U2start.com | Songs You've Written

hey guys, i wana start writing my own songs, i can think of lyrics fairly easy its just i cant seem to make any guitar to go along with it, u r all very talented song writers so any tips for a newbeee like me would be great.

LikeASong

14 years

Originally posted by Andrew_C:hey guys, i wana start writing my own songs, i can think of lyrics fairly easy its just i cant seem to make any guitar to go along with it, u r all very talented song writers so any tips for a newbeee like me would be great.

I have the same problem, I'm good at writing lyrics but I simply can't find any matching melodies, voice lines or chord structures for them. It's annoying.

RattleandHum1988

14 years

I tend to come up with a melody and chord progression prior to coming up with lyrics. For me its easier to fit words around a feeling, a piece of music, rather than fit a melody around a set of words. I think most musicians come up with the music first.

It also took me a while before I could write decent lyrics (at least I hope the ones i'm writing now are decent

) At first I was writing lyrics that were kinda cheesy, MEANT to rhyme kinda thing, and it was obvious I was trying too hard. What I did was forget about trying to rhyme, and just write out lyrics that had a feeling. Don't worry about trying to make a hook or anything at first, just sketch out ideas for lyrics, for a feeling, and it'll come.

Alex

Andrew_C

14 years

Originally posted by LikeASong:[..]

I have the same problem, I'm good at writing lyrics but I simply can't find any matching melodies, voice lines or chord structures for them. It's annoying.

YUP

and its annoying when i think of all these good lyrics when ur tryin to get to sleep

was up for hours the other night thinking of stuff. Only thing worse is when u wake up and cant remember any of it.

Andrew_C

14 years

Originally posted by LikeASong:[..]

I have the same problem, I'm good at writing lyrics but I simply can't find any matching melodies, voice lines or chord structures for them. It's annoying.

heres an example of mine, made it up the other night, cannot think of any music to go with it or how u cud actually sing it.

You grow up pretty fast,
When the conflicts of the past,
Crash and bring down the world you thought you knew.
That way of life you were going to live forever,
It’s just a dream now, to return, probably never,
A 10 year old now without a clue.

U2Nick

14 years

I completely agree with Alex. I always start off with chords or a melody, then I just start to hum (or whistle, whatever comes out of my mouth first) the first thing that comes to mind. Once I have that melody, the lyrics become very easy to write. Just improv, let them flow out of your mouth. Those are always better then the songs that I've actually sat down to write (almost all of which have been ditched.) The only time that I've ever written something in a chair is my first take of "God's Hiatus." However, since then, I've re-written it three times (four, if you count the complete chorus change that I made last night).

Here is the new chorus, if anyone is interested:

There are no limits, only the BGCG’s
The jubilee we have, can only build us
Could it ever be sound, after the limelight?

You can tell that I had new influences from the original piece. (Talking Heads, Kanye West, a few others).

By the way, Impetus has a show to play! We're going to play an exclusive show for my school's Gay-Straight Alliance's last club meeting of the year (and possibly forever). My school's television station will record it too, so the show will be on local television as well!

I want to cover Satellite Of Love and Unchained Melody. I had the ZOO TV cover in mind for Satellite, but I have arranged an 80's arena rock version of Unchained. I can't wait to see how they go!

LikeASong

14 years

Great to know, Nick, I'm glad for you guys

Please let us hear/see that renditions of SOL and Unchained Melody, please!!

sing_a_new_song

14 years

For me making up a melody goes so easily, but adding lyrics is another problem… so most of my pieces are solos, which doesn’t say there’s no emotion in it, you don’t necessarily need lyrics to ‘feel the song’. Although it would be nice if one day I could make some decent lyrics

sing_a_new_song

14 years

Originally posted by Andrew_C:hey guys, i wana start writing my own songs, i can think of lyrics fairly easy its just i cant seem to make any guitar to go along with it, u r all very talented song writers so any tips for a newbeee like me would be great.

I think you first should get a group of chords, personally I like to seek them myself, just by playing several chords and see which ones fit together. Most songs are only using 4 chords. Once you have these chords, repeat them over and over again and try to sing some melody on it.
But if you really can’t find something, here’s some help:
An example: the ‘1 5 6 4’ grades are often used in songs. First you find yourself a key, for example D major and then you have to play the grades.
For D major this is: D, A, Bm, C. You can apply this to all keys.
Other chord progressions are: 1 6 2 5 and 1 4 5 1 (and a lot more). If you don’t know how to find the chords with the grades, than you can find it with ‘chord progression generators’ on the internet, telling you what chords in what key you have to use. Life can be easy.

I hope it helped you a little bit.

Andrew_C

14 years

Originally posted by sing_a_new_song:[..]

I think you first should get a group of chords, personally I like to seek them myself, just by playing several chords and see which ones fit together. Most songs are only using 4 chords. Once you have these chords, repeat them over and over again and try to sing some melody on it.
But if you really can’t find something, here’s some help:
An example: the ‘1 5 6 4’ grades are often used in songs. First you find yourself a key, for example D major and then you have to play the grades.
For D major this is: D, A, Bm, C. You can apply this to all keys.
Other chord progressions are: 1 6 2 5 and 1 4 5 1 (and a lot more). If you don’t know how to find the chords with the grades, than you can find it with ‘chord progression generators’ on the internet, telling you what chords in what key you have to use. Life can be easy.
I hope it helped you a little bit.

cheers for the advice

LikeASong

14 years

Originally posted by sing_a_new_song:
An example: the ‘1 5 6 4’ grades are often used in songs. First you find yourself a key, for example D major and then you have to play the grades.
For D major this is: D, A, Bm, C. You can apply this to all keys.

I think you mean D, A, Bm and G... Yes, the I V vi IV progression is epic. I have over 80 songs that fit on a C G Am F diagram!!

sing_a_new_song

14 years

Originally posted by LikeASong:[..]
I think you mean D, A, Bm and G... Yes, the I V vi IV progression is epic. I have over 80 songs that fit on a C G Am F diagram!!

Oh! yes, G of course, my fault

And great video!

did you find all the songs by your own? (edit: sorry wrong topic

)

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