Come on spit it out. I want to know how you guys compose your songs, how you got the idea for the song, how you worked the stuff out and what programs (if applicable) you used in creating one.

Also, what makes a song good to you? What do songs need to make them good?

Hmm, I don't compose but if I did (which I will do in the future) I'd just use my headset microphone with the audio editing program Audacity. I would just record my singing on one channel and my guitar on the other, or piano :P.

Hmm for a song to be good, it has to have meaningful lyric and a nice melody. Nice music and good singing. Thats pretty much it. :P

To me, a good song needs to move me emotionally from one place to another. Using words if necessary (I have heard many songs where words arent necessary, and could even ruin the song). It should take someone on a journay, and hence tell a story. Have a start, middle, and ending.

Practically, it needs to have a memorable melody and/or groove, i.e. catchy and easy to remember. Ideally, it'll have a "hook", something that happens only once in the song that is sooo cool, and memorable that people will listen to the whole song just for those 2 or 3 seconds, and then hit the repeat button.

How you write the songs depends on what instrument you are most comfortable with (for me, its the acoustic guitar). Some people come up with words first and music later, some people the other way round. It depends somewhat on whether you are a better musician or poet.

A lot of times, a song is built from a single concept. A cool lick, a good melody, a funky groove, an interesting chord change/voicing, or a profound statement/idea. Inspiration can come from anywhere.

Practice. Learn from others. Play another instrument. Merge concepts. Discuss your ideas. All these will help you develop your song writing skills.

Lastly, alot of these ideas are relative, meaning that what sounds good to you may not sound good to someone else, and vice versa. Dont get discouraged if people dont like your ideas. Afterall, it's your story and you're the one telling it, only you know how/what the story should be.

Hope this helps.

>_> I messed up on the thread title AGAIN. Jesus.

I can't do lyrics, it's not my thing to do. If I try, it all comes out stupid and un-meaningful, it's like me trying to write japanese lyrics in english, which doesn't flow at all.

@DaveinOsaka:

I've got that, I think I have good melodies and stuff but then the problem i have is creating other parts, the pre-chorus, the chorus etc. etc. I don't know, I just lose my "inspiration" when I get stuck.

lol, should have seen me weep when I made a song that was identical to The Cure's Disintegration song -- I DON'T EVEN LISTEN TO THEM. I just know their name and I don't listen to them at all (or heard any song of theirs) and then boom! My song = Their song. Brought me down.

hmm, for me...it's usually a mixture...

it's all a hybrid of different things like listening to music everyday, the way you feel, and hours of jamming...

i think it all just comes together...

sometimes when i'm jamming, i take all those things that i mentioned above until the melody just spills itself out...once i have the music down, i hum along to the guitar until i come up with a melody... it's all about the feeling, i guess...and then once all that's done, i apply the lyrics to the tune of the melody and play along with my guitar! sooo, the music comes first for me, then the lyrics...

also, it differs... one song can take a few days, another could take weeks! these things, you can't rush it...if it happens, it happens...

peace@

In my case, I compose without composing. All arrive by accident.

I play some artists songs... Try to improvise... and then got into some new fresh chords and strumming patern (good or bad). I think all the players know what I mean... Then, if I am in a special mood, suitable enough for writing it down... then the process start.

But most of the time, these little free time ramdom chords playing won't be writen and vanish in the atmosphere, as I am not enough a good player to write songs seriously. It is often said that every composer have a period of very intense song writing, and periods of empty, blank in composing.

So, stupid question : Is the lyrics come first or the music ?
We should not answer to this.... But, I will try to. The reasonable answer should be obviously : IT DEPENDS ! Some songs are based on a music scheme previously found by accident or not (it is more to be the case for REAL musicians I think) and somes are based on lyrics or some key words and the composer is trying to find the music that fits into it... and in this case, most of the time, all the lyrics are not written yet, but of course could be. It is not prohibited at all. There are NO RULES to follow in composing, that's one one the points that make "song writing/composing" an art.

i agree with this ^ samart...

*sigh* don't you just love how Jeet Kun Do can apply to many things? ... XD

In addition to all that..."Just go with the flow..."

i think it's entirely better that you create a song from pure feeling opposed to forcing it out yourself...

So just like Bruce Lee's "Fighting without Fighting". (In Enter The Dragon, Boat scene, on the question: "What's your style?" -> "My style?...Fighting without fighting") ^_^

okay, sorry kind of Offtopic. :unsure:

my experience is usually when i write a song chord progression comes before anything else. when im satisfied with the chord structure i fill in a melody line over and over again tilll i get a good melody. afterwards i think of a second guitar part if i need one which plays lead. lastly i fill in lyrics cuz when you're playing live in a rock band or any event plugged then chances are hardly any lyrics will be heard.
i think there's two types of compositions, for self satisfactory or for commerical/performing purposes. and i think hooks should only be thought about if the song is gonna be performed (or recorded if you're pro). i know a lot of ppl who want to writes songs in certain styles or following certain artists but that doesn't work since you're losing your own style and even if that style can be copied, the final song won't be as good as the original one that it was copied from. being inspired and copying styles are 2 different things imo.

Would you guys mind answering how to change stuff around? I have the hardest time in the world creating pre-chorus', chorus' and the likes. Also, do you guys tend to write the technical stuff during the writing or do you the technical stuff AFTER the whole stuff is written out?