How I “Songwrite”

I thought it would be “fun” to talk about how I write songs. It might be of some interest if you either write songs yourself, or like my songs. Then again, it might not, in which case I apologise.

It’s not always exactly the same, but the variations are as predictable as the basic method (typically amounting to swapping the order of any two given steps, or simply writing all the lyrics first), so I feel pretty comfortable calling it… my Process.

Inspiration

90% of the time, the process is sparked when a word or phrase suddenly strikes me as particularly poetical. The other 10%, I think of a melodic line and repeat it until I come up with a word or phrase that fits it. Inspiration often, but not always, hits either in the shower or just after going to bed. Sometimes I try to sort of force it by working with an old idea that didn’t go anywhere in the past. Sometimes this works.

Chorus Lyrics

I usually write the lyrics for a chorus next. Sometimes, unusually, it will end up as a verse instead. Once or twice I think the first thing that came out ended up being a bridge. But it usually ends up being a chorus or maybe pre-chorus.

Chorus Rhythm/Melody

I try to put the chorus lyrics to a melody, or at least a rhythm, next, to help me keep the verses in the same feel. I will probably use my phone’s voice recorder to help me remember this rhythm, but I may never listen to the file.

Verse Lyrics

Writing the verses is next, unless I’ve decided what I wrote first should be a verse, in which case I… write… a chorus.

Finalize Form & Finish Lyrics

Decide whether or not I need a bridge, more verses, that kind of thing. Then write them. Lately I’ve been trying to rely less on bridges; while I love bridges, I do recognize that not every song needs one.

Finish Melody

Apply tune to the rest of the lyrics! This always, always, involves me improvising one or more phrases that work perfectly, and promptly forgetting how they went. After a few of these incidents I usually put on the voice recorder but again, I am not wholly likely to listen to what I’ve recorded.

Chords

Add chords to the tune. I sometimes get help from Adam and guitar on this, though there is always at least one chord that I have to go to the piano to extract from my head. Very occasionally I just need a weird¹ chord somewhere.

Fix It

This step isn’t always needed, but it often is. Changes to lyrics, rhythms and melodies, and form are common, and sometimes the chords turn out to need some nudging too. I used to think everything needed to come out perfectly the first time, but I’ve come to a place where I can accept needing to alter things after the first big burst of creativity has faded. I know this is a thing, for the same reason you don’t use the same tools and processes early in crafting as you do at the end. I’m absolutely fine with my work needing to be refined, absolutely fine.²

DAW

This has become a vital step for explaining to other people how my songs sound in my head. Adding MIDI drums, bass, and maybe piano, creates a completely different experience from me clumsily accompanying myself on a keyboard.

Discussion

I love writings songs, and if I haven’t done it in a while, I feel kind of… crave-y? It’s like being hungry or thirsty, but for writing. Sometimes I’ll write a little snippet of a song or a not-very-good song just to tide me over.

I sometimes use pen and paper, sometimes Notes on iCloud (or, previously, Google Keep), and sometimes it goes straight into a Word doc which is where they all end up anyway (in final form, live in Lucida Sans Typewriter because it’s fixed-width and I just kinda like it, okay?).

I am… not… great?… at cowriting. For one thing, this is The Order that works for me. If you present me with two chords and ask me what should come next, I will look at you, as Adam can attest, with something in the range of puzzled to annoyed. If you give me a melody and ask for a complete set of lyrics, I will probably also be annoyed. I can take chord changes and write a melody over them, I had to do this in school and some of my results were fun. But I avoid it. For another thing, I very quickly get a certain song-shape in my head, and I have a hard time accepting ideas that don’t fit the invisible shape in my head. Adam can also attest to this. This is something I very much want to work on. Being more flexible in all aspects of songwriting, and able to cowrite more easily. I think that it can be a very worthwhile way to work.

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¹ Often ends up being a lone slightly jazzy chord accidentally pulled from the recesses of my memory.

² Absolutely fiiiiiine.