Song-a-week

This theme is borrowed from our sister group on that other site, I forget what it's called. Thank you u/juniorelvis.

Last week we had the moon, so this week write a song about, or featuring, our neighborhood star, the sun! The energy source for all life and the object of worship throughout human history (maybe the OG God? :), the sun also gives us light and warmth, and we even need a certain amount of it to get that good old vitamin D (but don't forget your sunscreen!).

Lots of songs have been written featuring the sun, for example:

Here Comes The Sun - The Beatles

Ain't No Sunshine - Bill Withers

Sun is Shining - Bob Marley

Who Loves The Sun - The Velvet Underground

This week's theme is borrowed from the current reddit songaweek. Thank you u/ahniwa

Yesterday we were blessed with a blue supermoon, blue because it was our second full moon in August, and super because of how close it was to earth. The moon represents a lot of different things. She is the sacred feminine. She is light, but also darkness. She pushes and pulls our tides, is at pace with the flow of our lives, changes men into wolves, and is the patron saint of crazy. Lunacy, after all ... it's right there in the word.

This week write a song about, or inspired in some way by, the moon.

Some inspiration to get the creative juices flowing:

M-O-O-N, that spells ...

Blue Moon

Moondance Pink Moon

Drunk on the Moon

Moonshadow

Moon Trance

Songs posted in this thread should be:

Original content (samples and such are ok)

Uses the weekly theme as inspiration… or not!

Submitted by Wednesday midnight your local time.

Written entirely during this week.

Post template

[Song Name] (linkto.the.song) (Genre) [Themed|Not Themed]

This is where you can write a description of your song. You can talk about

how you wrote it, where your inspiration came from, and anything else

you’d like to say. Remember to sort by ‘New’ so that you can see new song submissions.

And remember to give honest, but supportive feedback to others.

New here? Check out this post How Songaweek works

So where's everyone at with their songs? Please write your problems, progress or whatever.

I'm posting this a little early because I'm going camping for a few days. You've got an extra day, so I want to see some songs posted next week.

Here’s another one borrowed from an old reddit song a week: cliche. That’s right, get all those cliche out of your system. Write that silly love song, Paul. “I’m down on my knees, begging you please”, “It cuts like a knife”. Use those chord progression you've heard a million times before. More cowbell, brothers and sisters. Have fun with this, it’s time to be silly.

so do the opposite of what these people are saying: https://blog.sonicbids.com/terrible-lyric-cliches-stop-using-in-songs

Songs posted in this thread should be:

Original content (samples and such are ok)

Uses the weekly theme as inspiration… or not!

Submitted by Wednesday midnight your local time.

Written entirely during this week.

Post template

[Song Name] (linkto.the.song) (Genre) [Themed|Not Themed]

This is where you can write a description of your song. You can talk about

how you wrote it, where your inspiration came from, and anything else

you’d like to say. Remember to sort by ‘New’ so that you can see new song submissions.

And remember to give honest, but supportive feedback to others.

New here? Check out this post How Songaweek works

How's everyone's song going? Let us know below. We're here to support each other.

Let's take this back to basics, The Three Chord Trick. Simply a song using the I, IV and V of the scale (in any order) in the major or minor keys, either will work. So that can be A, D and E or E, B and A or G, C and D, the list goes on. On guitar/bass it makes a nice little triangle. A lot of early 1950s rock and roll used this and is still used by modern songwriters. Its a great building block to have in your songwriting.

So many examples, here's a few:

