Advice

you're young. alot of time left to write hit songs. Relax, have fun, and write songs for you.....not for the masses and not for a paycheck. Eventually it will all fall together...or perhaps apart.... but that's rock n roll.

Originally Posted by: zackspazzyou're young. alot of time left to write hit songs. Relax, have fun, and write songs for you.....not for the masses and not for a paycheck. Eventually it will all fall together...or perhaps apart.... but that's rock n roll.

thanks.
:)

I always get "thing" and "think" mixed up :rolleyes:

I just graduated from uni (woo hoo) and in 3rd year, for an essay in history, my english and grammar was so bad the teacher asked if it was my first language :mad:

Hows that for an insult!

just start writing lyrics about wizards and dragons and castles and people will think your a badass mystic songwriter

I find that there are some general guidelines that work for me.

For a start, don't write poetry and try to set it to music. Sing your lyrics as you write them so they start in the musical domain. Poetry is usually longwinded and too regular in beat, leading to cluttered, "wordy" songs that have no space for the music to go. Go ahead look in the liner notes of your favourite CD's. Most of the lyrics when read outloud sound irregular and flat, even ridiculous. Poetry and Lyrics are not the same thing.

Secondly, try to use shorter words with harder, rythmic syllables, especially on accented notes. As I said above, these are guidelines, and there are many ecxeptions to this. But when I'm writing and there's a word that I want to put in there, but it just doesn't "sing" well, it's usually either a word that's too long, or doesn't accent the right beats properly.

Thirdly, Listen to some of your favourite tracks. Notice how the singer doesn't sing all the time? If you count out the beats, I'll bet there's at least one per line where the singer is silent (if he or she breathes like the rest of us). There needs to be space for the music, for a GTR riff, something. Same goes for other solo instruments. Rests are good.

Fourthly, Even if the song doesn't have a bridge, per-se, most songs have some kind of a build-up to the chorus that says "we're going somewhere different now", It can be vocal or musical, but there's almost always a little line that builds up the tension to be released at the 'hook'.

That's all from me.

Good Luck.

-Markus

Originally Posted by: TheWizardjust start writing lyrics about wizards and dragons and castles and people will think your a badass mystic songwriter

ill try that
:D

Originally Posted by: Markus_StoneI find that there are some general guidelines that work for me.

For a start, don't write poetry and try to set it to music. Sing your lyrics as you write them so they start in the musical domain. Poetry is usually longwinded and too regular in beat, leading to cluttered, "wordy" songs that have no space for the music to go. Go ahead look in the liner notes of your favourite CD's. Most of the lyrics when read outloud sound irregular and flat, even ridiculous. Poetry and Lyrics are not the same thing.

Secondly, try to use shorter words with harder, rythmic syllables, especially on accented notes. As I said above, these are guidelines, and there are many ecxeptions to this. But when I'm writing and there's a word that I want to put in there, but it just doesn't "sing" well, it's usually either a word that's too long, or doesn't accent the right beats properly.

Thirdly, Listen to some of your favourite tracks. Notice how the singer doesn't sing all the time? If you count out the beats, I'll bet there's at least one per line where the singer is silent (if he or she breathes like the rest of us). There needs to be space for the music, for a GTR riff, something. Same goes for other solo instruments. Rests are good.

Fourthly, Even if the song doesn't have a bridge, per-se, most songs have some kind of a build-up to the chorus that says "we're going somewhere different now", It can be vocal or musical, but there's almost always a little line that builds up the tension to be released at the 'hook'.

That's all from me.

Good Luck.

-Markus

thanks for the guidlines thats really what im looking for what you just said
:)

Originally Posted by: iamthe_eggmanI second that. I've been out of school for some years now and therefore am not reading as much, and I can definitely feel that my language skills are slipping. Maybe not in everyday conversation, but in creative writing and even in how I used to be able to put my feelings or thoughts in words much more easily.

So, 1791, go to the library and take out a few books. Some I recommend:

• The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy - Douglas Adams
  


• Anything that says "by Mark Twain/Samuel Clemens" on it
  


• some good translated Russian works, like Kafka, Dostoyevsky, Alexander Pushkin, Nikolai Gogol
  

I would have come up with more, but a client just interrupted me with a 30 min. telephone call.




Listen up here, 1791.

Even if the style isn't your thing, read anything you can get ahold of by Jack Kerouac- his writing style is like prosaic-jazz. It's almost musical the way he writes, and his subject matter is cool stuff. (I see him as a latter day Mark Twain).

Next, check out Bob Dylan's lyrical work- even if you don't like his sound, he is a brilliant lyricist- especially the Highway 61 album, and mainly Desolation Row- mind blowing stuff.

Other things that I try are just word excercises- write down turns of phrase, snippets, one-liners, anything, and save it. kick it around and rework it until you can use it. Mainly, just have fun with it and when you sign that fat record deal, don't forget about us around here! ;)

peace