Things You Can't Teach
Jan. 5th, 2011 07:49 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
rinueSince I've been going through one of my I-want-a-band cycles, I am in the mood to write some new songs, but it's been like banging my head against a wall. There is no other area of my life where I get writer's block: songwriting is it. I'm coming up with all kinds of fun chord progessions and lyrical concepts, but no melodies to join them together. It's aggravating.
"How do you write a song" is a silly question, because the answer is that you sit down and write a song. It's like "how do you write a story." I sit down with a pen or a computer. I can tell you how to write a better story, but not how to write a story in the first place. So it is with songwriting.
Despite this, I have been asking exactly that on Google, in the hopes of finding anecdotes of how specific people wrote specific songs in case I find something that pushes my brain engine back into working. And predictably, I found what one would expect: "Well, maybe I start with a lyric or a melody or some chords."
However, the number one Google hit is probably the most inane thing I've ever read. I hesitate to link to it, because I'm not really happy with how high it is in the rankings. It maintains, staunchly, that a song starts with the title. I don't know any songwriter that starts with a title. It is usually pulling teeth to get someone to settle on a title.
The article is also very chirpy. And mostly seems to suggest that you find someone else to write your song for you.
Maybe I will write a song titled "never start with a title."
"How do you write a song" is a silly question, because the answer is that you sit down and write a song. It's like "how do you write a story." I sit down with a pen or a computer. I can tell you how to write a better story, but not how to write a story in the first place. So it is with songwriting.
Despite this, I have been asking exactly that on Google, in the hopes of finding anecdotes of how specific people wrote specific songs in case I find something that pushes my brain engine back into working. And predictably, I found what one would expect: "Well, maybe I start with a lyric or a melody or some chords."
However, the number one Google hit is probably the most inane thing I've ever read. I hesitate to link to it, because I'm not really happy with how high it is in the rankings. It maintains, staunchly, that a song starts with the title. I don't know any songwriter that starts with a title. It is usually pulling teeth to get someone to settle on a title.
The article is also very chirpy. And mostly seems to suggest that you find someone else to write your song for you.
Maybe I will write a song titled "never start with a title."
