What is John Mayer's Song writing process?
Well if you're gay like John Mayer, inspiration comes naturally since he is in touch with his emotions and his feminine side
What is your process when you write songs? Do you come up with the lyrics first?
I don’t have any fixed method. I will usually hum a lyric or speak over a melody. By far the best songs come out from some other place and arrive complete. I have several songs that happen that way.On average, I assemble about 50%, 30% arrive complete, and 20% are ongoing efforts and loose ends.I like how Prince characterizes his songs as “his children”. All my songs are ongoing works in progress that evolve with time.Like poetry, if I can get worked up over something, I can get some really good content. But, it’s like improvisational instrumentals. It takes me awhile to get in a state. Once I’m in a state, I can create some things for an extended period of time.Anymore, I just use a video camera and record everything. Good songs are like Cognac. They gotta age before I can assess their potential. I might put something away for 3 months and because I’m not really connected with it, I can evaluate it as if it’s not mine. Then I can see what’s good or bad and fix it.When I’m connected to a song, I can’t be objective. If I’m totally detached, I can tell if it’s trash or not…I write for the trash can and strive for very few really great things. And, then I wipe the drive and do it all over again.Sometimes, I use older ideas to prime my mind for new stuff. It’s almost always that way with words. Music is different. It’s either a theme I’m working on or something completely out of the blue. I’ll write a complete piece of crap just to feel better about what comes next.
Which usually comes first in the process of making a song, the lyrics or melody?
It depends…Bernie Taupin wrote lyrics, and then he handed them off to Elton John, who gave them a melody.Jerry Garcia came up with the melody, and then Robert Hunter wrote the lyrics.For a lot of rhythm based music, the artist first gets into a groove or a recurring riff and then the lyrics and melody follow.Who’s to say what approach is best? All three ways have produced great songs, and I’m sure that some artists have not stuck to any one method.
What is your songwriting process? Do you start with lyric, melody, progression, else?
I start writing songs in any one of five different ways.I hear a melody / lead vocal in my head and imagine the chords and beat. Then I go to my studio and to begin will find the right tempo and beat. Then add the appropriate chords with a sound that creates the right mood. This method often involves actually being excited because the thing I imagined was such a strong hook.I jam on the keyboard / piano and once I find a great arrangement with moody chords I start to experiment with top lines. Lyrics are not important at this stage. I often just scat it. The important thing is melody experimentation / syllable fit for rhythm.I hear a song on radio / TV that inspires me. I may then experiment with the chords I heard… switch that up a little then write my own top line in an original manner while keeping the mood / beat that inspired me. You cant copyright a mood!I start with a drum beat. I build a rhythm from scratch when I am in the mood for finding a new inspiring rhythm. I then would just add a bass line then experiment with a top line.I get inspired for a top line melody while listening to another musician jamming such as a piano player or guitarist. The musician then begins to feel me and naturally creates further progressions. We then write a song together.For me the mood, rhythm, arrangement , choice of sounds is the most important to start with.Then once I know I have all the parts I will finalise lyrics. I know by this stage the vocal structure and melody, I just need to translate that into words.I take the words very seriously.For me; a song is only exciting if it is saying something inspiring or relevent on an intellectual level. I have a pet hate of listening to songs that have completely pointless or cliche lyrics. I get especially annoyed when I hear artists actually being negative through a song and thus encouraging the darker side of humanity. Kids take inspiration from music. Song writing is a responsibility.Basil Simonmusical life coachOfficial web site
What's the process you use to write a song?
This can vary greatly from person to person, and there is no set rule or best way of doing it. If you wrote good lyrics, you wrote good lyrics, no matter how you did it.The process also greatly depends on the method of inspiration, without which it’s pretty much impossible to write a good song. Sometimes it can be helpful to come up with a melody first on a piano or something and match words to it. Other times a metaphor or a simile can be a great place to start, whether you heard it from somewhere or made it yourself. Using a personal feeling can be great for inspiration; just write down your thoughts as they come and later change the lines to a rhyming pattern. Another good way to write songs is to go through your favourite song lyrics of all time, and pick out lines which you think are especially artistic, paraphrase them in your own words, and go from there. Or it doesn’t even necessarily have to be songs you enjoy; just pick out good lines or a phrase you love and then write a whole song about it. In fact, I would say some of my best songs have come from a line or even a word I liked while listening to my favourite songs or artists.And of course, show your work to other people. Usually people can give you good feedback on how to improve, or even suggest that perfect rhyming word that you couldn’t think of.
