It is amazing to me how some musicians write songs. I look at musicians in facebook on how they write original songs and other musician forums — I notice a lot of them have different processes of songwriting. Some musicians will play their instrument and will keep playing stuff until they find stuff that are good. Some will even go as far as writing stuff down on paper like chords and tab to write songs. Some will even write little by little and later put all the pieces together to make it a full song. People have different ways of songwriting.
If you write songs the same way described in the above paragraph then I believe you are doing it wrong.
The real and true way of songwriting… is writing from the heart. If you hear a song in your head that’s when you need to get it out of you and get it on recording right away. People mistakenly believe that you should start writing songs… people miss hearing songs from you or people will start giving you musical ideas. In my opinion, songwriting doesn’t work that way.
You see. Your mind is like an FM radio. You know how when you listen to an FM radio in your car and a song plays one after another? Well your mind is pretty much the same thing. You’re always hearing original music in your head, all the time. That’s why you see musicians with mini-recorders or if you would hear them humming an unknown song so they won’t forget it when they are not at home. It’s their way of not forgetting the song when they get back home to record it.
That’s how songwriting is done. Playing whatever comes to your mind. If you’re the type of songwriter that say things like, “I think I’m gonna record some music”… then you’re not a real musician. You record right away when you get a song that comes to your head. You hear an original song in your head and it will never leave you — you can forget it easily if you don’t record it at all. You start writing songs when you’re absolutely ready to write. To be able to play songs of what you hear in your head: it requires a good ear, music theory and improvisation skills.
You don’t take your time with the song and write it little by little. You record the whole song from start to finish. If you can do all that, you’re an actual musician, and know exactly what you’re doing.
That’s how I always recorded music. When I hit that record button, I don’t plan ahead. I don’t go, “Oh, I have a pretty good idea already” and got a few good riff ideas — I don’t do that. When you record, you never know what you’re going to come up with. You let your fingers and your mind do the talking. As soon as you hit that record button — away you go. Your mind is pretty unpredictable.
People want me to write new songs. While it’s flattering, I can’t just pick up the guitar and write random stuff ’cause people want me to. You write when the inspiration hits ya. When you hear new songs playing in your head, that’s when you want to write. I hope I made myself clear pretty good. I try to write new songs but inspiration hasn’t hit me yet. I wouldn’t exactly call it a writers block, however. It’s just that you’re not ready to go.
That’s why so many musicians and singer/songwriters out there are great songwriters ’cause most of their songs come from their minds. If you don’t write like that, chances are, your songs are not gonna be great.
When inspiration hits me, that’s when I’ll start writing like crazy again. For right now, I just don’t have the inspiration for it yet but give it time, it’ll come to me before you know it.
Kev
K'Brocking 
Some musicians will play their instrument and will keep playing stuff until they find stuff that are good. Some will even go as far as writing stuff down on paper like chords and tab to write songs. Some will even write little by little and later put all the pieces together to make it a full song. People have different ways of songwriting.
If you write songs the same way described in the above paragraph then I believe you are doing it wrong.
And how do you know your favorite bands haven’t written this way Kev ?
I’m 100% positive none of them wrote that way. Led Zeppelin played from the heart, the same with Neil Young, and Bowie. The professionals never wrote that way.
Kev
Bowie did a bunch of different ways of writing a song, including the “cut up” technique:
“This technique is also said to have influenced Kurt Cobain’s songwriting. And Thom Yorke applied a similar method on Radiohead’s 2000 album Kid A. Yorke reportedly wrote single lines, put them into a hat, and drew them out at random while the band rehearsed the songs.”
Definitely not the process you’re describing.
I’m talking about writing the music. Not writing lyrics. I do the same thing with my lyric writing. Write a little bit of it and finish it later. That’s David’s way of writing lyrics, not the music part.
