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How Do You Write Songs?

by: Larry Ford

There was an interesting post today on a message board that I go to. It was about a guy that just started a new band and he wanted to know if anyone could give him some songwriting tips.

First off, there isn't a wrong way to write songs. But after you've done it for a while, you'll find out that some ways to go about it are easier than others.

This is how I do it.

1. Music and Melody Come First

I never fit a melody to pre-existing lyrics. It�s forced and it doesn�t sound good to me. When you write the words before the melody, you�re trying to force the melody to fit your lyrics. The result is it doesn�t sound natural.

A lot of songwriters start with an idea. It's just easier for me to know what angle I'm coming from. Usually how it happens with me is the music comes first and the melody comes right after that.

Why do I write the melody first before my lyrics?

If I don't know how many notes are in the melody, how do I know how many syllables need to be in my lines? I don�t.

If there�s 8 notes in the first part of the melody and 6 notes in the second part , you�ll have to have 8 syllables in the first line and 6 in the second.

Let�s say you want to put 4 lines in each of your verses, You�ll have 8 syllables in the first and third lines and six in the second and fourth.

Here�s an example:

In the song "I want you to want me" the lead singer for Cheap Trick wrote a four line melody that had six notes in the first three lines and seven in the last line. He knew that there had to be six syllables in the first three lines and seven syllables in the fourth.

I Want You To Want Me

I want you to want me =six syllables

I need you to need me =six syllables

I�d love you to love me =six syllables

I�m begging� you to beg me =seven syllables

2. Figure Out An Idea To Work From

Ideas are everywhere. You can write about what a friend of yours is going through. You can write about what you're going through.

I keep a journal just for this and make daily installments. I write down everything that I can think of that happened that day. And after a few months of that, I'll go through the journal harvest my ideas.

I treat my journal like the garden it is. Most every song I write comes directly from my journals.

3. Put the idea into one to two sentences

The best way to show you this is to give you an example. Keeping with "I Want You To Want Me", here�s the basic idea:

"I want you to want me as bad as I want you."

You only want one idea for each song. If you have any more, your song is going to last too long. And you're listeners won't be able to keep up.

Believe me, nobody but you will understand them. I know from very bad experience.

4. Write The Lyrics To Fit The Melody

Once you have the idea, you start to explain the idea in the verses with the number of syllables you have in the melody. The chorus is just the overall idea in a summed up fashion.

That�s how I write songs. Music and melody come first. The idea comes after that. Write the idea in a statement form. And then, write the lyrics to fit the melody.

About the author:
Larry Ford runs a weblog giving beginner guitarist's quick and easy tips to help them build their skills. His weblog can be found at

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A Huge Concern Over Web: Music Download
by: Plaily Muzic

Internet has come to change everything that once relations used to be lied on. Since Internet had invaded homes, the daily life has never been the same again. Internet changed the family�s habits, the culture and the way someone sees the world. Music is just a part of this change.

Regarding to music, this issue is even more complicated. People now can prepare their own CDs by downloading music from the Internet. And this has become another problematic thing that has contributed to increase the piracy.

The music download problem lies on two issues:

- If people can have access to the most varied types of music, they can have a better idea of a particular artist�s material, they can find out singers they had never heard of and get their CDs even this. These actions may be a little bit illegal and sometimes reduce the profits of the big music companies, but, however, it increases the range where a singer is known. When this happens, both singer and his/her music records win a special recognition, which may lead to the hire of them for shows and (guess what?) profits.

- But if it is true that music download can be beneficial for an artist, sometimes it can also be harmful, speaking about profits of course. And this loss of money in general happens to already famous artists. People download their songs from the Internet because they already know that singer and because they like him/her.

The big music industry complex has a tough battle to face. Profits or recognition!? Profits and recognition depends on each other: you only have profits when you achieve recognition, but your recognition can be measured by your profits. How to solve the problem?

Well, even if this matter seems to be far from a solution, some measures are being taken by the companies. Some laws have been created and other demands are being done. Even if it is hard to supervise all the websites on the Internet that offer music download, some people have been being charged of piracy and arrested.

Janis Ian on her article states that the music download increases the profit of the music industries, instead of what these industries allege. According to Janis, when people downloads a music form he Internet and get to know that song, they buy the CD because they already liked it and have no way to regret buying that CD. She also states that this happens because most of people cannot pay for a CD just to �give it a try�.

Music download is a reality � no matter what.

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