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[boneykingofnowhere]

So my friend and I recently started a band and are in the process of writing music. We've managed to come up with decent music, but we seem to be struggling a bit in terms of writing lyrics. I havent talked to my friend much about it, but im fairly sure he's in the same spot.
I can sit down and come up with something, but when I read it the next day I usually decide that they're god-awful and scrap them.
Where do you start when you write lyrics? Are there any tricks/techniques you use? Am I just being self-conscious or is it just something that some people can do and some people not so much?

[pinkpiche]

You start by reading or listening to lyrics. Then do it again. And again. Then write something. Then repeat the former. Very quickly you start developing a taste for certain lyrical qualities say, I think these lines "the cities we passed were a flickering wasteland / but his hand in my hand made them hale and harmless" are pretty damn awesome. The tricks/techniques must be your own. No one can help you, you have to help yourself. There are certain things I can tell you, but in the end you have to do it by yourself. It's tough and you will face failure, but then again failure isn't so bad.
Of course some people are gifted with a disposition for these things, but all writers have started out as amateurs.

I sought help as you do now for a while, and I still do sometimes - in wise people, what they've said and done. But nothing comes out of that, except temporary relief of doubt.

[Patrick]

I find that it gets much easier to write things that I think are good enough to let stand if I let the text decides what mood I'm in, rather than the other way around. If I am moping and melancholic and I write a text of any kind, inevitably I will hate it to bits when I'm not feeling the same way later on. If I am relatively cheery and I write something that is intended to be melancholic, I'll be in a much better position to judge whether it's good or not - it gives me some distance to judge.

A million times, this. It doesn't negate your ability to write something emotionally charged or engaging if you're not being drowned in the emotion that you're trying to express. It helps to express it more clearly if you're not clouded by the weight of the emotion you're feeling. The validity of your expression won't go away just because you're not feeling hurt at the exact second you write the song. I had to learn this the hard way :\

[Scarychips]

Try to avoid self-doubting too. Keep everything you write and then, filter down. It's not because one line bothers you in a song you wrote that you should scrap it all.

[michaelicious]

Keep a small notebook with you and when you hear a combination of words that you like, write it down!

[KvP]

I can sit down and come up with something, but when I read it the next day I usually decide that they're god-awful and scrap them.

I'm not a lyricist but when I make a song this is usually the pattern. The thing to do is just to keep at it - every once in awhile, you'll make something you actually like, and eventually those will pile up and all of a sudden you're someone who does what he set out to do initially.

[The Duke]

Keep a small notebook with you and when you hear a combination of words that you like, write it down!

^Yes.

Absolutely this.

Lou Reed once said something to the effect of "I can't just sit down and write.  Unless inspiration strikes, it's no good."  I am the same; if I say "okay, I'm going to write a song!" and then just do it, with no inspiration, I will invariably be dissatisfied with the result.  The trick here is to take every inspiration you can find - every phrase, image, or little scrap of melody - and write it the fuck down.  If I don't write something down the second I think of it, it may be gone forever.

[Thrillho]

I have one major tip for budding songwriters which has always worked for me - once you start writing, finish the song, no matter how bad it gets. Then edit it later.

Having a completed piece of work to adjust and work on puts you in a far better starting place immediately than just writing a new song from scratch.

[squawk]

Things I Do As A Generally Struggling Songwriter:

Rip off Will Sheff

Make sounds first and then make intelligible sounds

Okay actually I make a lot of songs where I just mumble but I never seem to finish them :[

Try to avoid self-doubting too. Keep everything you write and then, filter down. It's not because one line bothers you in a song you wrote that you should scrap it all.

Oftentimes I'll write shit and immediately hate it and look at it a week later and go "wait these are actually good to work with"

Keep a small notebook with you and when you hear a combination of words that you like, write it down!

...

I HAVEN'T FINISHED A NEW SONG IN LIKE SIX MONTHS >:[
I'm not even happy anymore so I can't even blame it on that.

[boneykingofnowhere]

Thanks for the input, guys.

[blaha 41]

Try to avoid self-doubting...

Welcome to The Ryan Adams School of Songwriting!

actually it's pretty good advice... also don't worry if it "reads well" on paper... it has to sound great when sung by you more than anything else.

[Patrick]

Thanks for the input, guys.

That's what Jenna Jameson said.

[David_Dovey]

Thanks for posting!

[pinkpiche]

[Zingoleb]

I have one major tip for budding songwriters which has always worked for me - once you start writing, finish the song, no matter how bad it gets. Then edit it later.

Having a completed piece of work to adjust and work on puts you in a far better starting place immediately than just writing a new song from scratch.

This never works for me. If I hit a wall on a song I cannot feasibly just push on through (musically or lyrically). Generally later on I'll just start to play it through with a fresh mindset or new outlook or maybe different playing style than I was in at the time of writing and that scrap of a song will end up fleshed out and finished later.

Not to undermine what DynamiteKid is saying at all, though. If his method works for you, great! However, I know it does not work for everyone.

[Patrick]

I'm gonna have to go ahead and back Gaz on that one, Ed. I feel intense dissatisfaction when I'm flipping through my Book Of Words and I'll look at a song that I started but didn't finish. The mood/muse for that specific song is totally gone for me by time I get back to it a week later.

I frequently have difficulties like this when I record a song idea onto my little 4-track scratchpad. If I write music and then leave it for a week, I'll mostly just wind up leaving the entire song idea. I've wasted so many brilliant song ideas (which I'm still keeping just because I think they're wonderful) because of the fact that I didn't jump on it as soon as I could've.

Maybe I am just bad at focusing, so I'll go ahead and ask. Do you guys have any tips on how to stay on the ball once I get it rolling?

[pinkpiche]

Well from what I've heard, most professional songwriters (A.C. Newman, Nick Cave, Björk and others) sit down and write for a certain amount of time every day. Some days you'll write something and work the whole time, some days you won't write anything at all.. Of course that's hard if you aren't doing it full time. I think a certain amount of focus is really helpful. Other than that, I think that most songs are a mixture of moods - quite a few artists take their time with writing.

[imapiratearg]

That's sort of what I do.  I just kind of let it come out in the natural process of things.  I keep ideas and stuff in my head or in my notebook and then I'll go back when I find a moment I can really focus and then it's just about assembling the pieces into something that works.