the songwriting process , what are your thoughts about it ? what is art?

[Flower Hands]

how do the top artists go about creating music?

I was thinking last night, you know, how I'm not an artist but I still created this idealism about the process...
it feels VERY dirty to try to brute force and create 5 songs a day.
I think maybe thats how it should be, record 10 songs a day to get chops and in the gaps, Art may come up

watcha think
whats your process? do you get a drum beat and try out 10 different things in 10 different styles in an day?
quantity? quality? do what you like?
do you try to get only 1 or 2 cool guitar parts a week that you try to develop?
how to go from being a guitar person to being an artist?
what is art? is art in the songwriting? is art in the performance? what is love?

 

[Dominik Gräber]

Baby don't hurt me....

Tell you what, you don't have to be successfull or write 5 Songs a day or being acknowledged for what you do to be an Artist. Write what inspires you and Put your Soul in it, that's all it takes.
I wrote two songs that probably less than 50 people know but you know what? I sure am an Artist.

Now how to best write music is Up to you as well, there is no perfect way. But I can tell you this much, none of the top Bands write 5 Songs a day. Hell I don't think they usually write that many in a month or two. It is however good practice to get as many ideas out as possible. Keep the good ones and I am sure you'll end up with the ingredients for great Songs.

I'm not gonna try and tell you what a good writing process may look like cause I am still pretty inexperienced as well. But I'm sure we have Tons of students with good Input on that :syngates:

 

[William B.]

I'm going to try it, been busy trying to keep this life routine I got going and trying to build on it. Super tiring but it's starting to ease up some

 

[Chris Johnston]

As a main Songwriter for my band, here's my two cents

Songwriting is a skill, just like Guitar playing, so in order to improve at that skill, it helps to do it a lot! The more you put yourself in the position to write, the better you'll get.

I've personally never sat and tried to brute force wrote a certain ammount of songs a day, although it would be a fun challenge to try and it would really work your songwriting chops in a great way!

My songwriting process weirdly usually happens without the instrument at first. Usually I get a melody or hook pop into my head while I'm out walking my dogs or on the bus to work - There's something about forward motion that gives me ideas Any hooks or random ideas I have get immediately hummed or sung into my voice recorder on my phone & named.

I try my best to get to the point where I can hear the song in my head as if it were fully recorded & start to pick it apart for Guitar parts, bass parts, drum.grooves etc. I need to be really really excited about it to the point where I can imagine it absolutely killing live

The final process is making a demo as close as I can hear in my head & sending it to the band nervously for approval Usually extra things take form in the demo too

The best advice I can give is to write as much as possible & try and put yourself in the shoes of the listener you're writing for. That's going to be your biggest quality control tool. For example, if you have this melody that gives you goosebumps when you play it, chances are it's a great melody If you're writing a tearjerker love song - you're going to want to really get yourself to the point where what you're playing takes you to that place emotionally. That way you'll write the most honest ideas.

One trap a lot of people fall into is analysis paralysis when writing - they'll think too much into something and judge it straight away, which ends up with ideas being squandered before they have a chance to form. My advice here would be to let every idea flow out before you start to analyse and judge. Ed Sheeran has a great analogy - when you write you turn on a tap/fosset, which is running with shitty water (weak ideas) and every now and then you get some clear water come through (strong ideas) - so basically, let your creative Tap/fosset run and see what comes out

Another technique is to listen to tunes that really blow you away and figure out why they have that effect on you - then reverse engineer that feeling in your own songs

When you really boil it down There are so many different ways to write a tune, it's really about figuring out what works for you

Hope this helps!

 

[Calvin Phillips]

When I was in high school i bought song writing books and I read them. Taught me the structure side of writing. Taught me things I didnt learn in English about writing. I feel as a whole writing got easier after I wrote music.

Most songs these days progress from something simple so it's really a matter.of creating a riff or sound that continues through the song but is heard in different ways. Most of the time the moment that sound or riff is made for.me the rest of the song comes together in a couple jams.

I used to map out my ideas on paper before playing but now i find I'm making more up on the spot. If i think it sucks it's another attempt. Sometimes the first take is the one. Other times it's the 48483th time.

 

[William B.]

I started a riff, only 8 bars, I got lost jam soloing over it. Ended up not getting anything done.
My next attempt I'm going to structure it more first then jam (solo) over it.
Had nice sounds cause the speaker ( I believe )

 

[Ed Seith]

I started a riff, only 8 bars, I got lost jam soloing over it. Ended up not getting anything done.
My next attempt I'm going to structure it more first then jam (solo) over it.
Had nice sounds cause the speaker ( I believe )

But you DID get something done! You wrote an 8-bar riff that you enjoyed so much, you jammed over it. That's the first step!

 

[Chris Johnston]

But you DID get something done! You wrote an 8-bar riff that you enjoyed so much, you jammed over it. That's the first step!

100% seconding @Ed Seith here. Great work! The Sweet Child of mine riff is also only 8 bars and that's one of the most iconic riffs of all time. Keep chipping away at what you've got