Help us create a better Songwriting Forum (formerly "Since I've...")

6strings21frets · 04-24-2009, 06:06 AM

I want to see if I can do anything to make this forum better.

However, I can only do that if you guys give me and Small some suggestions.

**SupaNova** · 04-24-2009, 11:43 AM

We had a song of the month contest going for a while, but that fizzled out over time. If there was enough interest, I would love to see something like that start up again.

RelientKrocks92 · 04-27-2009, 07:10 PM

I liked the monthly challenge or w/e where someone came up with a "prompt" sort of and everyone wrote a song about it and then everyone would vote on which one they liked best and the winner got to choose the next prompt
I never actually participated but I would have liked to

6strings21frets · 04-28-2009, 03:39 AM

Sounds like a good idea. Let's decide some rules and requirements.
I think each song should have some form of music (recording or chords), must be a certain length (e.g. 3 minutes), etc.

Any other stuff?

Small · 05-09-2009, 10:38 PM

I dislike that requirement, based mostly on the fact that while this is labelled a "songwriting" forum, we are almost entirely concerned with lyricism.

I'd vote that we make the contest monthly--not to be confused with Supa's idea, but simply because of how long it took for entries to come in, last time the contests were operational.
Here is the original discussion of the idea. Overall, I feel that the last incarnation of these contests was somewhat ideal, and we could simply follow the ideas laid out in the link with minor variations as they became appropriate.

Insofar as the Song of the Month contests, a lack of participation has led to their demise on more than one occasion.

Davomann · 05-16-2009, 10:16 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Small

I dislike that requirement, based mostly on the fact that while this is labelled a "songwriting" forum, we are almost entirely concerned with lyricism

I disagree.

"songwriting" in my understanding means "to write a song" and a song is only a song if it has both lyrics and music. If it was just lyrics, it would be a poem. So I think that songwriting is half about the lyrics and half about the music

In terms of the monthly contest, a recording of some kind would be a good idea, but many people dont have access to recording equipment, so it shouldn't be compulsory. If theres no recording, however, I think it would be a good idea to include some kind of indication as to how the song goes eg. chords, tab (in uploaded text file - not in your post), uploaded powertab etc.

Also, I dont like the idea of entries having to be a certain length. Songwriting is never as good when youre restricted to things like that. Freedom is good

6strings21frets · 05-17-2009, 06:04 AM

Power Tab may not work because, as many people don't have recording equipment as you say, many people probably don't have access to Power Tab or Guitar Pro.

Davomann · 05-20-2009, 01:50 AM

powertab is a free download and its only about 5MB
the actual tabs for use with the program are only about 30KB
easy to get and extremely useful

6strings21frets · 06-26-2009, 10:53 PM

I guess we could keep Power Tab as an optional form of song production.

**tenwatt** · 08-06-2009, 09:34 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Davomann

powertab is a free download and its only about 5MB
the actual tabs for use with the program are only about 30KB
easy to get and extremely useful

And is not compatible with a Mac.

**tmlfan123** · 08-06-2009, 09:46 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by guyskankrye

And is not compatible with a Mac.

But honestly - how many people in their right minds actually own Macs?

6strings21frets · 08-07-2009, 01:54 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by guyskankrye

And is not compatible with a Mac.

Here is a program similar to Guitar Pro and Power Tab and works on Mac so I've heard.

Quote:

Originally Posted by tmlfan123

But honestly - how many people in their right minds actually own Macs?

Some of the best musicians I've met own Macs.

**tenwatt** · 08-07-2009, 02:09 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by tmlfan123

But honestly - how many people in their right minds actually own Macs?

*raises hand slowly*

Fugli · 10-27-2009, 03:45 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by tmlfan123

But honestly - how many people in their right minds actually own Macs?

I use one too.

6strings21frets · 11-25-2009, 02:06 AM

I just thought of a new idea for the Songwriting forum - discussion threads.

My idea is that someone can start a topic on something relating to Songwriting (e.g. the Lyrics of Punk bands

), we talk about it for a week and maybe come to a conclusion on the matter.

Does this make sense and does anyone think it's a good idea?