Oh The Anguish! The frustration!.... GRRRRR!

Well, you could record the music and kick it around a bit. That way you kind of get a feel for what it should be about.

Another way (not mine, but I've seen it work really well) is to just kind of mumble words along with your melody while you play it to get started. Sometimes it just takes those first couple of lines, and you're off and running, and sometimes it takes a while for anything cohearant to come out.

Me and my buddy were kicking around what ended up being the back track for my song in SSG for over a week with no real lyrics, and no real direction. We thought about making it a backing track and just noodling over it for a while until we either got bored or figured out what to do with it.

If nothing else, make sure that it's where you can find it again. You never know when inspiration will pop up for lyrics and you'll be without a melody again.

I like the record idea. trouble is for me, when I get that beautiful idea by the time I find the recorder and get that set up ,plug in my guitar or uncase the acoustic and find a pick, I either lose site of the idea
or
when I play the first note and it is wrong...there goes the idea.

I Know What Your Saying, Sometimes Its Hard To Get The Right Lyrics To Flow. Sometimes I Sit And Jam A tune Im Working On, And Sing Absoloute Non Sense To It (Just To Get The Idea's To Flow) And Sometimes It Works, And Good Stuff Starts To Come Out. Other times, It Doesn't Work For Me.

PS - Only Do This In Private, Your Family And Friends May Laugh At The Non Sense Lyrics ;)

Thnaks folks i appreciate it. Yes, some recording gear is next on my want list, for now I'll jsut have to keep playing this and see what happens.
PS - Only Do This In Private, Your Family And Friends May Laugh At The Non Sense Lyrics ;)

lol, don't have to worry about that. Just me and the cat and a couple guitars 'round here. And, my neighbors already think I'm crazy. :wink:

Twisted -

Any time I ran into writer's block I would take a deep breath and go for a walk. I would watch very carefully the world around me as I walked and look for images I could play with. A bumbersticker on a car, a kid playing in the front yard, a car accident (morbid I know), a yellow light at an intersection that wasn't working. I would find some image and look at it from a fresh perspective. Try and use the image in an out of context way.

This usally worked, but if it didn't then I would flip through the dictionary, stop on a page and pick a word at random four times, then use those four words (or synonyms) to come up with something.

Just my .02 and what worked for me.

A walk? you mean like go outside? :P

Actually, some good stuff here. Thanks all.

Sing Absoloute Non Sense To It (Just To Get The Idea's To Flow)

I agree with this. In fact it's probably how I usually begin. I get some kind of start, which might be as little as a couple of notes or chords, or just two or three words and I just belt 'em out.

I go for as long as I can before it completely dries up and then I see what I got and if any of it was usable. It's often the most fun part of the process. The next bit - all the adding, subtracting, editing and stuff can be quite a business, even dull in parts. But if it works that initial good feeling comes back and it feels free again.

Oddly enough I think that stock phrases and cliches can be useful at that stage - we've all got heap or them on tap. Just roar them all out to keep it going. They can be junked and replaced with something more original later.

Like so:

I gotta woman ten feet tall
Met her at the shopping mall
Saw her head above the crowd
Yadda yadda dum dum loud...

Got down on my bended knee
Said "girl you gotta come home with me"
I looked her squarely in the shin
Said yadda yaddda..

Well there's 30 seconds of my life that I won't ever see again.... But somewhere in the ranting there might have been something to work with, some idea or phrase to send me off on the right track.

I should point out that I'm an expert at this, having completed.... ummm... let me see..... (rapily counts on fingers, removes socks, counts on toes, etc) .... two whole songs now. But I've done a lot of other writing, and a version of the same process seems to work for that too.

It's also worth hanging onto all the scraps of ideas that pop into your head at random times. Jot them down and throw them in a folder on the computer, or in a box in your room. Then when you are dry pull them out and see if they spark something.

Good luck anyway. :D

Thanks chris.

I have a file where I scribble down things wehnthey come to me so maybe I'll crusie through there and see if anything fits.

Twisted,

I don't write music so I can't really add much but I think it was David Bowie that would cut words out of magazines and then randomly use them to create song lyrics.

Gives you a new perspective plus it also provides some direction since you would have the words all you have to do is find an interesting way to arrange them.

Chris, I prefer you old signature the one about residing in mental institution somewhere in Oz. :lol:

Kind of explains them lyrics about the giant woman in the shopping mall with it's B-movie horror feel.

All my lyrical exploits usually start of with "I woke up this morning", played in 12 bar of course. :wink:

Woke up this morning,
Kickin the dog,
Can't play to save myself
Oh my god.

The smart thing about the above great lyrics is that god is dog spelled backwards, crappy lyrics and irony everone wins. :lol:

------------------------

4/4 tempo.

Im standing at the Crossroads
an i dont know where to go....

next verse....(fill in the blank).