Songwriting

[Biohazard]

Hi, I'm having trouble writing my own songs so I thought i'd ask you guys how you write. what techniques and methods do you use. How do you write, what part of songs do you write first. I'm mostly concerned with the music part of writing rather than lyrics. Any advice or tips would be appreciated.

[Curtis P]

if you want to write something, why dont you take what influences you, and study how they put it together, they use power chords then to a tapping solo, work with something like that, but make it your own

Curtis

[BLS]

learn scales and work with them. That was i do most of the time.

[Curtis P]

i also second that, although I only know one petonic scale and thats it

Curtis

[Saber]

One way to be original is to create the melody in your head first and then learn how to play it on guitar. Otherwise, if you write while playing the guitar, the tune will be dictated by what your hands are already accustomed to playing, and it will end up sounding like something you already know how to play. Creating the melody in your head beforehand will also force your hands to learn how to play something new and allow you to progress as a musician.

[BLS]

Oh and i forgot... sometimes i just play around with powertab and i usually come up with an idea and even sometimes a complete riff that sounds awesome.

[Biohazard]

Thanks guys I appreciate the help and support.

[Curtis P]

Oh and i forgot... sometimes i just play around with powertab and i usually come up with an idea and even sometimes a complete riff that sounds awesome.

I tried that before, and there guitar dont sound as good as a real one so sometimes its hard to tell if it will sound good or not unless you bring up your guitar, then your conterdicting saber's advice

Curtis

[Jivin]

Not necessarily, becuase its possible to write a peice in powertab or guitar-pro that isnt possible/is very difficult for you to play on guitar and in a fairly meager sense you get to hear the tune that you tabbed from something in your head

and any challenge that stimulates practice and development like that cant be bad

[Jehle]

For inspiration a few years ago I started looking at words or phone numbers to get ideas.

On my first CD I took the words "BEER DAY" and played chords based on the letters. Obviously there's no R or Y chord so I did something else there.

On another song off that same CD, "Numbers", I turned the numbers in my old phone number into a chord progression.

My latest composition uses the numbers in Pi to create a melody. It's totally mental sounding.

Anywho, it works for me. It's definately a way to think outside of the box. Anything is fair game when it comes to writing a song. Pick chords at random, force a melody out of that. Make up a synthetic scale and write chords and a melody from that. Anything works!

[PaulNeeds]

back when I started (and I'm not finished yet!!), I used to sit down to deliberately write a song. Lyrics, music, etc.

I reckon I must like about 3 or four of the 100+ songs I wrote like that, but some had good hooks or a snippet of lyric, or maybe a chordal or melodic theme that I used elsewhere later. A great tool is a cheap dictaphone to catch little bits and pieces of ideas before they fly off again to whence they came..

These days, I usually find that some 'idea' or phrase will get around to bugging the **** out of my head, I mean it drives me so nuts I cannot take it anymore - and then it has to be written out of my system. This can be either lyrically or musically by the way. I'll find a line cropping up in a solo when I'm gigging or rehearsing.

I still consider a lot of what I do naive - even after being at it for some 30 years now. But I kid myself I like it as it has a naive and unspoiled charm...

[fizzy_elephant]

i tend to go at composition from two directions..

sometimes i can pick something out of the air (often by chance... fingers falling on the wrong notes etc.)

sometimes i have to sit down and think about different techniques. Just like what Jehle was saying, thinking from a different angle.

recently i've taken to trying to write parts for the wrong instruments.. for instance.. using drumming sticking patterns for different instruments to get some funky rhythms.

one of the guys that amazes me the most from a compositional standpoint is messaien. he created his music from a really mathematical standpoint. making up scales of repeating patterns of tones and semitones, and using anagramatical rhythms (same forward and backward). most people cant listen to it at first (me included) but if you know what he was doing, the guy is a genius.

hope any of that makes sense to someone

[daveq]

I completely agree with Saber - I am not very good at writing new stuff when trying everything with the guitar in hand.

Another approach that sometimes works for me is to start with a bass arragement (using the lower strings of the guitar) - single notes only until I find something I like. I then expand those notes into chords and take things from there. Try to keep it very simple at the start and build on it.

[wylde1919]

Two things,

First take some classes on sightsinging/ear training. It will help you be able to put things you may hear in your head on to the fret board.

second, sit down and just play whatever comes to you in front of some form of recorder. Once you play it back you may just find some hidden jewels!

[Saber]

As we go through our daily routines, we often hum well-known tunes or have them playing in our head. Instead, make up the melodies. The more you exercise your songwriting in any way you can, the better it will get.

Expect your first tunes to sound corny, simplistic, or mediocre. But it's a phase that most songwriters have to go through. Record these mediocre tunes anyway if you can, just so you can close these early "chapters" and eventually mature and move on to material that you'll be happier with.

Like with anything else, you should improve with practise.

[Guitarfrenzy]

I would highly recommend you learning the chord patterns first. Using Roman numerals, the upper case(example: I, IV, V) mean Major Chord, the lower case (example: ii, iii) means using a Minor Chord. So here is the major key chord pattern.

I, ii, iii, IV, V, vi, VIIo

So basically if you was playing a song in the key of C this would be your chord pattern if you went straight through your chords.

C(I), Dm(ii), Em(iii), F(IV), G(V), Am(vi), Bo(VIIo)

The VIIo stands for diminished. You can also substitue a major chord for it if it sounds good.... lol

So basically if you know your major scales then you can find out what chord should be played depending on where your at in the scale. So for example let do a song in the key of G. The scale for it is like this.

G, A, B, C, D, E, F# ----------- one sharp (F#) in the key of G

just take each as such and you'll see why we have that pattern as you move up your gonna get the first note, third note, and fifth note which a different root each time.

G, B, D------ G chord .. (I)

A, C, E-------A minor chord .. (ii)

B, D, F#------B minor chord .. (iii)

C, E, G-------C chord .. (IV)

D, F#, A------D chord .. (V)

E, G, B-------E minor chord .. (vi)

F#, A, C------F# dim chord .. (VIIo)

So if your in they key G just learn your patterns, and just because don't start in the key of G that doesn't mean your not playing in it.. for example.. If you start a song that goes like such

D, C, G,

D, C, G

Am, C, Em

You can look for the elements and see that it's in the key of G. more later

[syxxstring]

Also I like to try the Rezznick method, otherwise known as alternate tuning. He basically will grab a guitar and just start tunining it to different notes till he likes what he hears. It makes it a nitemare to be his tech im sure, but results in good material.

[Guitarfrenzy]

Now let's take a look at how that can help you write songs. Let's say your in the key of G again. You've wrote a great verse. G //// G //// C //// D //// .. but now your stuck... we'll if you remember the theory you can find out which chords you can use to make a great chorus also..

G(I), Am(ii), Bm(iii), C(IV), D(V), Em(vi), F#o(VIIo)

So we can try try this progression..

Am //// C //// Bm //// C ////

or any number of progessions... it just opens up so many doors for songwriting... It lets you know the rules.. so you can break them and when you do, at least you will know you are.. lol

Also you can analyse songs and tell what key they are written in, by simply figuring out which they would fit in.

[Biohazard]

Thanks for all the advice, I appreciate it. I'll try these techniques over the weekend.

[noviceluthier]

my technique,

a few beers, maybe some jack daniels(which i cant get!one more year)

my old six string and then i explore my mind for rythym and blues.