Song Writing

BigDaddyUker

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Its amazing to me how many of you Seasonistas write songs. It seems like if you can't find a song to fit the season, you write one and honestly, I don't know that there has been one that I didn't like. I just listened to Berni's Alone, Alone...amazing.

My questions are many. Is this a craft that you all have perfected over time? Is it something that just comes naturally? Do you starts with words? Do you start with music? How do you determine the chord progression? What type of song...ballad, waltz, swing...?

I have a little poem I wrote for my babies. I have never in my life written a poem, a verse...nada, nothing. And much like Berni's Alone Alone...I brought my baby upstairs and laid down with him and the words just started coming to me.

Most that have read asked when I was going to turn it in to a song...I would love to but no idea where to start...

I think its pretty rough but it was definitely from the heart...


My final thoughts as this day closes...

Father and Son

Ascending the stairs
In my arms no cares
My little boy ready for sleep
A tiny yawn a quiet weep
A Father and Son

Little arms around my neck
A soft gentle squeeze
Never let me go
Oh please daddy please
A Father and Son

A dark quiet room
Shadows cast from the moon
We lay down together
Does it get any better
A Father and Son

Laying chest to chest
Two hearts are now one
We gave it our all
Now together we rest
A Father and Son

Our breathing slows
Our eyes close
As minds unfurl
All becomes right in our world
A Father and Son
 
No doubt you'll get more polished advice from the more polished writers among us, but as a quite new songwriter myself, I thought I'd share a bit about my experience so far.

It just kinda started happening to me. Having a ukulele in my hands a little over a year ago just opened some sort of door I had no idea was there, and songwriting starting coming out of me. So my experience has been very organic.

The first time it happened, an idea just popped into my head. Somebody said something one day, I forgot about it, and a few days later, out of nowhere, a song concept, and, I think, one line of lyric just appeared, unbidden, like the proverbial lightbulb.

Most of my songs have started this way ... a single idea or concept, and/or a single line of lyric ... usually prompted by an experience or event or conversation or something I saw online, or maybe a thought prompted by a Season theme. Once I was just noodling around with some chords, and found I could only keep that up for about a minute before words starting coming out of me. A few times I've written to prompts that were not personal to me, including for Season 124. I'm pleased with those songs, but I find I'm not drawn to play them much afterward.

What happened that first time was that it occurred to me, hey, I have an instrument I can play with my hands. I know a handful of chords. I know a tiny bit about how those chords sometimes seem to get put together into songs. (Really, almost nothing about that, that first time ... mostly I just knew a few chords.)

So I picked up the uke, and played a chord. If it sounded good, and fit what my voice tried to do, I attempted to use it for something. If not, I tried a different one. That first song was very "hunt and peck", because I really did not have much at all in the way of tools to do anything else.

Over the next few days, bits of melody and words began to form around the chords, and as I went out for walks (always with a voice recorder on me), I'd experiment with bits, keep the best ones, discard the rest.

If I liked a line, I'd look for other lines to fit with it, melodically, lyrically (meter and rhyme), and story-wise. Once I had a bit of raw material, I sat down with ... paper that first time, pre-iPad ... and attempted to assemble my song. Gradually, I fleshed out verses and choruses and a bridge, and assembled them in a way that made sense and I was happy with. Ultimately from this process, a complete song emerged.

That first song was actually more complicated than most of my later ones have been ... I have no idea why ... it just happened that way. I ended up needing actual sheet music (I discovered the wonderful, free, noteflight.org that night) to follow the melody I was creating, and the chord changes I made from verse to verse and chorus to chorus. These days I usually keep that stuff simpler, and since then a simple chord-lyric chart and an audio recording have sufficed me.

Most times since then (I've written, I think, 13 originals - about one a month - and a number of parodies and mash-ups), my process has been similar.

It nearly always starts with a single idea, concept, and or lyric line. Then I get out the uke and start noodling and see what comes. I audio-record (on my awesome Sansa Clip voice recorder) to capture the melodies and rhythms, and simultaneously write down the chords and lyrics as I come up with stuff, these days usually on the iPad.

[I've set up shortcuts for chord symbols on the iPad to make typing them easy. Like "g." produces "(G)" on the pad, "dm7." produces "(Dm7)", etc. I just type those in the flow of the lyrics, and the chords appear in parens like that between appropriate syllables or words. Once the song is complete, I type up a more readable chart, usually with the chords on a separate line above the lyrics, in Word, and then save it as a PDF ... which I read from the unrealBook app on the iPad. But I digress.]

