{ Lick That Riff! }

Songs have been around since the dawn of man, with old folk songs in many ancient civilizations. With a song comes a songwriter and with this comes the art and skill of songwriting. It is always hard to find a definition of songwriting with many varied opinions as to what it is. I would say that songwriting is the ability to construct lyrics that go together with music to construct a song. While a few other people believe that a songwriter can be someone who just writes lyrics, or someone who just composes music, I believe this is a wrong definition for a songwriter. Someone who writes just the lyrics is a lyricist and someone who writes music is just a composer. A songwriter is someone who can bring the two art forms together. And let me tell you, it is a hard artform.

Performing is the easiest part of what I do, and songwriting is the hardest – Neil Diamond

There are many things to think about when constructing a song from choruses and verses to middle eights and riffs. As guitarists our own self indulgence can also creep in and we can write songs based too much around our own guitar parts. I know from writing a few songs myself that I have done this in the past where I have felt the need to try a big F**k-off solo in the middle of a song just because I can. But when we do actually get into a habit of songwriting, how do we go about it?

I’ spent five hours that morning trying to write a song… and I finally gave up and lay down. Then, ‘Nowhere Man’ came, words and music, the whole damn thing – John Lennon

Lennon’s above statement is one that songwriters everywhere just wish would happen. That song that just came to you all in one fell swoop. The one where your fingers danced across the fretboard and your lips just uttered elegant poetry. Where every piece of the puzzle just fit nicely together. Unfortunately for most of us out there, this would rarely happen, and if it did, it wouldn’t be a ‘Nowhere Man’ but more like a Twinkle Twinkle Little Star. I know that not all of the best songs that are written just come to people. Most take time, effort and some are even years in the making, but it is nicer when you do just sit down with your guitar and the song constructs itself. I always remember hearing that Noel Gallagher had the art of quick songwriting down to a tee. I think back to one particular story when Oasis were recording their first album they needed one more great song to make the album and Noel went off for a couple of minutes and wrote Supersonic. This is a huge fan favourite these days and it was the first single they released. Great Stuff!

Now if you’re like me and not one of those lucky people who can just sit with their guitar and have a hit song constructed within a few minutes, how else can you go about writing songs? This is a question I’ve asked myself ever since I picked up the guitar. Where do I start? Do I get a great set of chords together first? Or, do I write some magnificent lyrics and build the song around them? There is no right way to start a song. The question of Music or Lyrics first is a bit like the old adage; Which came first, the chicken of the egg? People are always torn between the too.

Music

Starting by writing a great chord sequence first can be a very effective way of composing a song. The chord structure doesn’t have to be full of sophisticated jazzy chords either, they can be (and usually are) just simple open chords put together with a different rhythm. I heard a quote the other day on Scrubs that summed this up greatly – “If all we have are old words, all we can do is put them together and hope they say something new.” I think this portrays the songwriting process perfectly as there are only a certain amount of chords out there, and as songwriters, musicians and guitarists we have to find different ways to make them sound fresh. Its not all about chords to start with though. A number of songs have also been constructed around a catchy riff or a monster lick. The hard part I find with creating a song with the music first is that I ramble on with random words whilst not really thinking about the lyrics. Which, most of the time just comes out as some garbage. So what I usually do if I am constructing a song this way is record the chord progression or the riff I have made, over and over again so that I have lots of time to work lyrics around it. I then play it back and just sit and think of lyrics that fit in. I suggest this way for beginners as it can be very effective.

Lyrics

Now this is the way that I usually start many of my songs. It’s probably because I can get the song buzz at anytime during the day, mostly times where I am not near my guitar. I remember a few weeks ago I was sitting down the pub and as my friend went to the toilet I quickly wrote some lyrics and saved them into my drafts folder on my phone. This is an extremely effective songwriting method for me because I already have the melody of the song in my head and the lyrics fit this melody. The only problem with this for me is that my guitar skills aren’t good enough, especially with improvising melodies so I often find it hard to translate the melody in my head to the fretboard. I suppose this is my own fault for never practising things by ear (I always need to have the tab/music in front of me otherwise I feel naked). But if you are good at translate melodies from your head to the guitar then this method can prove very useful for you.

Anyway I suppose what I want to know is how you guys get around to writing songs? How do you construct them? Whats your favourite method for writing? Music or Lyrics?

Feedback would be great

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