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STRATEGY FOR THE DAY: dance to any drummer you llike

Some good songwriting questions from my guestbook today:

Hi Robin. This site is really helpful. It has taught me many new things. But I have a question for you. Did you write ALL the lyrics for "California Girl" before you started writing the music? I play piano and know from experience that it is way harder to write the music first. (At least I think so) So I guess it would be best to just write the lyrics but leave space to edit them once you start writing the music?? Also, the biggest problem for me is to find a topic or concept to start out a song. I've already looked at all of your advice on your site and it has helped, but I still can not think of a concept worthy enough to be written about. Please answer me with some much needed advice. :) Thanks alot Robin. Your site rocks!!! - Michael

Hi Michael - Everybody approaches songwriting differently. I don't write all the lyrics first because I know they will change as the melody develops. AND I feel that lyrics should be written with a melody that way they are inseparable, right from the beginning the emotional elements of the melody are wedded to and drive the lyrics.

I usually have only a rough idea of the lyrics when I start. I almost always have a title because that's going to be the heart and soul of the song, the beacon that leads the way. Just as all roads led to Rome, all lyrics lead to and support the central idea of the song in some way. Once I have the central phase or image of the song, I look for related phrases, images and ideas. What does the title suggest to you? What images do you associate with the words in the title? What does it look like, what actions happen around it, what details, specific details, moments, sense images does the phrase evoke? I write these out and put the page where I can easily glance at it.

Then I find a drum loop or groove I think feels right for the idea. You can find interesting grooves and loops in software programs like Garage Band (MAC) or Acid or Fruityloops (Windows). These work loops work well for urban, contemporary pop, and dance genre songs. If you are interested in writing country or traditional pop or R&B, Band In A Box has some good drum and bass styles, although you have to do a bit of searching for them. (Check the Songwriter Resources page on my web site for links to these programs. There are low cost versions and free demos for all three.)

While the groove is playing, I begin vocally improvising a melody using the title and lyric phrases I wrote out. I feel free to change anything or sing something new - whatever comes to mind. I record this while I'm working on it, either into a small cassette player or right into my computer. An inspired moment is NOT easy to recall - so always record what you are doing. If you don't come up with anything, try again later. I can usually get something started this way. After that, I'll begin adding chords, then more lyrics and melody in the same way. Think about this as a work-in-progress and don't judge yourself too harshly. This is the raw material, the clay you are shaping.

Over the years, I've developed this way of working because it allows for the most flexibility and freedom. I don't want to get tied into a chord progression or a lyric or melody line too early. But this is just one way of working. If you want to write lyrics first (or you are a lyricist only), you can try writing lyrics to a ghost song melody as I describe in Notes On Songwriting. I always recommend using a melody when writing lyrics, either an original one you develop with the lyrics or an existing one you can drop out later and replace with one of your own. When writing a lyric 'on the page', it tends to become too literary, too 'heady'. You want your lyrics to flow, to 'sing', to evoke a melody and emotion.

I have had students who prefer to write melody first. They hear melodies more easily than lyrics but that's not something that comes easily to me. Experiment with different way of writing. Try the way I just described. Try writing to a ghost song or to an existing chord progression. Experiment, play around, find tools like the software programs I mentioned above and see what they can do for you.

Themes (topic or concept): You can write a song about anything that reverberates emotionally for you. Obviously, we write about relationships of all kinds - the beginning, middle or end of a relationship - but you can write about any idea or phrase that draws your heart. Sometimes you won't know what you will write - you just know there is something there that is asking for emotional attention. With "California Girl," I kept trying to write a Beach Boys-style song about a carefree summer but it kept not working! As I struggled with it, I began to get the image of the girl standing on the beach remembering back to a long ago summer. I immediately felt an emotional pull toward that image. A doorway opened into the song and I went through it. Sometimes finding the conceptual doorway into the song can take hours, sometimes it happens quickly. I often do this away from the keyboard. Take a walk and let yourself just imagine and feel. Let the title roll around in your head and heart. Look at it from different angles until something gives you a shiver. If you have an idea for a song but no title try writing stream-of-consciouness. Write whatever the idea suggests to you, don't judge, don't try to write whole sentences. Let images and thoughts flow freely. Then look through what you have written for short phrases that sum up the heart and soul of you idea; build your chorus around that phrase.

Any concept is worthy of being written about. It is the songwriter who finds the depth and worthiness in the idea and shows it to the rest of us.

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Read A Brief History Of Love Songs by Robin Frederick at the Sound Experience Music web site.

Copyright 2005 Robin Frederick. All rights reserved.