Tips for lyricswriting

lostprin36

New member
Sometimes I get stuck in my songwriting. I think all of us do. Here are some things I do to get unstuck:

1) Listen to music I haven't heard before.
2) Go to a "word a day" website to grab a random word/idea.
3) Read some poems for a paraphrase/sideways leap for a particularly pretty phrase.
4) Pick a random word. Find a thesaurus - do a random five-step jump through the thesaurus. Find an alliterative word for the one you've ended up with.
5) Use a list of quotes.
6) Look in Sheila Davis' "Songwriter's Idea Book" for ideas.

Favorite techniques:
1) Write obliquely - write the song directly and then write in metaphor about what's happening in the song.

That's a quick list off the top of my head. Anyone got others?

Now if there were only some way to make melodies/underlying chord changes easier to generate...
 

jdeakan84

New member
I'd recommend writing and listening in different genres.

And doing things a little bit differently everyday will make us more awake and aware in our day-to-day lives
 

jdeakan84

New member
Do things a little differently everyday

What I meant by that was:

1) Taking a different route to work, school, whereever if possible
2) Eating a new meal
3) Trying a new activity that requires your full attention

It sounds trite, but it builds new neural connections, which allows for new songs ideas to flow in ways you couldn't have imagined before.
 

JHC

Chief assistant to the assistant chief
That's ok if you are 15 but wait till you are 95
 
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