One time my cat was eating from his food bowl in the dark and a melody popped in my head with the words 'eating in the dark'. I ended up using that to write chord progressions and later changed the words to 'even in the dark'. lol
I've been doing all this for more than a decade without even put a thought about the process. It all just came naturally to me. It helps if everytime you play the new song, you record your gibberish vocals, and every time something different will come up in your mind, so the melody almost writes itself.
Hey man, I'm able to make a melody with my guitar , however I can't seem to fit lyrics into the molody without it sounding so cheesy or amateur, any tips would be highly appreciated !! Thanx
I’ve always done this naturally too…melodies come to me and I just kinda feel out what they want me to say. But then I get stuck feeling like I want my lyrics to be deeper, more impactful. So this vid was still super helpful
Nice work ! Yeah,long before indian music producers used to write melody and compose song for the lyrics given by songwriter....but at present, game has changed producers used to provide a melody restricting a lyric writer to write lyrics for that particular melody and cutting down the increased competetion for lyric writing!
cheers jagadesh, glad you enjoyed it. Good point. being able to shape lyrics for a melody is an important skill to have in today's music scene considering how many artists and producers make the track first.
It’s really encouraging to learn that I’m not a weirdo for improvisating and writing melody and speaking in tongues with syllables etc then I add the lyrics last , all my demos and stuff are just gibberish and I’ve never known that this process is a normal , you got no idea how much this just effected me I don’t even know what to say now except Thankyou so much I swear the universe lined this up for me today of all days , I’ve been a music artists since before I could even walk , a channeling gifted , fully self taught multi instrumentalist that’s had to struggle and sacrifice almost everything just to get my hands on a guitar or get studio time or anything music and I’ve always just gone with whatever makes sense and now after 20 years I’m just learning that I’ve been on the money for the first time . Stoked 👌 mark my words I’m gonna shine when it’s time and just know I love all of you before I even got there xx
A lot of people write songs like that. I keep singing gibberish until I come up with a cool phrase or rhyme and start to build from there. Most of my songs are like that, no lyrics, just random words that I find better to remember the melody rather than singing la la las or na na nas.
This is exactly what I think many of have had that burning question on how to write a song , this is what I needed to know , and to hear it from really great singers and writers of their own songs is just amazing , thank you everyone who shared their information to help people who struggle with the concept of writing songs and music . 🙏
I wish George Harrison talked more about his writing process, I’ve heard Paul so many times now it’s feeling like I can’t glean anymore from him in a way (which isn’t to say “stop putting in clips of Paul”)
George's first few songs were'nt very good at all, but he really matured and grew into an all time great. Just shows you that even the greats have to mature into it, its not all natural talent. George Martin commented on this.
Everyone has their own way.. very interesting to see how different artists write. I never write the music first. The melodies come to me and then I put music on top. I know a few top artists that do it that way also. Works for me anyway. Also the words aren't crushed into the song. Great video's man. 👍
I can relate. I've been saving my poems, and actively writing them when inspiration strikes for coming up on nine years. Then there are the chords ... and how to connect everything. I don't hear things in full in my head like some people. I get stuck on detail :(
You need the melody first I don’t know how many lyrics I’ve read where they look great on paper yet a total nightmare to sing. Words them selves have a shape
John Legend just wrote a song on stage in Simlish. He doesn't need that pesky English language lol But seriously though, not trying to sound arrogant or anything, but I thought I was the only one who did that and always felt stupid doing it when sitting at a DAW trying to come up with melodic but somewhat legible ideas for vocals. Now I'm going to feel a lot less dumb knowing the greatest artists do it. There's another method I use which always involves lyrics first and then try to make it work with the melody by cutting and replacing words, because I find that when I do gibberish melody writing, the same words and motifs keep 'appearing' and lyrically would get repetitive unless I use a thesaurus lol
Cheers Kaka. I'll be doing a full video on getting a melody for your lyrics soon. The best place to start is to use the rhythm of the words. speak them out loud to hear their natural rhythm. After you've done that a couple of times, start exaggerating the emotion in your voice until you are singing. That's a very basic exercise you can try to start with. Here are some short videos that cover the topic ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-8rgPMwPyhI4.html ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-nzd7BSnRnpc.html ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-gffsekOTWW4.html Let me know if you have any other questions about getting a melody for lyrics and I'll include it in the upcoming video (when I make it) Thanks Kaka.
A lot of this video seems like something I'd maybe show either a complete beginner, or someone with no interest in being a songwriter but are just curious what musicians go through in the process. One tip I can add here, is I'm amazed at how (when looking for how to sing notationally to an existing melody, long before you know what the lyrics will be) so many ideas come from simply reading (singing) a random short sentence and trying to make it fit to the melody. The syllables, along with the words themselves, will force you to present them in a certain way, to make them fit in a way they sound good. Try it. Pick any sentence whether it's off a jar of peanut butter or in a book. You will find brilliant notes to use as placeholders for your future lyrics. Syllables will force you to hold some notes longer, or shorter (half note, whole note, eight notes, etc). I'm a bit perplexed as to why I've never heard this tip before anywhere, but it's really helped me come up with some unique vocal notes/styles I wouldn't have otherwise thought of. Example off the top of my head using a song everyone knows: Think of the beginning of Eleanor Rigby, since Paul talked about it here. Instead of singing: "I look at all the lonely people" Pretend you have to fit "Who is at the door my friend" into that space. This happens to be changing the syllables from 9 to 7. Notice how you have to do it to make it not just fit, but sound good, in that measure. It changes completely the feel of that part of the song. If you can't get it to sound good then this exercise is probably not a good one for you. But it's saved my ass many times from writer's block
This is exactly right!!! This is the first time I've heard somebody accurately explain the actual process of writing a song in a way that's true to life!! Thank you Mr Chop Shop!!
