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Rome Wasn't Built in A Day (though Louie Louie was probably written in one)Jul 19 '01 Write an essay on this topic.
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The Bottom Line Take inspiration when and where you find it. Allow your ideas to develop in their own time.
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The worst thing you can do when you are writing a song ( this is true when writing anything, I think, but this holds particularly true for songwriting) is to force yourself to do it. Oh, I've got this idea and I've got to get it out. Now. I must complete this song. Maybe, maybe, not. I don't think so. It's better to relax and let it happen naturally. Wait as long as it takes. I have song ideas from ten years ago I still work with, that haven't found the right homes yet. So you've got an idea. Play around with it. See where it goes. Some things will fall together rather quickly. You may have a complete composition in one sitting, especially if, like me, you primarily write in a garage rock idiom. A lot of times, though, it doesn't work like that. You'll bust out some killer riff and...where does it go? No secondary riff comes to mind, and when you plug it into some kind of rock/blues cliche, it just dilutes the effect of the original riff. Well, are you working under a deadline? Probably not. Why are you worried about it, then? File it away, taping or notating it somewhere if you are worried about losing it. When I (rather infrequently these days) pick up my guitar, I usually improvise around some scales until I feel suficiently impressed with my guitar godliness and (more importantly) feel loosened up enough to do some real work. Sometimes doing this, I'll hit upon something that I like, and I'll try various things with it and variations of it. At any given time, I have several riffs like that somewhere in my head and a lot of the time I'll find that my "New" riff works out with one of my old ones. I suspect that there is some part of my subconscious mind that works on these ideas while my conscious mind is worried about my day to day situation of hunting and gathering (i.e, working, paying the bills, etc.) Either way, at this point I usually go back to some old ideas, whether or not I've got something new to go with them. Sometimes the solution to the problem presents itself then and there. That's the musical end. As far as writing lyrics, I find it a little tougher. If I have a concept I can generally run with it, but it is really hard to find the inspiration. The only way to do that is to keep your eyes and ears open, and jump on the idea when it comes. I remember seeing a really whiny singer/songwriter at this club I used to frequent and the lyrics of one of my songs just came to me: "Gonna sing a song now/Make it real sad/I wanna bring the whole world down/Make everybody feel bad." Just had to work out the verses there, which was fun. Writing words, I think, requires discipline more so than music (at least Rock music anyway, which is shooting fish in a barrel to me). I do think it is good to write something every day, or at least a few times during the week. But it doesn't have to be a song or poem, I don't think, and certainly it doesn't have to be the lyric that you are trying to write when you are having a hard time. Get as far as you can, but don't beat your brains out. Let the idea ferment in your head and it will jump out at you when it's ready to go. In the meantime, I don't know....you can write Epinions or something. The big thing, I think, is giving your ideas time to develop rather than rushing to kill them in the name of "Songwriting." Look around you for inspiration and play around with your ideas physically with your pen and musical instruments and also with your mind, the most important instrument of all. Never discard a good idea, since the hardest part is getting good ideas. Keep returning to old ideas periodically to see if it makes more sense now. The song will let you know when you've got it right if you keep listening to it.  |
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