it beautiful once. now and then i want to "produce", since i make plugins, but i don't try to tell myself it's song.
the precedent generation of electronic musicians existed under the auspices of pwei's m.m. sample -
but today, half the plugin users on this board are younger than this recording.
you come and go, you come and go. amitabha neither a follower nor a leader be tagore "where roads are made i lose my way" where there is certainty, consideration is absent.
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- KVRist
- 449 posts since 24 Jul, 2013 from Wisconsin
For some reason that I can't quite identify, I'm drawn to what xoxos says. But I surely don't always understand him, but I think I really like him. Can I call him Shirley, do you think? Or am I Shirley, in this instance? Misunderstood?
Gaslighting...is a form of mental abuse in which information is twisted or spun, selectively omitted to favor the abuser, or false information is presented with the intent of making victims doubt their own memory, perception, and sanity.
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- KVRer
- Topic Starter
- 22 posts since 15 Sep, 2016
Thanks for the replys but the question I asked was about songwriting methods although i can see where yous are coming from with some of your replys.
These are not songwriting methods these are different approaches some of you take to writing a song.
I'm looking for an actual method someway to create a tune or vocal melody out of thin air. This is what likes of the Beatles did motown. Max martin.etc they do it, and carry on doing it song after song hit after hit.
Otherwise known as the magic formula.
These are not songwriting methods these are different approaches some of you take to writing a song.
I'm looking for an actual method someway to create a tune or vocal melody out of thin air. This is what likes of the Beatles did motown. Max martin.etc they do it, and carry on doing it song after song hit after hit.
Otherwise known as the magic formula.
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- KVRian
- 923 posts since 8 Aug, 2011
Check this book out it really helps me great tricks in there it doesnt matter its for EDM it can apply to other genres as well:
http://soundbytesmag.net/makingmusic74c ... trategies/
http://soundbytesmag.net/makingmusic74c ... trategies/
Win11, 16 Gig RAM, Intel i7 Quad 3.9, Reaper 7.16, RME Hamerfall HDSP9652, Steinberg MR816x