Need Help Writing Songs

TaGuelle

Hey, This is my first post here, so congrats to myself.

I was wondering if there were any song writers amongst the bunch. I'm a decent musician and can write a decent song musically. But words can't describe the ammount of suck I am at writting lyrics/a melody for said lyrics. Any tips or suggestions on how to improve? What are some of the ways you have found to help you write them if you get blocked or frustrated?

LaOs

I know that, myself as lyrical writer without the skills or drive to create the actual music, I would benefit from a loop tape of the song that I am to create lyrics for...

I know that I would like to be able to listen to the song, on loop, to no end until I could come up with bits that can be molded to fit what it is the song is... I can write to the music, but I need a loop of it to get my within it.

Would that helpÉ It also might be a big deal to get a lyricist... if you are a musician with no lyrical ability, well... and you know it, you may as well bite the bullet and see what talent you can pull.

Filler Inc.

It would help if we know what you play.

I play the guitar, and generally have no trouble writing songs for it, but how I write songs for the guitar may be no help to you if you play the piano.

romanqwerty

I find it impossible to write songs for a given melody and they allways turn out crap.
Hence i allways write the lyrics first and then design out a fitting melody/music.
With lyrics i find it helps to have a purpose or topic for the song as a starting point.

Hamju

You could steal other people's lyrics (like old poems) and write to that. I can't write lyrics, but I can write music and I enjoy writing for SATB, so I try to use poems (like Tennyson or whoever).

DeathPrawn

There is no one "correct" way to write a song, so I would mess around until you find what works best for you. Personally, each song I write has a very different creative process.

If you want to try writing lyrics first, I find it helps to completely distance yourself from your music. Go off somewhere else and write a poem. Once you have it written, come back and try to come up with a melody/accompaniment that works well with the poem (both in terms of thematic content and such and mechanically: does the music jive with the natural flow of the words?). If your frustration comes from not knowing what to write about (it wasn't clear from the OP), well, there's no real way to force inspiration to come. I've found that if I try to make myself come up with something, it's not good. Every so often, when I'm not expecting it, I'll just have an idea for a song pop into my head. I'll jot down a few ideas, and then later on when I feel like working on something I pull my notes out and try to shape them into something good.

Or, as others have said, you can set a previously existing work to music. Make sure that it's something that (a) you have a real connection with and (b) can easily fit into a musical structure.

If you want to work on the music first, I am a fan of the aesthetic of noodling around until something sticks. Since you mentioned that you can compose music fine, but have trouble with a melody, I would start with that. Come up with a hook or a chord progression or something. This creates a sort of world that your melody can inhabit. Keep playing it over and over again (I don't know what instrument you play, so I can't give specifics, but a tape recorder may be helpful) while you try to improvise melodies over it. When something works, build off it. Once again, a tape recorder might be really useful to help you keep track of your ideas.