Or music to text? I can't seem to progress in the Songwriters forum with my songs because I can't fit the text to some music. How do you figure it all out? anyone know? I don't know how to go about it.
I just start playing around with chords until I find something that might work. I very often end up having to tweak the lyrics to fit the melody. Move lines and words around, etc. It's really mostly trial and error.
I hope this helps!
Falling in love is like learning to play the guitar; first you learn to follow the rules, then you learn to play with your heart.
I usually have some idea of a melody when I've written lyrics - from there, it's just a simple (Ha!) matter of fitting chords around the melody. A lot of the hard work has been done already - there are millions of songs out there that use the same progression, albeit often in a different key. At first glance, you wouldn't think Stand By Me (Lennon) More Than A Feeling (Boston) and Since You've Been Gone (Rainbow) had much in common. But Stand By Me uses G Em C and D (I, VIm, IV and V in the scale of G. The main riff in MTAF uses G - D - Em - C, and the chorus of SYBG uses the same chords. Once you know what the chords in a particular key are, you're pretty safe sticking to them to start with. I, IV and V chords in any key are useful to mess around with - try fooling about with them, play I - IV - V then I - V - IV then V - IV - I etc, to get a feel for the various changes and how they sound (In G, that'd be G C and D.) Then maybe experiment with the IIm, IIIm and VIm - in G, that's Am, Bm and Em. Play them different ways - again, get a feel for the changes.
There are literally thousands and thousands of possible combinations of chords - some good, some bad. And yet so many songs only use 3 or four chords! As Kath said, a lot of it's trial and error.....and the more you experiment, the more you'll realise what sounds good and what doesn't.
Try playing different songs and looking at the chord changes - I know you're a big fan of RHCP, try looking at Under The Bridge. There's a good tab for it in easy songs. It starts with an E chord (well, the first line that's sung, anyway.)
(E)Sometimes I (B)feel like I (C#m)don't have a (G#m)part(A)ner.....
It's in the key of E - now look at the chords. E - I, B - V, C#m - VIm, A - IV. (The G#m's only really used as a passing tone.) Notice something? Yep, I, IV, V and VI - just like Stand By Me, More Than A Feeling and Since You've Been Gone. And about another million songs.
Of course, there are other chords in Under The Bridge - there's that run in the coda where Frusciante plays A C G and F chords, but with an open E string, subtly altering the flavour of the chords. That part comes down to experience! And the best way to get that experience? Back to our old friend, trial and error again!
Best of luck, Pearl - and don't be afraid to try something new!
:D :D :D
Vic
"Sometimes the beauty of music can help us all find strength to deal with all the curves life can throw us." (D. Hodge.)
it does get easier with time (altho you always have moments when nothing seems to work, lol). sometimes I start with strumming chords, then try to sing melodies and lines over it. other times, I'll come up with a phrase I like or a riff in my head, and then its a case of messing around with it. if its just words, they can be pretty pliable and reworked to fit a melody (I usually/sometimes take a moment to think about the mood or tone conveyed by the lyric then try to make that mood using my guitar, or mood-match). with riffs, I'd suggest lots of practise and figuring out tunes by ear whenever possible - makes it much easier to imagine a riff in ya head then play it on your guitar.
try to think in terms of syllables and beats. fit the syllable or whole word to the beat count.
plus, you are allowed an incredible amount of poetic license.
Almost all of my songs begin life as poems/lyrics. Vic's idea of beginning from lyrics (which always imply a melody if you listen close enough) and then framing this melody with chords is very much my strategy; sometimes I bring in the chords before I let the lyric melody speak to me, and this usually makes things harder.
I find it fairly easy to come up with melodies while playing the piano, but I find it nearly impossible to fit a lyric to one of my melodies after the fact. I end up with very trite and awkward lyrics that way! :x
One has to find what works, and not be afraid of saying that a particular approach doesn't work. I can't begin effectively from wordless melodies, and I can't begin very well from beats. I can begin well from lyrics, and sometimes from chord progressions.
But even when you find the best entry into song, you should always use the others occasionally, just to spruce things up. I still do write wordless melodies at the piano when I feel stuck lyrically--though I know by now not to expect too much. (Though someday I might write great film music!)
Jersey Jack
don[t get too precious with anything - you can start with words, a melody, a short riff, chords, a drum groove, whatever. but as you add stuff to it, you might well find that you need to change/alter what you originally began with. or you might even come up with a good second part which totally mismatches the original idea but is also good. in both cases, just follow your instinct and change/ditch/develop whatever you're feelin' most creative about.