Kev
Well, okay, then Led Zeppelin’s example shows the opposite. Plant had the lyrics in minutes, but Page took weeks to work out the music.
http://www.brianhartzog.com/beatles/beatles-songwriting.htm
“To understand the Beatles songwriting, you must first understand how songs are written. Many people think songs just “happen”…that people with the musical gift regularly wake up with full-formed songs in their heads…that it takes only about 15 minutes to write a song. The truth is, songwriting is about 15% inspiration and 85% craft. Sure, you can wake up with song ideas in your head…we’ve heard lots of stories of these song “gifts”: Robert Plant wrote “Stairway to Heaven” in 15 minutes; Paul McCartney woke up with “Yesterday” in his head. However, in every case that I know about, these “gifts” ALWAYS involve lots of craft to become the finished songs we know. Sure, Robert Plant could’ve written the lyrics to “Stairway” in 15 minutes…but did you know that Jimmy Page spent the 2 weeks before that working out the elaborate guitar parts? And, yes Paul McCartney woke up with “Yesterday” in his head…and hammered out the rest of it on the piano very quickly…but for several weeks after that, Paul was still working on the lyrics. The whole time he was calling it “Ham and Eggs”!”
straight from an interview with Jimmy Page on “Stairway” in 1977: “I do have the original tape that was running at the time we ran down “Stairway To Heaven” completely with the band. I’d worked it all out already the night before with John Paul Jones, written down the changes and things. All this time we were all living in a house and keeping pretty regular hours together, so the next day we started running it down. There was only one place where there was a slight rerun. For some unknown reason Bonzo couldn’t get the timing right on the twelve-string part before the solo. Other than that it flowed very quickly”
Sure, Page already had little guitar parts here and there for the song but the rest of the band wrote the song together pretty quick.
As for Sir Paul’s “Yesterday” like they said, he wrote the song as soon as he heard it in his mind, once again the lyrics took him awhile.
If you would ask professional musicians in the industry how they would write songs… they wouldn’t really know. They just play whatever they come up with, and that’s the end of it. A lot of famous bands start off writing songs just out of jamming especially bands like the Chilli Peppers, Led Zep, the Doors, the Who, Phish, the Grateful Dead, etc.
In order to be that kind of songwriter where you can write a song as soon as you heard it in your head, it takes years and practice. I’m not saying that I’m virtuoso and technical but that’s how a lot of those guys write the songs. Some bands and musicians do write songs differently but MOST write when they think of them at the top of their head.
Kev
That’s how I came up with most of my own originals. Thought of ’em at the top of my head, most of them. I just hum the melody and try to figure out the guitar parts that’ll work good with it. The minute I hit “record”, I’ll just start playing. I never record riff ideas or separate rhythm parts and just try to pick out the best ones. I’ve never been that type of songwriter. Just play from your heart and your mind. That’s how songwriting should be done and people will respect you for it.
Kev
You know what. A lot of times I feel that you readers are so ridiculous. I view my honest thoughts and opinions on my things, and that’s all they are — sure enough, there’s going to be a few jackasses who will disagree with me every time posting ridiculous links like if they have something to prove.
You can write songs however you please but the whole point I’m trying to make in this topic if you want to be looked at as a real musician this is the way to write songs. That’s how most professionals in the industry wrote ’em. At least, that’s the way it used to be in the earlier days of rock n’ roll music. These days we’re getting producers and other people writing the songs for artists.
Kev
How was what I posted ridiculous? I asked why it would matter whether a song took 10 minutes or 10 months, or how it would matter if you did the music in 10 minutes if it took two months to write the lyrics and finish the song. I fail to see how those aren’t legit questions.
And BTW, other people writing songs for artists is nothing new. Elvis didn’t write very many songs. Most of Sinatra’s stuff was written by others. Aretha Franklin, too. People still respected them.
How was what I posted ridiculous? I asked why it would matter whether a song took 10 minutes or 10 months, or how it would matter if you did the music in 10 minutes if it took two months to write the lyrics and finish the song. I fail to see how those aren’t legit questions.
Only amateurs would spend months and months trying to finish the same song. You don’t take that long to write a good tune. It don’t make a song great when you take your time with it. Most music comes from the mind, doesn’t matter the genre. Do you honestly believe jazz musicians would write down stuff ahead of time? No. All jazz is it’s just jamming and improv. Most blues music is improvised too.
