i write songs for my church and most of the time i write songs when i am free. but most of the songs i threw it away oledi.. and most of the songs dun hav lyrics... i only write the song but no lyrics de... some ppl told me that i should read more and get ideas for my lyrics but even i got the lyrics but i find it hard to cope with my song... anybody got the same experience?

all song writters pls log in and post here!!! share some experience with me... wanna learn more about song writting. thanks!!!

It seems to me that to you, songs=lyrics.....
Of course you know that isn't always the case......

Look at Steve Vai, The Satch, Yngwie.... Many songs are instrumentals and don't need lyrics to bring the message across. On Steve Vai's For The Love Of God..... it doesn't need lyrics to bring a powerful message......

Instead of racking your brains to come up with lyrics....... why not just instrumental it!

yea... true but many ppl juz dun understand it... too bad.. they just ask me, where r the lyrics... then i tell them i dun write them... is it something wrong?

nothing is wrong...if ur able to tell ur story just by using only instruments, not lyrics...why not? in art, there's no right or wrong...

u can try to listen to neil zaza's song...they are mostly simple riffs, not much usage of crazy techniques...yet, he can easily bring out the emotion from the songs..

This post has been edited by asura_86: Nov 9 2006, 03:48 PM

yup..ppl who asked you where is the lyrics prolly asked a universal question
I wrote songs with 'simple' lyrics..hey..it's for self pleasure and satisfaction..
Unless you are going to market the songs..then it's ok.

Instrumental or not...it's music...
Lyrics or not..depends on yourself..
With lyrics..you can get your friends to enjoy it together by singing it..
You cant really 'sing' a song w/o lyrics mah..

i write songs without lyrics. At most one sentence songs where the vocals sort of add to the harmony. As for church instrumental pieces can be used for intermissions, or before the service starts, lord's supper etc etc.

If others come to me and ask "where's the lyrics", my reply is "what? you haven't written them yet?"

Worst come to worst, get a hold of poetry by obscure poets & plagiarize...

I think instrumentals are great too! but some people won't get it as well as others do. Good lyrics are written down in a moment of inspiration, there is no way u can squeeze it out in a session, and its best to do it alone. Brainstorming or working with a friend hasn't worked for me. It worked for Lennon and McCartney though, so unless you have a McCartney or Lennon stored somewhere in your closet, your best bet is to go solo. You will write more honestly that way.

You always see that in video clips musicians have the old "guitar + cigarette + coffee table + paper n pencil" thing going, and you might wanna do that too. Stimulants can really help. For me its redbull or livita honey

I also find that an environment of absolute silence is a great help. So you can soak in the music and listen to your words clearly.

If you're writing in English, pay attention to stress patterns in the syllables. Most 2nd language users don't pay attention to this and that's why when they sing it sounds a bit 'off'. This applies to speaking too. (I am an English teacher so I CAN say these things lol)

Don't force a topic. Many times I tried to write about love but somethin else would come out. I read somewhere that writing is an unconscious process, so it cant be forced. Play your chords/riff over and over and just start humming and filling the blanks with random words. Soon, a subject will start to appear. Then you can carry on from there. oh yeh, dun forget to rhyme haha although you dun have to

I hope this helps

P/s: OR you could always use the Eric Cartman Christian Rock songwriting technique!

This post has been edited by gizmoduck: Nov 9 2006, 09:37 PM

what technique is that?

wow... thanks for all the tips and advise... actually i write poems too but they just dun sound like lyrics... but i seldom write now because of my STPM coming soon... my head still spinning... but i sometimes write songs just to release stress. u guys do that too? well, i got my younger sister that help me to write lyrics but she is not very good too..

we wrote a song for our school society before and it become the theme song for one of the camp in the society. it was oso sang in the yearly performance in front of hundreds!!! actually i was really proud with that song.. i wrote it with my sister then my mum wrote the lyrics ( she is a chinese teacher )

i sang in church my own written song before but i got a senior which is a very gud musician. he say the song was too complicated and is not "singable" to other ppl... and he say the song will be gud for performance only. not for worship... is ok la... i just keep on writting...

u guys got the same experience too?

this is gonna sound offensive

just take any popular songs and replace the word 'baby', 'my love' etc with "JESUS" lolx

like blue mountain - "Oooohh JESUS I LOVE YOUR WAY, EVERYDAY"

sometimes it works. but not owez... but is really not easy to create ur own lyrics and song... i really respect those artist that can write very very nice songs like jay, daivd, lee hom...

Great tips... somehow I don't have the drive to actually sit down with a piece of paper & pen, and write something. Although I do have some lyrical ideas once in a while.

PS: Yeah I've seen that episode too! Funny as hell!

Btw, what happened to the Cloudburst EP?

Cloudburst EP is available for purchase if u want one! if u live near subang, Simon in subang square sells them. Or u can always get it from me

Hoobastank - "AND THE REAASON IS JEEEEEESUSS"....! I guess that would work

Ahh... I'ill check out Subang Square then... Simon? The guitar shop on the first floor, is it?

"Jesus's beautiful, no matter what they say, words can't bring Him down..."
Eric Cartman's a genius.
It wouldn't work for John Mayer's songs though, "Jesus's body is a wonderland"......

hahaha Cartman is a genius. Check out episode 12 and 13 of season 10!!! OmG I was rolling on the floor.

Yup2, simon's shop on the first floor. But he usually opens in the evening only.

jeez.. get it correct dude...

so, if we change the song in the lyrics is also counted as song writting?

that was a joke...then again some songs sound terribly similar

the police and that p.diddy tune ( duno issit a cover)

angel by shaggy if i remembered rite also has got some starkling similarties

then there is this long long debate on led zeps tunes, apprently the only proven one that they plagerised was "whole lotta love"

Gizmoduck, I'ill check it out next week after exam.

Just a joke, mate.
Go watch that Southpark episode and you'ill understand.

Isn't the chorus the same as the Police track?

A lot of their songs are very similiar to some old blues tunes, The Lemon Song, Nobody's Fault But Mine, Whole Lotta Love while Babe I'm Leaving You is based on Joan Baez's song.

yea. i knw but try not to simply use that name pls... thanks! btw, im not a southpark fan.. haha! sry..

btw, do u guys most of the time write songs out of emotions or ability or juz simply combine with some chords to bang out a song? i dun hav some certain technique for it but i usually just bang it out from nowhere... haha!