writing tips

okay does anyone have some tips on writing good lyrics? like how to just get ideas out, arranging, etc. im goin to Thailand for a month in less than a week and i want to get some lyrics done while im there.

Make sure they a rhyme or rythm and that you write what you feel. I'd say that if you go to another country your bound to get inspiration.

to be honest most of my lyrics are kind of forced, from observations of things. going to a different community, landscape, or country for that matter would probably give you some new ideas.

You really force them good them haha. You've always had great lyrics.

just start playing some chords on the guitar, and sing, as loudly and as stupidly as you can. dont think of what your saying, just let what comes out, come out.

tip 2: rewrite, rewrite, rewrite. nothing is perfect when its first written. imagine how many times robert plant and jimmy page rewrote stairway to heaven before they got what they wanted?

Make sure you pay attention to the landscape and society. Those are always good themes. Rewriting or revising is a good idea as brodyxhollow mentioned.

I don't know if it is something that the "great" writers are born with or not (I tend to think not). What I think is that great writing comes from reading a lot of great writing. expose yourself to well written lyrics and writing of all sorts. I do know that Dlyan and Lennon were big fans of poetry. Poetry teaches you to express in very few words what someone else would take six paragraphys to describe and I think that is what makes Dylan stand out far above other lyric writers. google "bob dylan lyrics" and just read how he paints an image in just one short line. This is what makes him great. speak less and say more.
Hey, have a great trip to Thailand you lucky bugger!
Phip

just a bit more. Case in point.
"How many roads must a man walk down
Before you call him a man?"
Now, you could write a whole freaking book about what it means to be "a man" and blab on for pages about the hard knocks that life hands you and how tough life can be, and Dylan just said it all in one little line above. That is genius! He paints an image or makes a suggestion and the listener fills in the rest based on a lifetime of personal experiences. Pure genius.
Phip

i read once that love songs are most of the time succesful and easy to write(of course if u r in love)it can be love for a person, relative, thing(LIKE UR GUITAR :p)and those things

i HOPE i will have a guitar... if i dont i'll die

dont u already have one?...

yes, but im going to thailand and i cant take it with me =(

lol...so good luck man, i have many friends at there, but i've never been there, however, is a good topic to talk about, and mayb u can hide the thing u r missing, like (8)i miss u so much...i die without u...(8) and those cursi things, but u will be talking about ur guitar lol...

some of the greatest lyrics are of a metaphorical nature, or better staed, as a monologue if anything, for instance take the song "Happiness is a warm gun" off of the Beatles White album as a metaphor for John lennon's contemporary heroin addiction

the peak of the song being:

'when I hold you in my arm"
(referring to intraveinous administration of heroin "holding" the heroin in the veins of his arm"

"and I feel my finger on your trigger"
(the plunger of the needle of H)

"I know, nobody can do me no harm"
(heroin being an opiate, slows down the nervous system, nearly negating the nervous system's reaction to any pain"

but dont try to set yourself to Lennon standards, start on your own and exceed them.

So when you see something new to youre eyes, create an image in your head of you could explain it to others without the mention of physical attributes, unless you can attach them to a surreal abstract.

also, while in Thailand, avoid the Iron Triangle near the Burmese border, I spent some time over the for Uncle Sam and it is a very dangerous, and ugly area.

(and if you think of finding a hooker, check for an adam's apple hah!)

Metharporical lyrics is bit difficult way that it dont sound nonsense. There are many "artistical" or "visonaire" musicians or listeners who admire methaporical lyrics, but not everyone likes them.

btw...



People hear what they want so where we draw a line to lyrics being "methaporical" , I dont see in those sentences any methaporical meanings that leads thinking to heroin crap anyway.

Anyway, back to topic.

Approaching to writing, its good to keep in mind that there are two ways to make song. "Lyric based song" where song is built around lyrics and "Riff based song" that lyrics are made around music.

Here is a dumb trick I use when rhyming.

I will wright out the alphabet and when i need a word go through the list. It will also help you find words that don't quite rhyme but that will work. Such as success and fence or girl and world.

I'm no expert but keep re-wrighting, I have a few tune i wrote that I took a completely different direction with it and I'm very happy with how it turned out.

The stones used to sing gibberish to the songs to find the vocal melody and then work on words. Not a bad idea

can you explain more how this works? it sounds interesting

use a writing partner, thats the only way i can write. i always get a good phrase, but i cant finish it if i dont feel supported or encouraged by other people.. * the rhimes.. you dont need them if the melody is convincing

ok....so you wright out this...

A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z

now you've got your line that you can't find a word to rhyme with and
you just start going through the alphabet.

so I'll use an example my lyric is "I'm taking the 410 tour of San Antone" (short for san antonio)

so now I'll jot down words that rhymes with "antone" like bone, cone, clone, dome, foam, phone, gnome, home, etc. when you do this your based on your word association based on sounds rather than spelling so you'll find some that don't match but work.

Once you have your short list of words then it can help you with the next line of the lyric.