And BTW, other people writing songs for artists is nothing new. Elvis didn’t write very many songs. Most of Sinatra’s stuff was written by others. Aretha Franklin, too. People still respected them.
I’m talking about rock n’ roll bands, mate. I’m referring to guitar players who write their own music. A lot of them just bang out chords and just play random stuff. Just play until something sounds good. An experienced musician with years of playing and a good ear won’t write songs like that.
If you asked Tony Iommi on how he writes all the Sabbath songs, he would laugh at you and say he wouldn’t know. Most of the Sabbath songs came out of improvisation, the same goes for all the guitar solos. Iommi never wrote the guitar solos, they were improvised. Tony described the songwriting process for the new Sabbath album, “13”, and he just explained that all it was just him and Geezer jamming. When they went into the studio, they never had songs at all. They just wrote whatever came out of their minds. Wrote from the heart.
And guess what? Their new album “13” is a no. 1 record. Not only in America but no. 1 in the charts around the world.
Bands like Iron Maiden, Slayer, and Megadeth wrote songs out of improv too.
Kev
Another good example is that Neil Young’s latest album, “Psychedelic Pill” with Crazy Horse… most of the songwriting was out of jamming. That album first opens with a 30 minute long track. Neil never planned that song before he went into the studio. He said that entire song was just out of improvisation. It was all done in one take and recorded live.
When I get a band, that’s exactly how I will write songs with them. Just jam out and see what you come up with.
Kev
People all haven’t different methods, but for you to call put people who don’t write the same way you do and say they aren’t “actual musicians” is absolutely ridiculous.
Well, it’s true if you think about it. There are too many young kids getting together in bands these days and they don’t really have too much experience in playing guitar or whatever instrument. If they’re serious in getting into a band and wanna be good… they shouldn’t get too ahead of themselves and take their slow time. I’m not saying I’m better than others but if some of these young musicians want to make the industry they need to be good musicians. They’re probably alright, but being good meaning at the professional level of musicianship. When I get a band those are the kind of musicians I’m gonna be looking for… talent.
Write songs how you want to but I tell ya right now… you may be an alright songwriter planning things ahead and writing things down beforehand but other professionals are not gonna take your music seriously if they find that if you don’t know what key the song is in or if they see that you’re struggling and don’t know what you’re doing.
That’s why you gotta know your shit and have a good ear if you want to be taken seriously.
I know ’cause I get slammed for my talent all the time and the critics just push me to get better musically.
Kev
Oh, and all jazz is most definitely NOT improvisational.
Sting has said it takes months or even years to write songs. He’s about as respected as they come:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/music/musicblog/2011/jul/14/how-to-write-a-hit-song
“It can also be detrimental to throw away the seed of a song too early. “As you get older, your filters are much more refined,” Sting has said. “The critical mind takes over from the creative mind, and I think they are opposed.” [b]He admits that, nowadays, it can take him months – even years – to write one song, [/b]as he feels every idea he has is too much like something else he or somebody else has written.”
What ever. You guys miss my point like usual and then act like douchebags about it. People have different ways of writing songs, I made that clear in my original posting but all I’m saying that the best way to write them is to write them as soon as you hear them in your head. A lot of musicians don’t write like that ’cause they’re not experience players and not good with improv. There are too many bands around here who pretend to act like pros when in reality a lot of them don’t even know what they’re doing. It’s not about writing hit songs either. Just whatever comes out. It’s just my opinion that’s the way music should be written and I respect bands who write like that. That’s why musicians like Led Zeppelin, Jimi Hendrix, Neil Young, and others are my heroes.
Kev
Closing the comments in this one blog post.
You guys are totally misinterpreting of what I’m trying to say in this post.
What I’m saying to make it more clear that musicians would just play random stuff. Play stuff until it sounds cool, and I’m willing to bet it wasn’t improvised — also, never thought of this riff in their head. They just play random notes from scales and stuff, just bang out a bunch of chords that doesn’t make any sense.
I just think music is better when music is improvised and if you can’t play music like that, then you’re not a good musician that you say you are. Other experienced musicians would agree with me too!
Kev