Songwriting?

[FlameHawk18]

Ever written a song? Tried to?

 

I've been wondering if anyone from the TipIt community has. There's a few musicians; I'd like to see if any of you have tried.

 

What's your usual start-off? Lyrics or the music? Solo or for a band?

[warri0r45]

Im a songwriter. Its an enormously cathartic and enjoyable experience. I used to write alternative rock/metal, but these days I mostly write death metal.

 

I generally start with an idea a riff, a chorus, or a verse and build off that by playing it on the guitar and progressing the idea in a musically logical way. From that, I eventually get around to completing whole songs. Its a pretty haphazard process for me, and I never write to a formula or preconceived notion of what the song structure should be.

 

I never write lyrics. Perhaps I should give that a shot though.

 

Some recommended scales for writing death metal:

 

Harmonic minor great variation on a boring old minor scale.

Whole/half for a nice evil tone.

Diminished arpeggio sounds angular, disjointed and evil as hell. Easy to change key.

[Zierro]

My brother and I love making our own music. We usually start with a single riff then just add to it until we're satisfied. My brother usually adds a solo which complements the song very nicely, then we try experimenting with different effects in order to change the mood of the song. We've tried lyrics but neither of us are that good. We know what we want to say, but we don't know how to say it. We're hoping to find a drummer and vocalist so then we can take things to the next level. All in all, I'm very happy with what we can do.

 

PS: There is a computer program called Guitar Pro which can help tremendously. We use it as a library for all our songs so we don't forget how they go and stuff like that. I recommend it to anyone interested in making their own music.

[rangeor]

Lately I've been sort of combining the modern method to composition with the classical method. Basically, the modern method has a couple verses, a chorus/riff/both, and a bridge and maybe a breakdown or outro. It's very structured and usually doesn't change to much. At least with the music I listen to. But before composers would not just limit the song down to a key signature but to a specific note, and have it resolve throughout the entire song to another note. Throughout the song tension is constantly being built up and released, but each release leaves just a little bit more tension to build up towards the big finale at the end of the song. I'm trying to use both methods by forming a sort of beginning note and having an ending note to resolve to, while also loosely following the modern structures. However the verses and choruses will be different nearly every time, there will be little themes to recognize them by. This keeps the songs memorable and easy to get into while trying something that isn't used often in modern music.

 

There's also a little thing I'm working on. It's sort of a new guitar technique. It's been done before, but very rarely because of its difficulty, and my method's a bit different. I'm not telling though :D

[Nadril]

I don't make music but it's interesting to hear on how some do, especially compared to the process someone might use for making a painting or digital image.

[Wongtong]

Hrm, do you guys have national/regional competitions where you submit in lyrics? I'm pretty sure we have a contest like that around here..

[Jernlov]

I almost always start with lyrics. That way, it makes it a lot easier to colour your lyrics with the music and make them stand out. For example, if we're in A major and the lyrics are of an optimistic nature, you could use a progression such as A-D-E-E; however, if they turn melancholic within the same composition you could modulate and use A-F#m-C#m-Bm. As for the actual music, it usually starts with me playing a few notes on my keyboard or guitar. Everything develops from those.

[Kalphite]

I've tried writing music, but I am really awful at making lyrics. However, I have taken to making some "electronic" music with fruity loops, mainly because that's all I know how to do with the program. If you're interested, you can listen to some of it at http://www.myspace.com/nokeyboardsareflyingwithoutus. It isn't the best, but I'm happy with "The coming of Autumn" (yeah I know it's pretentiously titled) and "Spiders," and if it sucks I want somebody to tell me because the only people who I've shown the music before are friends and they obviously give biased opinions.

 

My main issue with writing music is that the only instrument that I play is drums, so while I can come up with ideas for melodies, I have no way of writing them down and thus quickly forget them. I'm trying to learn bass as well now to try to help the issue, but that combined with my inability to write lyrics makes it difficult for me to write anything other than those little 2 minute doodles on the myspace page.

