Songwriting?

[Range_This11]

You need it.

[Saru Inc]

I write lyrics. Not too good at writing music.

[guss]

My best lyrics/ poetry usually comes from a catchy line i have in my head... then I wright that down... later think about it again when I have a good fitting line that can add on to my first line, at that point I'm usually in the food court at the mall with some kind of food to preoccupy my self and distract security (hehe, until braces came... It was apples!!!)...

Note: my malls food court is so empty they have music playing, I usually listen to that or something on my Ipod and My latest best pieces were written on a legal pad, I always have at least one around!

[Futurama]

How important is theory if you want to start writing music? Becuase I really, really want to write something decent, but I took a look at theory, and I couldn't make heads or tails of some parts.

 

there's no way you can just "jump into" writing music as such, which is the reason that so many people learn guitar - it's quite easy to shove chords together. Some of the greatest songs ever written use hugely boring and generic chords! Look at Wonderwall...easy stuff, but a fantastic song.

There's no better way to learn music than to sit in front of your chosen instrument and learn it bit by bit. Music is complicated but you'll pick it up if you spend the time and effort and most importantly, have some artistic bounds.

[Ragen]

I normally start with a jam recorded onto a phone/ portable recorder or through audacity on the PC. From there I write out the guitar riffs in guitar pro, add bass and drum ideas and then work the rest of the song in guitar pro, adding parts as I write them on the guitar and then follow up with drum and bass. Keyboards feature in a few songs but generally I'm not skilled enough with them to know what to put. Lyrics are usually wrote after the song and try to reflect the mood or story I'm trying to convey.

 

Last song was parody Pirate theme death metal.

 

Breaking out from cover,

I leap through the dark,

decapitate the cabin boy,

And throw him to the sharks, yearRrrrrgh.

 

Shame we never got round to recording any of the stuff.

[pegpenguin]

Honestly in the mainstream, almost none of the artists understand true theory, they just go along with what they hear and play by ear. I'll tell you this, I've been in 3 bands, the first one the piano player followed theory rigorously, and never broke any of the rules, saying "this is how it's done", while our actual songwriter and singer knew very little about theory, and mostly cared about rhythm and just whatever sounded good he went with. This cause a lot of problems >.>

 

The second one, the guy knew theory but he wasn't hindered by it and it was a lot of fun playing with him.

 

The last one, this guy knows nothing about theory at all, he just grew up around music and he's a natural too it. Makes it hard to play along cause he plays some intricate things without understanding it and it's beyond me, but it's good to play with someone better than you so you can get better :P

 

Theory isn't essential to songwriting and playing an instrument, but as long as you aren't afraid to push the boundaries, Theory can do nothing but help your understanding of what your doing and makes it much much easier to play with others.

 

I know a little about theory but nothing beyond basics although I'm trying to expand my understanding. As for rhythm theory, I don't count in my head, I get confused and loose the beat. At first I played at the wrong tempo, but I worked hard to fix it, I took a metronome and played simple quarter notes on my bass for like 10 minutes and then changed tempo and now I can just feel it. although I might have trouble with some weirder time sigs, but once I get a feel for a song I can play almost anything. I was never a natural at music but since I've immersed myself in it for the past two years, I'm as good as a natural player if not better because I understand how I got to where I am.

 

And Rangeor, I like your idea for composing a song, mind if I apply it to a song? should be interesting haha

 

I also write lyrics, well more poetry than anything else, and if I happen to write a song that sounds familiar, I'll read through my poetry and see if it fits, and I make any changes I think sound good and it usually works out well haha

 

I'm thinking I should pick up regular guitar so I can better understand chords and then I'll have a better understanding of bass lines and I'll be the best bassist ever :P

[gauper_kid]

I'm too afraid something like this will happen.