Once I have a bunch of material down in more or less random order at this point, I start to assemble it into some sort of structure, and then fill in what's missing to make a complete song. Usually by this time, I have at least some idea what story I'm trying to tell ... so that guides the order of verses, choruses, and sometimes bridge(s), and which bits of lyrics go where and in which of those elements.

At some point, it looks / feels / sounds complete to me, and I call it done. And go make the video. :)

These days (partly through playing, but mostly through writing, and talking with others about writing), I've learned a bit more about the typical ways songwriters assemble the various structural elements and how to put chords together in an order that sounds good.

I still have absolutely no idea how to write melodies ... I just play chords and attempt to sing some words, and the melodies just kind of emerge out of that. I'm pleased with the results ... I just mean that that part of the process for me happens organically ... I don't feel like I have the least bit of formal knowledge about it, nor do I apply much thinking to producing them. I just sing, and keep what I like and tweak what I don't until I do.

Bottom line:
I highly encourage you to get out a uke and play some random chords, and attempt to sing your lovely poem, and just keep playing around with it until something you like emerges.

And then, next time you feel the muse, do it again. The more I do it, the more I learn, and the more confident I become that I can do it again. And you will too. Just like playing ... the more you do it, the quicker you'll learn it.

Oh, here's that first song I wrote ... at Season 88 ... 4 weeks after my first Season, 8 weeks after I first picked up a uke. And here's the sheet music ... it still doesn't have a chart!

 
Beautiful poem, by the way! I am eager to hear the song. I hope you will write it and share it with us.
 
My questions are many. Is this a craft that you all have perfected over time? Is it something that just comes naturally? Do you starts with words? Do you start with music? How do you determine the chord progression? What type of song...ballad, waltz, swing...?

I've been writing songs for over 35 years, and there isn't any one way. I've come up with music first and then written lyrics. I've written lyrics and later come up with music for them. I've written a chorus first, then written a song to fit it. I've even started with just a title, and written a song for it. And several times taken one of my old songs whose music I liked, and written a whole new set of lyrics.

One thing I always try to do is come up with a chord structure or strum that will make it different from all the other songs I've written. I once saw Shawn Colvin on solo acoustic as a lead-in for Richard Thompson. She used the same strum on every song, and it made the songs all blend together. So I always look for some little thing that will set the song apart.
 
I normally start out with an idea -> lyric -> music.
But I have also started with a song progression, and then idea -> lyrics.
For chord progression I just try some, until it sounds the way I thought it should, which is partly based on the way I think about singing it.
I also can highly recommend this course, which is free and really enlightening.
https://www.coursera.org/course/songwriting
 
It just happens when it happens...you can sit with your writing pad, pen poised ,your brain cocked, brain receptive to the muse ..naff all ......or you can be weeding the garden and a whole song tumbles through your brain...lyrics,tune and chords ...and you have to move fast to get it down......seriously ...

I'll play it one day "I've Got To Get Off Of The Farm"
 
I'm not a serious "songwriter" by any means, but I think that it's interesting and fun to construct a song. I've done it, on and off, since I was a kid, and I've probably completed a couple hundred songs. That said, when I look back at the ones from years ago, most were junk. Maybe in 10 years I'll look back at those I'm writing today and think the same thing. Who knows?

I've only been playing uke for a couple of years now, but I'm finding it very fun to write songs with it. Before the ukulele, I played piano and keyboards a lot.

I almost always start with a chord progression. It can be as simple as a C-F-G or it can be much more detailed. I kind of repeat the progression many times, over and over, until a melody starts dancing between the chords. Last, the words come. I become more interested in the sound of the words in the tune than the meaning, which is why I often end up with "silly love songs." But what's wrong with that?

In the years before ukulele, and before iPads and easy recording equipment, I'd write the melodies and chords on staff paper so that i wouldn't lose them. Now, however, I just type the lyrics and add [C7] and [Fm] and so forth when the chord changes. Then, I make a quick recording so I don't forget how the song goes. Much easier in these modern times!
 
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I like your little poem "Father and Son". I think a new song is like giving birth. They are all different. Some are difficult and take years to come forth. Some are out in minutes. Some die or live on the shelf. Some come with lyrics first or melody first. If it's a melody first I usually grab my camera or recorder to get it down quick because those tunes can be fleeting little suckers! One minute they are there and the next time you play it its changed somehow and isn't quite the same.