[FlameHawk18]

My methods are very closely related to both SilverSword's and rangeor's. It usually depends on what kind of music I'm trying to make.

 

I've tried my hand at writing lyrics myself, but I usually do a lot of revising before actually doing the instrumentation on piano or guitar. Usually after I make it with just one of those instruments, I expand on it and make a more in-depth version with bass, guitar, drums, etc.

 

Pretty much just start it as if it's a solo piece, then make it into a full band piece.

 

On the other hand, I've never completed a song. <_<

[depresins]

When I'm writing alone, I record the bass, then the drums, then I usually think of the vocal rhythm. I tend to humm or use a synth. Then I do the lyrics, last comes guitar/synth parts.

 

When it's with the whole band, lyrics come first. The old label we were on used to make us come up with lyrics for 15 full songs which they'd pick 8 of, then we'd usually have to write 2 different instrumentals to go along with it. I personally hated it, because my lyrics aren't always chosen for their content, sometimes it more about the rhythm and the structure of the words themselves, but that's the way we've written together for a few years so we are used to it.

 

My preferred way of writing is I sit down behind the drum kit and go with some random beats and our drummer will usually grab a bass and play along. That generally gives us a structure that it's easy for everybody to understand. Once we settle with a groove and key, we switch back to our respective instruments and go over it while myself and the singer will come up with melodies etc. Then it's just tweak tweak tweak tweak tweak until we get bored and write something new!

 

Oh, I play guitar, sing and pre-record and activate the synth parts.

[Range_This11]

If you're going to write a song, you need to start from a musical standpoint first.

 

What my guitarist and I do is develop some sort of rhythmic pattern that we like for the drums (since he is also a drummer), then he comes up with a one-tone pattern to go across the top of it that compliments my drumming pattern but is still different from mine. From there we decide what type of chord progression, picking style, distortion, delay, etc. goes on it. After that is decided, we bring in our bassist to write a solid moving bassline underneath all of it. If everyone is on board, we'll usually play on that idea for a few rehearsals until we've gone down every avenue that might spring from those original ideas. Typically we throw almost everything away that we come up with and hang on to the good bits. Throughout this whole process we usually get a feel for which emotion or idea is in our heads while writing and playing the ideas and the bassist and I sit down and come up with concepts for lyrics. Usually this process takes about a month if we're patient enough and do things right.

[Hawks]

I'll write 'epic' poetry every once in a while that I actually like and I would enjoy putting to music... But I generally don't. I've written a couple of crappy little things with no tune... I really hate following key signatures. If I had a legit instrument (notably a bass guitar) I would probably write some stuff. If I had a decent computer I might try some techno. But all I've got is an alto sax, not great for composing music with.

[bongo_man]

Whenever I think of something that I think sounds nice (or sad, angry, etc.), I quickly play it on the piano and save it on Sibelius so I don't ever forget it But as for actual song making, I've only fully made about 3 or 4 songs, one of those being a variation on Happy Birthday I did for a friend. Right now I'm trying to compose a piece for a concert band, and it's a hell of a lot more work than just thinking of parts for piano, but also a hell of a lot more fun.

[rangeor]

Here's a little suggestion. Whenever you make an addition/subtraction/change to your composition, ALWAYS have a legitimate reason for doing so. "It just fits" is not worthy of an excuse and will only hurt you in the long run. Well, unless whatever you had before was actually decent and the addition/subtraction/change is terrible... but that's what band mates are for!

[Mr_Adam]

I've had an urge to write a song for a couple of days now - nothing too fancy, something like 1979 by Smashing Pumpkins.

I've written a couple simple songs fro alto sax, and I can really beast some improv tunes, but I wanna do something with guitar.

 

Oh, and in 8th grade I wrote a poetry packet much akin to Pink Floyd's The Wall. I suppose I could add music to it, that's what I had in mind, but it'd probably sound plagiarized (because in my head, some of it was). That'd be nice to see done.

 

Maybe I'll write one this week, and get it up.

