to my songwriters...

Hi-Lo

ILLIEN
ill o.g.
to those of you who don't just make beats but write hooks and songs to them or with other artists, how did you get started doing this? obviously experimenting and observing what others do but...any books or anything you found useful for developing those skills?
 

Ash Holmz

The Bed-Stuy Fly Guy
ill o.g.
Battle Points: 207
i dunno about books man ..... i mean its all in ur head .. my hooks come from what "I" feel the song represents... im not sure how much help a book could be... .. i would laugh at a rapper if i saw him reading a "how to write a rap song" book lol ...
 

Kontents

I like Gearslutz
ill o.g.
Battle Points: 5
i dunno about books man ..... i mean its all in ur head .. my hooks come from what "I" feel the song represents... im not sure how much help a book could be... .. i would laugh at a rapper if i saw him reading a "how to write a rap song" book lol ...

True haha


Yeah its all in the feeling you get and how you can make a style out of it. sooo dont read a book on how to write a HIP HOP Song.
 

Hi-Lo

ILLIEN
ill o.g.
nah i agree ash sorry i should have been more clear...i more meant this for r&b stuff. lol i would never read a book about writing a rap hook
 
R

Rich

Guest
Man I dunno, when I come up with hooks I get inspiration from sometiimes the chord progrsseion or simple melody.
 

Daymo

ILLIEN
ill o.g.
As far as writing hooks goes. I'll come up with a phrase that i like that fits the beat and then come up with a way to put the phrase melodically. I'll then try to get an idea of how the melody should progress and then write the rest of the lyrics around the melody I've created.

So basically the lyrics of the first line will dictate the melody. Hope that makes sense.
 

thedreampolice

A backwards poet writes inverse.
ill o.g.
Battle Points: 21
"i mean its all in ur head" I disagree, if you dont read allot how the hell do you think you can write something interesting that is not just same old same old crap. Writing is just like any other skill you have to work at it. I dont know how many "songwriters" I know that just do not have a good enough vocabulary to write because they have read maybe one book in there life at best. If you want to be a real song writer (timeless) then you must study and hone your craft and read all the time!
 

Ash Holmz

The Bed-Stuy Fly Guy
ill o.g.
Battle Points: 207
"i mean its all in ur head" I disagree, if you dont read allot how the hell do you think you can write something interesting that is not just same old same old crap. Writing is just like any other skill you have to work at it. I dont know how many "songwriters" I know that just do not have a good enough vocabulary to write because they have read maybe one book in there life at best. If you want to be a real song writer (timeless) then you must study and hone your craft and read all the time!

u clearly have an engineers point of view about hip hop

i dont care how much u read ur hooks wont be good unless u put ur heart into it .. books on writing hooks? please dude... hooks arent even that complicated .. u could name the top 100 hooks in the history of music and none them use "big vocabulary" its all about energy, inspuiration, heart, flow .. i agree u have to work at it though

ive been writing songs since i was like 10 bro ... im actually a speedreader i can read a book in a day... but i read other shit that has nothing to do with music... u cant read a book and "get good" at writing hooks . its a natural thing that u have to develop through practice and time. if u could find the answer in book .. evrybody would be writing hooks .. the prollem with music today is evrbody thinks because they know how to do something that they can do it.... read that carefully ... cuz ur statement follows that mindset to a tee... people think because they have a setup and know how to make a beat that they are producers and because they know how to make words rhyme they are emcess.. a book on hook writing honestly carries about as much weight as one of those how to get rich books... garbage ...

i dont think notorius or tupac, or michael jackson, or jon lennon read a book on hook writing ... and if they did i doubt that was the reason why they were great artists.
 

StressWon

www.stress1.com
ill o.g.
Battle Points: 68
Word up Ash. I feel the same way. You can mos def get alot of info from a book, but to learn how to write music is not somethin you can learn. To give yall an idea, I'm an artist in the sense of drawin too. My strong points are mostly in the human figure/ life drawin. Now, that is a talent I was born with. I can draw. But what kills me are the kids that go to college and have art as a major and can't draw shit. That bothers me,,,alot. That is the same difference. Sort of.
 
O

open mind

Guest
people think because they have a setup and know how to make a beat that they are producers and because they know how to make words rhyme they are emcess.

i dont think notorius or tupac, or michael jackson, or jon lennon read a book on hook writing ... and if they did i doubt that was the reason why they were great artists.

hands down on this man.real talk.
 

thedreampolice

A backwards poet writes inverse.
ill o.g.
Battle Points: 21
I think you guys missed my point. I am saying to become a good writer of any sort you must read. You will learn this in any writing class. My goals are not to be top 40 but to write timeless songs, look at MF doom's or jurasic 5 stuff even the old stuff still sounds cool today because they are well written.
 

StressWon

www.stress1.com
ill o.g.
Battle Points: 68
I think you guys missed my point. I am saying to become a good writer of any sort you must read. You will learn this in any writing class. My goals are not to be top 40 but to write timeless songs, look at MF doom's or jurasic 5 stuff even the old stuff still sounds cool today because they are well written.


i agree wit readin bro. Vocab is big when writin anything, but to stay on topic,,,Writin hooks can't be taught in a book, but vocab can be valuable, but not neccesary....
 
ill o.g.
Battle Points: 152
u kno wot about the book thing, i actually thought buying a book was stupid but if u actually go out and read one u mite b suprised, sure u gotta write from th heart and all that but it doesnt hurt to broaden ur mind on it.. its like reading up on music theory to help with ur beats.

and yea u either got it or u dont but why stop there? im not sayin reading a book is a solution, but no doubt it helps some people out, so it's ignorant to blast it off. tupac and john lennon probably didnt read a book on songwriting .... what about other succesful artists? did all of em make a point to avoid reading on it?

pz
 
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