What is the thought process behind the lyrics of modern day hip hop songs?
The topic of rapping “gangsta” was popularized during the late 80s, when gangs like NWA and Public Enemy redid the rap genre. Along with that, lots of rappers wanted to rap about their struggle, moving from a lowlife hustler to a rich rapper. This sort of rapping is what mainly shines through the rap industry, with classics like Illmatic and Enter the Wu-Tang having singles like “NY state of Mind” and “C.R.E.A.M”, which go through various crime-related and money-related issues that prevailed in the types of society they lived in. In 1994, Biggie Small’s single Juicy also popularized rapping about the drastic change in standard of living rappers face. Influences like this have helped shape modern Hip Hop.However, these days there’s a lot of rap that isn’t very creative, filled with autotune and repeating the same words over and over again. Rappers like 6ix9ine and Lil’ Pump and becoming popular due their songs being catchy, more club playable and radio playable as they are something the public can actually listen to and comprehend. And in the end, it’s all for money. Smarter people may listen to their songs just to laugh at their terrible vocabulary. And the thought process for their songs is less flow and lyrics and more catchy beat and girls in the music video, because that’s what attracts people, and more people means more money.TL:DR, No thought process, just money in mind. “False Prophets” by J. Cole explains more.
What is the creative process of songwriters?
It depends on whether you mean the tune writer or the lyric writer.They are often the same person though.There are several approaches to song writing.If you are the singer and the song writer then you write about something that is personal to you. Taylor Swift and Bob Dylan are examples.If you write songs for situations, such as a show, then the book of the show dictates what the song is about. Musicals follow this line of thinking.If you are a pop group then you will take a common theme or a chance remark as the basis of the song. The Beatles song 'Lucy in the sky with diamonds' was based on a child's remark about a picture she saw. The song 'I can't give you anything but love, baby' was based on a chance remark a songwriter overheard.It is common for tune writers to be inspired by poems.Also, very many tunes written as pop songs use phrases from classical works. If you are familiar with Bach you will find many of of his phrases quoted in pop songs and jazz tunes.Most popular tunes are based on a few standard chord sequences. The most common being the Blues sequence which is used for thousands of tunes. It only has four basic chords.Twelve-bar bluesSongs are also written specifically for singers or instrumentalists. In this case they will be written in the key and the pitch suited to the singer.Songs may also be written for specific instruments to exploit the attributes of the instrument. Lyric writers commonly have different lyrics to the same song.different lyrics to a tune or songMost song writers are not often inspired. They simply play lots and lots of phrases over the same chords to see what variations come up. It can be done by computer to some extent.Some song writers cannot play an instrument at all. Lionel Bart used to whistle his songs.Many song writers cannot read music. They record their songs on camera.Some song writers start with a rhythm rather than a tune. Cole Porter said he used this approach.Plagiarism is rife in the song writing world, and even found done by famous classical composers.It is virtually impossible to find a popular song that does not contain phrases from other songs, so a new song is essentially one that has a distinctive style.MakeMovies Database
How many of Eminem's song lyrics are usually true?
It's not like How much! If, for you it is like How much, then man be you don't know how fucked-up his life is. Or may be you never realized, what's it's like to survive in a fucked-up world, when you are already passed up and you have to deal with a lot of problems.Whether his songs are about his life or for some other purpose, they always come with the purpose. The purpose to served us.Maybe his songs are no more universally true for all, but for few… who are frequently bullied in the society & in the school, who are frequently alienated, who are treated as inferior just because their mind has a different view of seeing the things, who are considered as nothing in their home. He is always and will always be universally true.