This is full of good ideas. Love the Sia clip. I just feel compelled to say that writing words first is just a choice. Some people are more facile with music so they start there. But if you are as fluent with language, or more, it’s going to be the spark for a song as often as melody. And in some genres, like folk, or the musical (where pop hits can certainly originate) , inseparable from it.
@@PSTroise Absolutely. all lyricists should study rap and poetry. The rhythm and internal sound (vowels and consonants) of words play a huge part in creating a unique lyric.
Dude...Great video, super well put together. I appreciate the effort. This is like validating?watching my own process as if I was floating from above looking down on myself. Stellar on you. Thank you
I just wrote lyrics for two melodies in this manner. It really works. I was doing this before I saw this video. But it works for sure. I let the melody tell me what to write.
This is the only way I can write lyrics. It's better if I start writing them as soon as I finish the melody, while is still fresh in my head. But sometimes can take weeks to finish the lyrics of a song that took 20 minutes to come up with the melody and chords.
Really interesting as always. I have awful trouble starting lyrics but no trouble at all letting the music tell me where it wants to go. All I have to do is transfer the skill of allowing myself to be led to my lyric writing and who knows what I’ll achieve. I Might wait for the wife and kids to go out before I start singing gibberish at the top of my voice though. 😉 Thanks. 👍🙏
If it would interest you, I'd love to see some videos analysing different artists to explain what makes *their* sound. For e.g. I'd love to write music that has a retro 60s or 70s feel, but I don't have enough music knowledge to understand what's going on! There's people on YT (like Good Future) and TikTok who make videos like "Hotline Bling but it's Talking Heads" and they're so GOOD, they've clearly got such a great understanding of how to re-create that artist's sound with any song. Videos analysing what motifs make a quintessential Beatles or Bowie sound, something like that, would be really interesting to me. I feel like Arctic Monkeys are really good at re-capturing a by-gone era of music but completely making it their own, Tranquility Base Hotel and Casino being a perfect example, IMO.
0:24 So tough, coach... I've been sitting on a particular vocal melody for 2 YEARS and dedicated cumulatively months to it (Unbelievable, right?). I have tried it all. I am going cuckoo, brother.
Wow. This was really good. I can come up with chords easily enough, but putting lyrics to them is what I struggle with most. I write poetry, then wonder which of the chord progressions I'm working on fits the poem, if any... I'm scared to jump off and do this thing. But there's a thrill, an excitement... Thank you.
oh my gosh wow that's exactly it I am fluent in "gibberish". This is what I am stuck on, Its so hard to pair lyrics with the melodies. I have 3,416 recordings of melodies, over 2 days worth of ideas but Its so difficult to add words....
It's magic, but not always the way artists think. People who don't believe in the muse (or think they are the muse) will probably never achieve greatness. Some artists cheat and open the muse with coke or something else. But a genius doesn't require any drug to tap into that muse. I get songs in dreams, or I can listen to someone else's comp and hear something that's not even in the composition. Writing music is a spiritual process, and because of that, I never burn out or make a song that sounds even remotely the same as another and I can do so in nearly every genre.
Great technique for two people: One sings gibberish - while the other writes down what they think they hear. (I’ve found it a very productive way to collaborate )
@@SongWritersChopShop It made me chuckle, but also listen more carefully, because maybe they're all onto a good, valid point here! My fiance was singing jibber earlier, and then came up with random words just like that. It was awesome.
my problem is I make a rhythm and write the lyrics but i always tell myself i can write better so i’m never finished and unsatisfied. the problems you have when writing alone all the time 😭😅
Sir I Have friend who know to play guitar can I tell him to play chords. And I make Tune for my lyrics. Is it possible to hear Beat and make Tune for Song
Absolutely! :) You can do that. Just have your friend play the guitar, and you hum or sing a tune, or melody. Whatever comes to you. Sometimes it changes.
Great video! I've seen lots and lots of videos about writing lyrics and melodies. I thought that this would be just another one of all those I've already heard, but it was actually really nicely made and awesome advices! Thank you for posting this!
Mayer's claim that music is easy to come up with is probably the reason I find his music so insipid. Thinking GOOD music is easy to write is a great way to write mediocre music.
The John Legend thing is so good! That's exactly how I come up with vocal melodies... It just came naturally to me a long time ago, I suppose because I'm a singer. One day I heard Devin Townsend use the term "nonsense words" in an interview, and it surprised me to learn it's actually a pretty common practice! I think my melody game is really, really good... But even though I'm a pretty damn good writer, my brain is so locked into "prose mode" after years and years of perfecting the craft without writing a single line of poetry, much less lyrics. I have been trying for two years to write just one song I am happy with, and at this point I have about 40 fully fleshed-out songs and ONE has lyrics that I can tolerate. One. Something's gotta give. How can I get out of my own way? That's pretty much a rhetorical question since no one here knows me, but maybe someone else has been in my shoes when it comes to writing and can knock me loose a bit. Maybe?
some call it "singing gibberish". I'm right there either, and it doesn't help I tend to don't care too much about lyrics in other people's songs, and focus more on the melody and arrangements. Another barrier is that I don't write on my native language, and I'm a little bit of a perfectionist myself. A thing can sound good today, then next day I think it's rubbish. I keep singing the melody with nonsense/gibberish phrases until I come up with something that matches the melody good enough as a start point. It's a slow process though.
