Always a fascinating topic!

I taught one Songwriting lesson a 'term' during guitar classes in the late 1990s.

There are lots of methods and many songwriters will be producing by a mix of ways.

The best must always be the complete 'line and tune' jumping into existance as one. If you've got something to say then a theme line will come 'unanounced' out of your mind (creative dept.). All you have to do is to remember it. Lots of inspired potential songs have been lost by not writing the spark down or recording something as soon as you can get to a suitable device.

The other methods have probablty all been touched on (havn't read every posting yet) but if you end up with something that sounds natural then you've probably got a good song - unless you ruin it by rubbish words or weak music in the later bits.

The top quality folkie songwriters I can think of here in Brighton are all remarkably different in styles (Indrani Ananda, Patricia Horton and A.N.O who amazingly won't generally play his own superb songs at in public).

A story to finish - I had the basic chorus line for a railway song for ages - couldn't resolve it but was determined to complete it for a particular steam railway to use a publicity. I'd tried all sorts of chord combinations and convoluted runs to fit the verse lyric structure.

One day sitting in the park cafe area with my guitar resolution struck - just use two chords for the whole song! I cut the third chord on the chorus, rejigged a bit of structure and the whole thing gelled.

If the super finger picking guitar chord wizards are thinking "it must be a crap song then", let me just add: this song made several plays on BBC national radio - the only song of mine ever to do so!

Ian Fyvie