The Beatles - Twist and Shout

The Clash - Should I Stay or Should I go

Ritchie Valens - La Bamba

The Stone Roses - She Bangs the Drums

George Ezra - Budapest

I snagged the list below from https://yourguitarbrain.com/three-chord-trick/

1. Blowin' in The Wind - Bob Dylan | Key signature: D Major | Chords: D Maj, G Maj, A Maj
2. Wild Thing - The Troggs| Key signature: A Major | Chords: A Maj, D Maj, E Maj
3. Leaving on a Jet Plane - John Denver| Key signature: G Major | Chords: G Maj, C Maj, D Maj
4. Bad Moon Rising - John Denver| Key signature: D Major | Chords: D Maj, A Maj, G Maj
5. Born to Run - Bruce Springsteen| Key signature: D Major | Chords: D Maj, G Maj, A Maj
6. Dizzy Miss Lizzy - The Beatles| Key signature: A Major | Chords: A Maj, D Maj, E7 Maj
7. Let it Bleed - Rolling Stones| Key signature: C Major | Chords: C Maj, F Maj, G Maj
8. Already Gone - The Eagles| Key signature: G Major | Chords: G Maj, D Maj, C Maj
9. You Shook Me All Night - AC/DC| Key signature: G Major | Chords: G Maj, C Maj, D Maj
10. I Love Rock and Roll - Joan Jett| Key signature: E Major | Chords: E Maj, A Maj, B Maj

Songs posted in this thread should be:

Original content (samples and such are ok)

Uses the weekly theme as inspiration… or not!

Submitted by Wednesday midnight your local time.

Written entirely during this week.

Post template

[Song Name] (linkto.the.song) (Genre) [Themed|Not Themed]

This is where you can write a description of your song. You can talk about

how you wrote it, where your inspiration came from, and anything else

you’d like to say. Remember to sort by ‘New’ so that you can see new song submissions.

And remember to give honest, but supportive feedback to others.

New here? Check out this post How Songaweek works

Hey, its the day to submit your songs. It doesn't matter of it's just one verse, or unmixed, or you flubbed the guitar solo (I did). The point is every song you write, you'll get better at it. So lets put these to bed for now, you can always pick it up latter.

Post songs here: https://lemmy.world/post/2977353

Feel free to post below about your progress. Maybe you're moving through it fast and already mixing. Maybe your like me and are a little stuck. I have a lyrical idea, but the music isn't there yet. I gonna keep trying chord progressions until something sticks. Good luck.

Things change, people evolve or sometimes they don’t. This is very fertile ground to write about. Getting married, puberty, getting divorced, getting sick, death, getting a new job, getting fired, getting dumped, dumping someone, etc, etc, etc. Also remember this is just a prompt to get you started, write about whatever you want.

The obvious examples:

David Bowie - Changes

Black Sabbath - Changes check out the Charles Bradley cover as well.

Fleetwood Mac - Landslide

A slightly obscure example:

King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard - Catching Smoke
This song is from an record called Butterfly 3000 and it’s all about change. In the video he changes from a chrysalis to a butterfly. The dancing after the change is amazing at around 4:17.

The not changers:

The Verve – Bittersweet Symphony

Macklemore – Same Love

Songs posted in this thread should be:

Original content (samples and such are ok)

Uses the weekly theme as inspiration… or not!

Submitted by Wednesday midnight your local time.

Written entirely during this week.

Post template

[Song Name] (linkto.the.song) (Genre) [Themed|Not Themed]

This is where you can write a description of your song. You can talk about

how you wrote it, where your inspiration came from, and anything else

you’d like to say. Remember to sort by ‘New’ so that you can see new song submissions.

And remember to give honest, but supportive feedback to others.

New here? Check out this post How Songaweek works

Just wanted to check in and see how everyone was doing. Let me know if you have can questions.

My song is moving along fine. I've got one verse down but still need a chorus. Or maybe I don't need one, it's a short song maybe it doesn't have a chorus.

I associate short songs with punk rock and 90s indie rock, but classic rock and other genres also have many great short songs. For me the masters of short songs is Guided by Voices check out their albums Alien Lanes and Bee Thousand for many examples. And of course The White Stripes have great short songs. Write in whatever style you want, maybe it’s a pop song or some R&B. This is just a prompt to get you started on a song, if it turns out longer that’s fine.

Guided By Voices - Little Whirl

Guided By Voices - Hot Freaks

The White Stripes - Fell in love with a girl

The White Stripes - Little Room

Beatles - Mean Mr. Mustard Beatles - I will Minor Threat - Out of Step Neutral Milk Hotel - King of Carrot Flowers Pt.1 (exactly 2 minutes)

Let us know if you have other examples of short songs.

Songs posted in this thread should be:

Original content (samples and such are ok)

Uses the weekly theme as inspiration… or not!