Lyrics morph. You've got it down a certain way and then you read it later and blech! So you change it a little at a time. Perhaps some words you want to say are too common. That's where using a thesaurus comes in handy. Also use a rhyming dictionary. It can give you a lot of ideas and sometimes even changes the goal you had for the song in the first place. Now you have two songs!!

I find it is quiet rewarding to write songs. Good luck Big Daddy :)
 
I agree with bonesigh. I can see a new song in your poem. You asked where does one start. "A Father and Son" starts with the poem. Your lyric may be vastly different but this doesn't mean you've lost the poem. You will have created two works with a common theme.

I would consider ways to make your poem more musical and how to turn it into a coherent song. It is, I hasten to add a coherent poem.

Remember to follow YOUR Muse.

My analysis of your poem is something like this: 5 verses, 5 short lines each, Recurring one line chorus. good rhyme. relatively consistent meter; mostly 5 or 6 syllables per line. The meter is too short for an effective song.

I would set the recurring line aside for the time being and combine the lines to create half as many lines with a "half line structure with internal rhyme. You have many ryhming couplets put these together. Something like this maybe:

Ascending the stairs, In my arms are no cares.
A tiny yawn a quiet weep, My little boy ready for sleep.

A soft gentle squeeze, Oh please daddy please,
Little arms around neck go, Never let me go.

Laying chest to chest, Now together we rest
Two hearts are now one, A Father and Son.

THis looks pretty good, the meter still needs work. You can easily sing the lines. You probably get the idea by now. Go to work and good luck. I look forward to singing your song.
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Lyrics morph. You've got it down a certain way and then you read it later and blech! So you change it a little at a time. Perhaps some words you want to say are too common. That's where using a thesaurus comes in handy. Also use a rhyming dictionary. It can give you a lot of ideas and sometimes even changes the goal you had for the song in the first place. Now you have two songs!!
:)
Along this same line, when you sing it you may find that some things that look good on the page just don't sound right when you sing them. So over time you may find the lyrics changing somewhat to a form that feels more comfortable in your mouth.
 
Along this same line, when you sing it you may find that some things that look good on the page just don't sound right when you sing them. So over time you may find the lyrics changing somewhat to a form that feels more comfortable in your mouth.

Ah, yes, very true. Plus sometimes words themselves sound like music when spoken so it creates a flow.
 
I've approached it in different ways. I usually write the lyrics and then come up with a melody. Sometimes I come up with a melody and then write the lyrics. Sometimes I play around with a chord progression and write something for it. I've even read that it's important to write the melody first and that the reason our music these days doesn't sound melodic is because, people write to a chord progression first. Perhaps those with formal training or music degrees would have a different perspective?:rulez: I usually tell people that I don't write any songs because, I just channel them from a higher source. In any event, I don't think it really matters. It's all part of being creative. We each have to find our own way. If you have a passion for it or are inspired to do it then you will!:D
 
A First Go...

First - thanks everyone for your insight. Appreciate your time and efforts. BEV - big thanks to you for pushing me in a much needed direction.

Here is a first go at the song...I don't think its done but on its way.

 
First - thanks everyone for your insight. Appreciate your time and efforts. BEV - big thanks to you for pushing me in a much needed direction.

Here is a first go at the song...I don't think its done but on its way.



Woot! Just plain terrific! I love this!!! The melody offers the opportunity for some great harmonies, too, I could hear them in my mind as you were singing!
 
Hey Big Daddy: The poem was nice but the song is much nicer and in a much more accesible format. The repeated Father and Son in the recurring refrain is very effective. And it took less than a week. Are you sure you haven't done this before?
 
Hey Big Daddy: The poem was nice but the song is much nicer and in a much more accesible format. The repeated Father and Son in the recurring refrain is very effective. And it took less than a week. Are you sure you haven't done this before?

LOL. Never. BirdsEyeView had sent me a message with some of her thoughts and her take on the song. I was messing with the same chords that she was but in a different sequence. I had a tempo in mind and I ran through a couple rounds with the chord progression that BEV had and everything fell into place except it felt unbalanced with 5 verses and no refrain/chorus. The 2nd verse as I had it was the only one that didn't fit the 'story' so I chose to use that as the chorus after every other verse. Once I came to that it just worked. The only change I want to make is I want a different chord progression for the chorus just to set it apart.
 
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