Where your song ideas come from

[milfus]

Not as in the mechanics of them, just the core concepts that you turn into a song.Me, personally, I happen to stumble into mine during conversations (which isnt as frequent as I would like)

[anne]

Mine usually come when I'm doing something mindless that I don't mind doing , like housecleaning or cutting the grass. Also, I tend to get ideas when I'm holding my friend's baby trying to get her to sleep - it seems to be during the times I actually shut up that the thoughts come in!

[aubreyz]

Quote:Not as in the mechanics of them, just the core concepts that you turn into a song.Me, personally, I happen to stumble into mine during conversations (which isnt as frequent as I would like)For me the answer is… EVERYWHERE. Over the years I have conditioned myself to always be in “writing” mode. I don’t even have to think about it much anymore – everything in my environment is kind of naturally scanned for potential song ideas, phrases, etc. For instance, the fuel indicator display in my car flashed “0 miles to empty”… and I thought, “wow – that might be a cool song idea” before thinking “wow, I’m about to run out of gas”.Aub

[dayson1]

I just got one from watching the news, and just finished the first draft. It came that fast and I am really excited about it:))-Dana

[arkjack]

I would say that a lot of my ideas come from two places. First, watching TV and thinking of a storyline or approach. The second is from fishing with Capt. Murphy....ArkJack

[horacejesse]

They come from my Phrase Junkyard. I always carry around paper so that I can write down ideas that come. Later I transfer them officially to the phrase junkyard. I have kept a junkyard for years but not many songs ever came from it. For some reason things changed and the last four songs I have written were junkyard babies.

[tedsingingfox]

Anywhere and everywhere. Just depends on the moment. But I, too, try to keep a little notebook with me at all times to scribble down the sparks that might light my fire later. Granted, many of them turn out to be major DUDS when I go back to re-read them, but some of them are STILL in my song queue...

[Casey H]

Mainly from personal experiences, all too often the sad ones stimulate the writing. 90% of my songs are at least based on real life experiences even if artistic license took over while writing. I do need to branch out in order to become a more prolific writer.My cell phone has a built in voice recorder so whenever an idea, a phrase, a rhyme, whatever pops into my head, I record it.Maybe I'll start writing about the forum and the people here. Be nice to me or I'll say bad things about you in my songs...

[spindrift]

I get my best lyrical ideas while listening to songs I really like. My words have NOTHING to do with the words of the song I am hearing, so it's like someone is talking to me and I am talking to myself or someone else. Somebody once told me it was because the song I'm hearing stimulates the "song part" of my brain to go into action. What will happen if I hear gunfire?Fortunately my wife hasn't noticed yet, and I seem reasonably sane. Mark

[twilsbach]

Quote:my car flashed “0 miles to empty”… and I thought, “wow – that might be a cool song idea” before thinking “wow, I’m about to run out of gas”.AubThats funny, and pretty much how I operate too.Pat Pattison's Writing Better Lyrics recommends writing for ten minutes every morning as soon as you wake up. Wake up the muse and she'll be alert for random inspiration throughout the day