Submitted by Wednesday midnight your local time.

Written entirely during this week, between August 3 and August 9 2023

Post template

[Song Name] (linkto.the.song) (Genre) [Themed|Not Themed]

This is where you can write a description of your song. You can talk about

how you wrote it, where your inspiration came from, and anything else

you’d like to say. Remember to sort by ‘New’ so that you can see new song submissions.

New here? Check out this post How Songaweek works

Some people like themes that are musical concepts like last week's chord progression and some like lyrical, some are good with either. I'm going to try and alternate between the two. The week's theme is "borrowed" from reddit and was post Scoobyben about a year ago. Unfortunately I am still traveling and will not be submitting a song this week.

The unexplained, the arcane, the occult. There are many kinds of magic in this world - from street magic to high fantasy wizards, from headology to cthonic rituals. Even music itself can be magical - see Vishnu's conch, the Pied Piper's pipe, or Orpheus' lyre.

Here are some songs about magic for inspiration:

Every Little Thing She Does Is Magic - The Police

A Kind Of Magic - Queen

I Put A Spell On You - Nine Simone Screamin Jay Hawkins cover

The Wizard - Black Sabbath

Rhiannon - Fleetwood Mac

Songs posted in this thread should be:

• Original content (samples and such are ok)

• Uses the weekly theme as inspiration.. or not!

• Submitted by Wednesday before bedtime

• Written entirely during this week, between July 20th and July 26th, 2022

Post template

[Song Name] (linkto.the.song) (Genre) [Themed|Not Themed]

This is where you can write a description of your song. You can talk about

how you wrote it, where your inspiration came from, and anything else

you'd like to say. Remember to sort by 'New' so that you can see new song submissions.

New here? Check out this post - everything about songaweek.-

As I'm first getting the hang of this mod thing, this weeks theme was borrowed an old reddit songaweek created by reddit user 500MillionYears.

This week's theme is the descending chord progression i-VII-VI-V, otherwise known as the Adalusian Cadence, which in itself is a bit of a misnomer as it's usually used as an ostinato rather than a cadence. The Andalusian Cadence comes from flamenco music. In the key of A minor, the chords are

Am - G - F - E7

An historic pop music example is Runaway - Del Shannon - (as an aside, this song has a pretty cool pre-synth keyboard part, played on a Musitron).

Some other examples:

Like a Hurricane - Neil Young

All Along the Watchtower - Bob Dylan

Happy Together - The Turtles

Sultans of Swing - Dire Straits

Your theme this week is i-VII-VI-V

Songs posted in this thread should be:

• Original content (samples and such are ok)

• Uses the weekly theme as inspiration.. or not!

• Submitted by Wednesday before bedtime

• Written entirely during this week, between July 20th and July 26th, 2022

Post template

[Song Name] (linkto.the.song) (Genre) [Themed|Not Themed]

This is where you can write a description of your song. You can talk about

how you wrote it, where your inspiration came from, and anything else

you'd like to say. Remember to sort by 'New' so that you can see new song submissions.

New here? Check out this post - everything about songaweek.-

Every Thursday a new theme is posted. We all spend the next week writing a new song. By Thursday we have our song as done as we can get it and then we post it here for everyone to hear. Your song does not need to use the provided theme, write about about whatever you want. The provided theme is just to get you started.

Basics:

We all write a song every week, or as often as you can manage.

A theme will be given each week, and your song can be in that theme... or not.

The theme is broad enough that musicians of all styles and genres can participate.

The song should be mostly or totally original.

We’re first and foremost here to develop our own songwriting skills.

Post your song by the following Wednesday before bed in the official thread.

FAQs

Q: Do I have to post every week?

A: Nope. You can alternate in and out as you like, but of course we'd love to see you post a song every week.

Q: I don’t know anything about music and/or songwriting but I want to learn. Where do I start?

A: musictheory.net, baby! If you don’t know how to play an instrument, then actually pick one up sometime, and then many times, again and again, and again and again and again! There's also plenty of ways to make music with minimal musical knowledge, check out Fruity Loops, or GarageBand.

Q: Any general songwriting tips? I’m having trouble wrapping my head around this.