 

 

BTW, my poetry packet got 105/100, with no criteria open for extra credit =P

[Intriguing]

If I had a legit instrument (notably a bass guitar) I would probably write some stuff. [...] But all I've got is an alto sax, not great for composing music with.

:shock: You could do way more interesting things with a saxophone.

Anyway, almost all of my writing comes from improvisation. I'll record an improvisation session, re-listen to it and find the good motifs, which I tend to store away. I want to get some more composition experience before I go to university, so after my auditions I'll be working a bit more on it.

Most of what I write is either for solo violin and reminiscent of Impressionist/Post-Romantic, or for voice and minimal accompaniment in a Freak Folk/Blues style. I much prefer listening to music with only a few layers (1-3) so that's why I write like that. Also it's a lot easier. :)

[Hawks]

^IMO, based on the way I was taught to play it and the way I've played it coupled with the fact that I haven't played it for at least 6 months makes me think that I could/would do better with something new, and I've wanted to learn bass for a while now. To me it just sounds really epic, although most of the 'cool' bass lines I know of are only a few notes repeated over and over again.

 

With any luck though my stint in jazz band (on the bari sax, mind you) this year I'll get better at improv and FOLLOWING KEY SIGNATURES/CHORD PROGRESSIONS. (we do this solo thing where everybody in the band plays like an 8-bar solo. I suck at it because I still can't get the chord progression right...)

[Guest Mrmegakirby]

I wrote a drum solo last year for my talent show (Grade 7 at the time). Fairly simple, and easy enough to play - a few different techniques it. About 20 minutes long, I have the tabs saved on my computer ( I think) if anyone wants them.

[Mr_Adam]

With any luck though my stint in jazz band (on the bari sax, mind you) this year I'll get better at improv and FOLLOWING KEY SIGNATURES/CHORD PROGRESSIONS. (we do this solo thing where everybody in the band plays like an 8-bar solo. I suck at it because I still can't get the chord progression right...)

 

I, personally, don't know as much theory as I should. I can barely follow chord progressions when I solo. Tbh, it really comes down to my feel of the song, and what I happen to blast out. Simple and effective, even though I probably sound a bit pretentious (right word?).

 

I should learn more theory though :mellow:

[champion]

I, personally, don't know as much theory as I should.

Same here. I think it's quite dull really, or at least the way my guitar teacher taught it to me, it seemed that way.

[Range_This11]

I, personally, don't know as much theory as I should.

Same here. I think it's quite dull really, or at least the way my guitar teacher taught it to me, it seemed that way.

If you don't know theory, you can't write good songs in my opinion. You have to know why to put a note or a beat in it's place before you write it.

[champion]

I, personally, don't know as much theory as I should.

Same here. I think it's quite dull really, or at least the way my guitar teacher taught it to me, it seemed that way.

If you don't know theory, you can't write good songs in my opinion. You have to know why to put a note or a beat in it's place before you write it.

I'm sure you're right. I haven't really tried to write a proper song before; wouldn't quite know where to start. I'll have to work on it.

[Zierro]

If you don't know theory, you can't write good songs in my opinion. You have to know why to put a note or a beat in it's place before you write it.

 

I don't agree with that. It might help, but it's not a requirement. Sometimes songs can be made up almost randomly and still be very good. And I'm sure there's also been some great musicians who just picked up their instruments and made music without learning a thing about theory. But I guess it just boils down to opinion - your definition of good music might be different than mine.

[Range_This11]

If you don't know theory, you can't write good songs in my opinion. You have to know why to put a note or a beat in it's place before you write it.

 

I don't agree with that. It might help, but it's not a requirement. Sometimes songs can be made up almost randomly and still be very good. And I'm sure there's also been some great musicians who just picked up their instruments and made music without learning a thing about theory. But I guess it just boils down to opinion - your definition of good music might be different than mine.

There are almost no artists that make it big that do not have a background in theory or classical. Even if a musician is playing something completely random their background and training bleeds into that whether or not it sounds like it or not.

[Intriguing]

I definitely agree with Range about theory. You have to know the rules before you can break them, and music just isn't fun unless you're breaking the rules. :)