how to come up with lyrics

[cobty]

hey. i was wondering how y'all songwriters come up with your lyrics for your songs. i cant make them up at all. any tips?



Philipians 2:3- "Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit but in humility consider others better than yourself."

[K-Max]

Well, for me, I just write whatever I feel at the moment! As far as being able to sit down and write a song about whatever.. I can't! I've tried and tried, and I'll get maybe a verse or two, but never can finish it! :D

Honestly, I think it's just trial and error, for the most part!

K-Max

[Aaron]

Pray about it! Maybe it isn't your calling!

Aaron

[BWyatt]

Hi cobty,

I'm not sure if I can help much, but here's a little tidbit from a speech on songwriting I'm giving in a few hours in English class. Maybe this will help.


Getting Started

There's really no set order to write a song in. I normally start with inspiration, move on to the chorus or first verse, then just go with the flow of the song. However, when you first start, you may want to just write out all the verses first, then go to the chorus and title.

The Idea

Finding inspiration can be one of the toughest parts of writing a song. Sometimes you have to be clever to come up with an idea. I sometimes write music based on something a friend or fellow musician tells me that I think is kind of neat. Sometimes, though, I just sit down with a pen and paper and stare at the paper until something hits me.

Inspiration can be one of the strangest things in songwriting. You'll get ideas from the most unexpected places. Even if you can't come up with anything to go with an idea at the time, write down the idea, and you'll probably come up with something later.

The Chorus/Title

The title is one of the easiest things to come up with sometimes, but other times it can be the toughest. The chorus is the absolute easiest part of the song. All it needs is to pertain to the rest of the song. As long as it fits the verses before and after it, it'll be fine. There's really no set length for the chorus, but it needs to be slightly different in length from the verses, to distinguish it from the rest of the song.

The Verses

The verses are where you'll have to have at least some little bit of creativity--but not until you're finished. Write the verses with as close to the same flow as you can. Getting them to flow right won't come until you're ready to put music to them. Just make sure you have some things in place. 1) The verses should be the same number of lines long. 2) The lines of the verses that correspond with each other (like the first line of each) should have the same number of syllables. If you don't do this, it's still possible to work around, but it won't flow as smoothly.

What to do if you're stuck

If you're stuck there are really only three things you can do. The first is to just take a break for a while. Put your pen and paper away, and just go do something else. Something might hit you again later. Second, you can ask another writer to help you out. If one of your friends also writes, you could ask them to help you out. Finally, you could just shut up and listen. Many times when I'm stuck, I'll just run the song through my head a little and I'll just stare at it for a while. If I wait long enough sometimes, I'll get an idea. Thinking about your inspiration for the song can also be helpful, so you can get your emotions that drive the song flowing again.


Hope this helps. There's one more thing to remember when writing lyrics: If you're not passionate about what you're writing, it probably won't turn out to be very good. Your music should be driven by emotion. My best music has been written when I've felt very strongly on something. My worst music came when I was just trying to be clever or creative. Just let your emotions flow through your songs, and they'll generally be better than the songs you're just trying to be creative without emotion.

Your Brother in Christ,
Ben Wyatt

[cobty]

hey thanks for the advice and all those tips ill keep at it and praying is definately a good idea! cya

[ZeroSynthetic]

As a song writer for my band, ZeroSynthetic, and lead singer...lyrics are a big part to me. My friend and I have co-wrote a couple of songs which made it easier. The best thing would to just write down ideas for future songs and whenever somthing comes to you...write it down even though it may not make much sense at first, it will come in play sometime down the road.