A: Read this or this or this. I say don't think, do. Try and play something you've never heard before, and be fearless. I struggle with that last part, but I struggle less when I write music with friends.

Q: What if someone steals my song? It’s not copyrighted or anything and I’ve heard of that happening before.

A: Unless the song was written a very long time ago, you have a copyright on your song. Since the 1970s copyright has existed from the moment the ideas are represented in physical form (written words, musical notation, audio and/or video recording.) The difficulty is in enforcing that copyright. This is as far as we can (should) throw our uninformed advice... we are not lawyers.

Q: Do we have to write for the weekly theme or can we write whatever we want?

A: You can write whatever you want. The themes are both a starting point and a common idea. It's fun hearing everyone's take on a theme.

Q: If I miss the deadline for the week, can I post my song in the next week and call it Themed (from last week)?

A: No. A song post is only Themed if it conforms to the theme for the week that it's posted in. You have two options - one, post it in the previous week's post, or two, post it as a Not Themed song. Songs that are posted as Themed with the previous week's theme will be removed. Just post it not themed.. k?

Q: Can I collaborate on writing songs? Can I collaborate on recording and performing songs?

A: Yes, and yes. Writing and recording songs is the goal, however that works for you.

Q: In what format should I post my songs?

A: Whatever's most convenient for you. Soundcloud, Youtube, Bandcamp, download file, whatever. As long as we can listen to it! Most people use Soundcloud, or Bandcamp.

Q: Are remixes and covers ok?

A: We prefer original content. A remix of a song with minimal new material is not really what this sub is about. A song written with samples and mostly indistinguishable from the source song is ok.

Q: What do you mean by “song?” Does it have to have lyrics?

A: Answered here. There's an immeasurable range of "songs" in the world. 3 minutes of white noise probably isn't a song though, unless you're Yoko.

Q: Should I upvote or downvote songs I like or dislike?

A: No. This place is not about collecting upvotes, and nobody should ever touch the downvote. We write songs, we listen to each other's songs, we encourage, and we offer constructive feedback. That is all we do.

Q: But I reeeeely reeeely want to upvote???

A: Then write a comment!! Tell whoever wrote that song that you loved that song!

Q: I can't complete songs! How do I stay motivated?

A: Set yourself realistic goals. Make shorter, simpler songs. Get something to completion, then do a little better next week. The only thing standing in your way is yourself.

Q: Can I promote myself, by linking bandcamp, soundcloud, etc etc in the weekly song threads when I post my songs?

A: Unless someone specifically asks for more music, no. If you're new and drop a link to your soundcloud, of course we'll let that slide. Copy/pasting a huge blurb about yourself including externals links will result in a mute or ban, because it's tiresome to moderate your posts every week. This is only for repeat offenders.

Q: Can I promote myself in a new thread, and linking my bandcamp, soundcloud, facebook, and other sites I put my music, if my music was mostly written as songaweek songs and I've released an album or EP?

A: Yes! If you've made an album or an EP, and some of that album or EP was from songaweek songs you posted, then feel free to make a new thread so we can have a good ol listen.

I hope this is alright with u/zeckz, but do want this group to exist on lemmy.world. He's got a group going at https://squabbles.io/s/songaweek. I'm hoping this can be an active sister group since squabbles is not federated.

The Twenty Eighth Week

This seems to be the theme of the 21st century, and also seems to only be increasing. The governments and ultra rich people in all countries are feeding each other's pockets to the detriment of the entire population. Down at lower levels, the taxes and fines are increasing and the earnings are decreasing. Housing prices are through the roof, the cost of living is outstripping wages, and moronic people are in charge of things that they shouldn't be in charge of. It's bleak, but there must be still goodness left in the population??! Write a song this week that tackles greed, from any point of view.

Your theme this week is Greed Songs posted in this thread should be:

Original content (samples and such are ok) Uses the weekly theme as inspiration.. or not! Submitted by Wednesday before bedtime Written entirely during this week, between July 13th and July 19th, 2023 Post template:

Song Name (Genre) [Themed|Not Themed]

This is where you can write a description of your song. You can talk about how you wrote it, where your inspiration came from, and anything else you'd like to say.