Hi all i thought it was interesting how many people say to me i can't write lyrics, so, I decided to put this up as a tips guide for people to have a go! It really isn't that hard !
It would be great if some other songwriters like Alice and Shi could also give a few tips.
Firstly i never start with lyrics always the music comes first for me and this is one reason i love wikiloops as there are plenty of great tunes to choose from.
a) Where do i get my ideas for lyrics ? There are many places to search for that !
1) I read a lot of poetry online - if I see a line that could be a good topic I write it down in my ideas book.
2) Current events ! Watching the news on TV will give you some great subjects to write a song about. For instance some of my songs The Bali nine , A bomb went off in France today and Australia bushfires rage all came from news coverage on TV.
3) Personal things that happen in your life - Australia I'm a lucky man was about my travels. Abeys story was about a young girl in our town abused by her parents till she eventually died from her injuries - I went through the Vietnam war and you will see a lot of my songs cover wars.
Im sure there are many other places you can find ideas so i won't ramble on to much about that !
Ok so once i have an idea what do I do next ?
1) First i will download a tune i like or i may have one i have written myself !
2) I will record the music and just one line ( sometimes three or four )from my ideas book and i will loop that section and play it over and over until I think of the next or another line which is recorded on a separate track sometimes i will have 20 tracks of different lines recorded.
3) Once i have enough lines written i then try them in different places throughout the song and singing them in different ways ! Once that is completed i write them to a word document print it out then sing the whole song !
That is pretty much it ! Easy hu ! And you will find it gets easier with every song ! SO HAVE A GO
Edited by onewholeft on January 26 2016 12:46
It would be great if some other songwriters like Alice and Shi could also give a few tips.
Firstly i never start with lyrics always the music comes first for me and this is one reason i love wikiloops as there are plenty of great tunes to choose from.
a) Where do i get my ideas for lyrics ? There are many places to search for that !
1) I read a lot of poetry online - if I see a line that could be a good topic I write it down in my ideas book.
2) Current events ! Watching the news on TV will give you some great subjects to write a song about. For instance some of my songs The Bali nine , A bomb went off in France today and Australia bushfires rage all came from news coverage on TV.
3) Personal things that happen in your life - Australia I'm a lucky man was about my travels. Abeys story was about a young girl in our town abused by her parents till she eventually died from her injuries - I went through the Vietnam war and you will see a lot of my songs cover wars.
Im sure there are many other places you can find ideas so i won't ramble on to much about that !
Ok so once i have an idea what do I do next ?
1) First i will download a tune i like or i may have one i have written myself !
2) I will record the music and just one line ( sometimes three or four )from my ideas book and i will loop that section and play it over and over until I think of the next or another line which is recorded on a separate track sometimes i will have 20 tracks of different lines recorded.
3) Once i have enough lines written i then try them in different places throughout the song and singing them in different ways ! Once that is completed i write them to a word document print it out then sing the whole song !
That is pretty much it ! Easy hu ! And you will find it gets easier with every song ! SO HAVE A GO
Edited by onewholeft on January 26 2016 12:46