[Katie Wilson]

Well where do I start ?
I'm not a musician and to be honest I'm not really much of a lyricist but I am improving I think with help from others , I've learnt that songs need structure .

I don't know about melody or chords or anything to do with music and to be honest that isn't really my thing , I love words .

When i first started I could write what I thought was a song in ten minutes but now I realise that it needs a bit more work on it than that .

When I write poetry  I just write  what was there and thats great for the therapy but I think with writing lyrics ( and some poems ) it's different - some times what you write down on a pad sounds completely different when you actually sing it .

I'm still not sure when a song of mine needs a bridge but I know that most songs have a story told through the verses and the focus and the overall thing that you want to,convey is in the chorus and that's will pull people to your song

I find leaving feedback hard as I am a beginner and I don't really know what I'm talking about because I'm with people a lot more talented than me .

But today I have released the importance of feedback it is nice to.do,for other people but it I think that it is vital in your journey as a song writer or lyric writer for you to grow and just writing nice things that you want people to hear is wasting everyone's time
I also realise that setting the scene with a small story or a few words before they song is important , its not just about the words it's about the emotion behind them words

 I quite like the idea of playing the guitar  but I am not as passion about that as I am writing.

I'm really looking for people to take my lyrics ( change them a bit to fit if necessary ) and make a song out of it - that for me is the most exciting and rewarding part.


Thanks for all your help,
Katie xxx

[Sing4me88]

It is a real learning curve that is equally as enjoyable as it is frustrating. I started off as a sub-standard lyricist (and I'm still one!) with no music theory or background and I've slowly developed. By all means get to grips with the basics of theory but don't let it constrain you; if something sounds good but it seems to fly in the face of theory stick with your gut feeling rather  than bin it cos theory says its not 'right'. Theory can provide the sum parts but the magic glue hat puts it all together is often creativity and innovation and just doing what feels/sounds good without really thinking. I'd strongly suggest getting a really cheap midi keyboard and some free production software and just get stuck in. That's basically what I did and it's a great way to learn. You can slowly move into toplining using a keyboard, you can play about and experiment with rhythm and you can lay down very basic drum beats and bass lines. Be warned though, getting these all to marry is very frustrating at times. While it may be questionable if you or I will ever be able to write and/or produce a whole song on our own by this method of 'learning on the job' what I find it does offer is a more effective way to communicate with co-writers and allows them a fuller insight into the feel, groove, melody etc you have in mind when writing a lyric.

[Mike67]

I agree totally. I tend to write to guitar, and you only need to learn a few basic chords to get going. Sometimes just strumming a few chords and singing jibberish will give you an idea for a lyric and it can all just happen. But even if you just want to focus on lyrics, writing them to music does help give them a musicality. Cheap second hand acoustic guitar. You might even enjoy it. Also, Justin Sandercoe has a load of free guitar lessons on line. Very easy to follow.

[cowparsleyman]

Dear Katie

Lovely to see you blossoming, it is spring after all...

My tip about playing guitar is buy one that's not difficult to get your fingers where they need to go ask for one with a low action and play it as much as you can , especially when watching TV, and practise something like a chord, don't just muck about.

cpm