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Once you got that try finding some lyrics to sing instead of the whistling \ humming. You might write a whole verse but only like one line but if you keep replacing the bad stuff with better stuff your end up with some decent lyrics
That's your basic start, then there's endless things you can do to embellish a song, riffs as intro's, arrangement breakdowns, time sig \ tempo changes etc.
One of the best ways to learn is to analyse other songs. Take something like U2's With or Without you .... it;s the same 4 chords again and again but the vocal delivery changes and the arrangement changes to complete a classic song from something very simple
Take a song like lying Eyes... now the chords are simple enough and the arrangement is straightforward and all the spotlight is on the message and story in the vocals .....
Take a song like Don't fear the reaper .... this is a riff based song, a killer riff which they build the song around (essentially 3 simple chords) and then embelish with harmonies and the strange Avent guard bit but the songs all about the riff
Whatever you do remember your early attempts probably won't be great but every time you write it will get better
Fortunately the path to the 2nd can start with the first.
I find that singing over a chord progression is easier than fitting chords to a melody. Some people are just naturals at it.
Here are a few exercises to try:
Visit hooktheory, pick a progression, sing.
The Sorry I haven't a clue method. Play one song, try to sing sing the words to another.
Go on a guitar chord site, choose a song you don't know, try to make a song out of it.
It may all sound shit, derivative and throwaway but the only way to write songs is to write songs.
Edit: Confession, I can't do it, but have seen it done, it can look miraculous in it's simplicity, sometimes.
Taking all all of those bits and pieces and making listenable songs is bloody hard though! Personally these days I prefer to work with a partner, I come up with the above, the singer might snag a melody and a vocal hook then we work it through from there.
in band terms, same as above but what I really like with a band is finding hooks to sit in the song structure. Great fun. Nothing in the world (almost) compares to the feeling of a tight band creating in realtime and everyone being on the same page musically. It's an amazing feeling to pull a song from the ether and see and hear it solidify.
Since we're guitar players (most of us anyway) we tend to use that as the tool to write with, so be it a riff or a chord progression there's your start point. I've usually always written music first and then added vocal melodies after though you can do it the other way round, I find this harder though, in fact.
Some of the best ideas I have aren't planned or forced. I never sit down and go "right I'm going to write a song right now..." sometimes I'll be doing something else e.g practicing someone else's song and I'll get inspired and come up with my own riff or chord pattern.
Sometimes I'll be randomly jamming around and stumble across something I think sounds cool.
The most important thing when this happens though is to RECORD it. Doesn't have to be top quality, all smartphones have a voice recorder on it. Just get it down and play it back after.
Though to be fair if its a good riff/chord progression its worth remembering, if its shit then you probably won't remember it!
Also don't worry if you can't write the whole song in one go, some of the songs I've written have been a month writing process as you're trying to link the sections well or figure out another part that works, or even some songs have been bits of other song ideas that weren't used, so its been pieced together.
Always record your progress and listen back, then critique it. If you're in a band environment and the momentum is rolling just get something down, record and analyse later. I've been in bands where you're so critical of anything you write nothing gets done and its frustrating. If something sounds alright go with it until something better comes along (which might not be at that moment).
Sometimes I'll be subconsciously doing something else and won't even have my guitar on me and I'll think of a part or something that could fit. Weird but sometimes it works when I'm away from the band.
I try to write hooky or catchy stuff, usually something you can sing. The amount of times we've packed down after practices and someone's singing the guitar riff or whatever means its stuck in their head which is a good thing.
And I'll echo the point in listening to other people's songs too, not to rip them off or cover it, just to get ideas on how they do it.
Hope you find a method that works, good luck!
I think what Danny says is a pretty typical approach - get a riff or groove going and hum a melody over the top and then put words to that. Certainly for pop and rock, bit different if you're Andrew Lloyd Webber.
Veganic reminded me of a thing I read with Gene Simmons who said every early Kiss song was based on someone else's song - they'd learn a riff they like and move the chords around until it sounded different but okay and then create a melody on top of that. May not be the greatest songs ever written but they sold a lot of records!
My pal writes the basic chord structures and lyrics and melody, we might discuss those and make some minor changes but not much.
I then come up with some guitars parts, backing synths, percussion, Bass as well as record a produce it, I would probably suggest any backing vox or harmonies as well.
This is how we work, I will listen to his structures on my own and play loads of different types of riffs using different sounds, sometimes and idea comes quick , other times I leave it for days and come back to it, I the think about building the songs, adding some percussion, or similar to 2nd verses, bridges etc to make them stand out, also use of backing vocals can really change the dynamic of a song,
So...take a quick listen to a 30 secs and decide, forget the style, quality etc, is it in your opinion " a good song" ?
Think about why you like / dislike it and apply it to your own material, or post your basic ideas and let the masses decide if YOUR songs are any good !
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Remember, it's easier to criticise than create!
A mate of mine writes stuff along the lines of "I took my baby to the drive in..." -- Essex has only got one Drive-In and it's utterly rubbish so singing like he's in southern California is deeply unconvincing.
A slice of insight about life in Basildon would be more honest at least. Or even just a song about dreaming of a sunnier life...
If you write about something that's meaningful for you at least your song has integrity going for it -- even if everything else about it is rubbish.