hey,

i am trying to write my own songs at the moment which is becoming a lil difficult does any one have any tips, after 12 attempts only 3 sound good.....

i find i cna be sometimes repedative, id love soem tips and advice thanks heaps

alyssa xx

It's me again! I also write music (usually not songs except one: "The Lonely Heart") and I know how hard it can be! Inspiration comes from nowhere and everywhere all at the same time if you know what I mean. I find it helpful to write songs partially, forget about them, and then come back after a while. Sometimes it helps, sometimes it doesn't. Just give it your best shot and remember that your music is all about you.

Hey...ok well i read you post and i have been writing songs for a while now. Sometimes(like last night) i have HORRIBLE writers cramp and my songs suck. but i realized the only reason they are bad is because i keep going back thru and reading what i wrote every new line i write. so my advice ( i tried it, it was a lot less stressful, and the writing turned out better)is to just free write which what i mean is write and write and write until all your thoughts are out...THEN go and revise and edit. im sure you'll be supprised what kind of amazing lyrics you can write!! well. i hope i helped. and if u need me im here on the site..or add me on myspace whichever. ight later.
~Mariah~

I write songs, it's something I've always done because I feel it's a great way to express yourself plus it means that you don't keep your emotions bottled inside.

Writing songs has been a hit and miss thing for me, sometimes my songs are inspired and I wonder to myself "wow... did i really write that!" and other times I want to rip the paper up and scream! So don't worry if you're having difficulties, it's to be expected even from the greatest songwriters, trust me on that one!

I get serious creative block as well, if that happens to you don't worry it will pass, I had a creative block for 7 months until about 6 months ago when I really got to know someone who inspired me through conversation, I will be forever grateful to that person, he is one of the only reasons I still sing and songwrite, but that's another story, anyway you never know when or what will give you inspiration so some advice is always have a pen and paper on you, or what I do is never leave home without my mp3 player which has an in built voice recorder, sometimes I don't known what I'd do without it!

Some advice I will give you though is never ever throw away any of the songs you've written, even if you think they are rubbish. Firstly because while you might think they are rubbish, others might think they are amazing, trust me I'm talking from experience. Secondly even if they aren't great, you may look back on them some time in the future and they could inspire you, has happened to me countless times.

Also, a key factor in writing a successful song is that it needs to be something people can relate to, the easiest way to do this is to write from the heart, let real life experiences inspire you, whether they are yours, a friend's, a member of your family, whoever, just make it real, and people will be able to relate to it, I think that is the foundation of writing a great song.

If you have trouble writing a song, just write, get a pen and paper and write, don't over think it, just write whatever comes to you, even if it's seems like something stupid just write it down. Then at a later time read it over, I bet you'll be able to make a song out of it, maybe not a whole song, maybe just a verse or a chorus, maybe even only a few lines, but it would be a start and it could inspire something great.

Also read over old songs you've written, that can be really inspiring, or if you keep a diary or journal, read that, see what happens.

Look how much I've written!! I have now let you all discover my my major character flaw... I don't know how to shut up!! Anyway I hope something I've said helps someone, if it does let me know.

im 14 and im a singer for 2 bands now and advice is don't do rhimes for every single line, but don't have it to where theres no rhymes, but one time like 3 months ago is i noticed for like every song i heard the was a pattern in each line like
line one was a rhime
line 2 was a rhime
and 3 wasn't for like the chorus for a song
i was listining to system of a down when i noticed it *listen to b.y.o.b. and you will here serios pattern*
anyway i was like...oh so thats why my songs suck and then i just wrote a normal song with out even thinking but a put a pattern in to it for my piece on chorus it went line 1 rhyme, 2 rhyme, 3 no rhyme, and 4 rhyme and i did that pattern for the chorus's and did different for the verses and i wrote it with those patterns and then i sang it in my head after and its now one of my greatest songs lol

but trying to listen to the patterns its cool but its gets me paronoid all the time when theres a song playing and its like i have to find the pattern

WELL YOU HAVE ONE ADVANTAGE ALREADY. YOU CAN PLAY INSTRUMENTS. THAT IS EXTREMELY HELPFUL GIFT IN GETTING A ROUGH DRAFT OF A SONG RECORDED AND WORKING OUT THE KINKS AS YOU GO ALONG. I MYSELF BEGAN WRITING SONGS ONLY SOME 6 MONTHS AGO. I HAVE A TOTAL OF 12 SONGS WITH COPYRIGHT. THIS IS MY METHOD: I HAVE HOME STUDIO SOFTWARE AND LOOP CD'S WITH ALL KINDS OF COPYRIGHT-FREE SONGS ON THEM. THEY CAN BE A BIT PRICEY. I PAY AT LEAST $100 A CD BUT THE RESULTS ARE OUTSTANDING. I PUT TOGETHER ALL MY SONGS WITH LOOPS USUALLY BEFORE ANY LYRICS COME ABOUT. AFTER LISTENING TO THE SONG I RECORD MY VOCALS AS I GO ALONG (WHAT I'M FEELING...THE MOOD I'M IN) UNTIL THE SONG IS COMPLETE. THEN I'LL GO BACK AND LAY DOWN THE FINAL VOCAL TRACKS WITH WORDS TYPED OUT. IT'S SPONTANEOUS AND TOTALY WORKS FOR ME. LISTEN TO SOME OF MY SONGS AT www.myspace.com/dezard
or www.bandspace.com/Reminisce
TELL ME WHAT U THINK.

I can't really give brilliant advice, because I have trouble writing songs too, but what I do know, is that sometimes, writing lyrics then music can be a good way to write songs - but - another way which I was told to try by my Music teachers, was to think of the type of song you want to write...
and then write the music first. More often than not, you'll find that when you play a piece of music, lyrics, verses or phrases just pop into your head....

* do you want your song to be happy, or sad? If you want happy, try out a few chords or notes which are major. If you want sad, then try a few minor notes. It also helps to use scales and arpeggio's as a basis for either your music or your vocals.

* do you want the song to be of low pitch, or high? Choose this first and then base your music around this - remember if when you come to put your vocals in, you want to sing it higher or lower, you can always lower the musical melodies on your instrument by an octave.

Those tips may seem like common sense, but I just wanted to point them out to people...sometimes I'm too busy trying to dive into making a great song, that I forget the basics.

And the most important thnig when it comes to writing songs, is make sure it comes right from the heart. Otherwise people won't be able to relate to it, and it won't become a success!!

Love Laura
XxXxX