I am a singer/songwriter, but I don't really know how to help you.
My songs just come to me, both lyrics and melody, and I'm not sure how it happens.
I'm always hearing music in my head, and because I don't read or write music, I must do everything "by ear", and every song must be memorized.
Some songs come to me instantly, as if I'm listening to a radio.
Other songs took years to compose.
I'm sixty-one years old, and learned to sing when I was a boy, imitating what I heard on the radio.
I would always sing, no matter where I was or what was going on around me.
I didn't learn to strum a guitar until I was a grown man, a soldier serving in Korea.
Another soldier showed me four guitar chords, which he said every Rock 'n' Roll song and every folk song used, and told me when I got those four chords memorized, he'd show me some more.
In my barracks, I not only practiced those four chords, but in the process of memorizing them, accidentally composed another song, "TELL ME HOW THINGS ARE IN CALIFORNIA", about a girl (isn't it always?) I was missing.
Then he showed me three more chords, used for all Country and Western songs, and I was on my way, writing song after song after song.
I used to write poetry, but after a while, the music in my head began merging with my words, and all of a sudden, I was composing songs instead of writing poetry.
I've even had songs come to me in my dreams, when I was sleeping, and one song came to me when I was asleep and dreaming I was asleep and dreaming, and that song is called "FROM A DREAM WITHIN A DREAM".
Someone who heard that song, and the story behind it, surmised that "someone is trying to tell you something".
I often wonder if my gift is due to the spirit of a deceased singer trying to get their songs heard through me?
How does it happen?
How can I teach you to do what I do?
I know I can't do it in YAHOO! Answers.
Maybe, if I were there, or you were here, MAYBE, just maybe, it might be possible to demonstrate or explain.
I'm strictly a solo act, and never performed with a band.
That's largely because I have no formal musical training, and I follow my own rhythm, which frustrates other musicians.
Also, I have trouble following other musicians because they know what they're doing, and I haven't a clue about what I'm doing.
Folks who see me perform are fooled into thinking I know how to play a guitar, but that's only because my singing is so good, they aren't paying close attention to what I'm doing with my guitar.
A true guitarist would know in a second that I don't really know how to play.
So, how do I help you, and what is the answer to your question?
A lot of this comes from emotion, and a lot of emotion comes from pain, a whole long lifetime of agony.
Yes, there's also love and hope to inspire, so it isn't all pain, loneliness, and heartbreak.
And frankly, I think my gift comes from God, as all good gifts do.
So, keep up your efforts, and I hope you succeed.
Can you hear the music in your head?
Can you put into words what you feel in your heart?
Cowboy up, and go for it!