I need help with writing songs / lyrics please

[Frederick Dick]

Hi,
my apologies if I posted this in the wrong section.
I really need your help. I really want to write my own song, but I have great difficulty writing lyrics. What should I do? Maybe someone can help or advise a service?

[Twilight Storm]

I'm working on a song now, but I don't really know what i'm doing, so keep that in mind while reading my answer please.

If you have a chord progression you can try to write what I recall are called "scratch lyrics" first.

The theme song to the old television series WKRP has scratch lyrics at the closing credits of the show. Most of the time scratch lyrics are replaced by real ones, but in this example they kept them. (It used to drive me crazy trying to figure out what he was singing until I learned what was going on lol!)

Play your progression and sing nonsense words to it for awhile. (Best done while recording yourself. You're singing nonsense after all, and being able to listen back is invaluable imo) You will find sounds you like, that fit well with what you're playing. This gave me a rough idea of how my lyrics could go with the chords.

If you started with an idea of what the song is going to be about, throw in some real words that cover the song's subject and see how they fit into the music.

This might help spur some creativity at least. Having a song structure in mind is also helpful.

As for the lyrics themselves, I can't really help. I'm using the scratch lyric method right now. Some of my nonsense became actual lines, but since it's a song in development (and my first attempt at lyrics) they're changing as I work on it.

Sorry I couldn't be more help, but good luck!

[Majik]

If you have a chord progression you can try to write what I recall are called "scratch lyrics" first.

The theme song to the old television series WKRP has scratch lyrics at the closing credits of the show. Most of the time scratch lyrics are replaced by real ones, but in this example they kept them. (It used to drive me crazy trying to figure out what he was singing until I learned what was going on lol!)

More famously, the Phil Collins hit "Sussudio" was a scratch lyric that he, eventually, gave up trying to replace with something better.

Cheers,

Keith

[batwoman]

Welcome to the forum Frederick 

Big question to answer, there are so many ways. A few ideas:

A musical idea
*  a chord sequence
*  a riff
*  an arpeggio
*  a scale eg Pentatonic
*  a fragment of another musician's music or sound that you make your own, we don't want lawsuits.

Your life
*  something you're passionate about
*  an experience or event that means a lot to you
*  love - lost, found, yearned for
*  deep emotion
*  something ridiculous or trivial

I've written three songs so far, so I have very little experience. My process usually starts with a phrase. It might be something I've heard or read or a thought that comes to me. I let it mush around in my head and some more words come to me, often just as I'm going to sleep, so I get up to write them down. Then I see the pictures that eventually become the verses. As the song begins to form a character I get the feeling and mood of the song. Next step for me to to listen to the music of others, that will often give me an idea of what I want. Then I figure out the melody. Last of all I figure out the chords.

I'd strongly recommend you keep a notebook where you write down any ideas or thoughts, even though you may not see where you're going with them. Once you start writing a song, you may find some gems in what you've written down.

I find I have creative, brain on fire times, and then dry spells, so make the most of it when you're on a roll. Let the words or notes pour out uncensored, you can cull and refine them later.

Most of all, make a start.