How to start writing/composing

[Ignatius]

I heard Graham Nash in an interview say that he wrote everything in the key of C on the piano…white keys only…. And transposed later as needed.

You might find this short book helpful. It was for me.

Jeff Tweedy How to Write One Song Book

ABOUT HOW TO WRITE ONE SONG There are few creative acts more mysterious and magical than writing a song. But what if the goal wasn’t so mysterious and was actually achievable for anyone who wants to experience more magic and creativity in their life? That’s something that anyone will be inspired...

wilcostore.com

 

[JRA]

The best way to write a good song is to write lots of songs first.

songwriting requires that you write songs. so, write some songs. you start by writing a song. after that, write another song. so on and so forth....good luck!

 

[waveman]

Do you write lyrics, then set it to music? Do you write the "harmony" first, then add the bass, then add the other layers, then find lyrics that fit? Is this more of an art? Or a science? Do you really need to understand music theory? Or just grab a guitar and start strumming and changing chords, and see what happens?

Yes, all of that.

I start from every angle and put things together as they fit. Theory helps with quickly putting things together or as a base of experimentation.

Lyrics: start here -> Writing Better Lyrics by Pat Patterson.
Another decent book is Murphy's Laws of Songwriting, by Ralph J Murphy.

 

[Brandon Shea]

I'm watching this thread because I'd also like to get into writing some of my own music, but every time I sit down to try and do that, I come up blank. Thanks for posting!

I'll try to answer your question about choosing a key. The way modern instruments are tuned, various key signatures all wind up being interchangeable. Historically this wasn't always the case, and different key signatures really could influence the feeling of a piece. Check it out on YouTube if that sounds interesting.

Anyway, choosing a key only really matters to 1) get in a comfortable range for your vocalist, and 2) make parts easier to play on specific instruments. G tends to be easy on guitar, D tends to be easy on violin, Bb is easy on some wind instruments, etc. The other thing that comes to mind when I think about using unusual key signatures is that it might break some of your existing habits and bring out something new and unexpected. Of course, the same can be said about a lot of effects pedals...

 

[brianrost]

Another question - is it possible/advisable to only write in one key (such as C or A-minor, for obvious reasons), then use some kind of "auto-transpose" software? Or do you "have to" compose in the right key?

You compose in the key you want to sing it in.

 

[monsterthompson]

A good tool to have in the library. Every example in the book is in C for ease of comparison. It groups various genres and styles and provides a few examples and exercises.

 

[Lefty Joe]

Like any other activity, look to those who already do it -- and you see every possible approach has been used. Read interviews, and you find hints and comments -- some of which you may or may not be able to use.

Van Morrison composed "Into the Mystic" verbally. The bass line came to him first, and he created a vocal to go with it.

Rush liked to jam on instrumental ideas, then used Peart's poetry to create lyrics.

One lesson is offered by "Cadence and Cascade" on the second King Crimson album. It originally had different music, but the band split. Departing musician Ian MacDonald recorded his own album using the music but different lyrics, while the KC version used the lyrics but gave it different music.

Gregg Allman claimed to have thrown away hundreds of songs he had written. I found this unlikely, until I read Dolly Parton saying she wrote a song _every_day_ (!!). She then clarified: these weren't necessarily releasable, recordable songs; they could simply be about doing the dishes. And I realized the logic: she practiced songwriting like working out at the gym. Keep it up, keep the process going, be on top of your songwriting game.

In college courses, the teacher might simply draw a curvy line over the music staff. Choosing a key, he/she may then add specific notes from that key, then require the students to add in notes underneath in accordance with the rules of classical harmonic composition. The end result may or may not be very pleasing, but a composer could easily use it: shape it, change it, bend it to be something interesting.

Often a song has resulted from someone doing some exercise on their instrument (Jorma Kaukonen's "Embryonic Journey" on the second Jefferson Airplane album). Sometimes that exercise was then turned into a song ("Led Zeppelin's "Stairway to Heaven"). A drum pattern, a bass warmup, an evocative synth sound -- if it takes your mind someplace musical, then you've potentially got a song.

Can you take someone else's song and put in your own lyrics? Yes, and people often do. Chuck Berry went further: when asked to name ten of his favorite songs, he named ten of his own -- explaining that everything he liked best, he put into his own songs. Being Chuck Berry, this was likely also a shrewd promotional tactic, but still a good guideline.

To avoid copying other people's work too closely, you might deliberately steal ideas from disparate sources; e.g. Elvis singing "It's Now or Never" vs "O Sole Mio". In the 90s there was a theme for Monday Night Football where the electric guitar was playing a riff from a Christmas song ("Giddy-up, giddy-up, giddy-up let's go"). Out of context, with a distorted sound, and the underlying harmony changed to the relative minor = different feeling, different song.

Or of course you can go for something entirely different (Frank Zappa's "The Perfect Stranger"). So it's up to you; make something you want to hear.

 

[Danny O Danny]

Any advice would be appreciated.

Although I've written songs going back to when I was a kid, I didn't really take off on doing it until I was in my 50's. Now I'm in a band that plays all original music, about 80% of which is songs I've written (and we make hardly any money at it) and I've written a ton of songs that people generally seem to like. I also perform solo at open mics and songwriter showcases. I say all that to say, the most important thing is to just do it.

A few more specifics:

1. If you're an investment advisor and CPA then you're a smart guy and, I assume, a reader. I found it very helpful and inspiring to read what other songwriters have to say. A few books that have helped me a lot:
a. Songwriters on Songwriting by Paul Zollo
b. More Songwriters on Songwriting by Paul Zollo
c. Saved By A Song by Mary Gauthier
d. How To Write One Song by Jeff Tweedy
*** There are tons more, and the genre of the songwriter doesn't really matter. You can learn useful things from a country songwriter
as much as a prog rock songwriter.

2. Find out where the songwriter open mics are in your towns (avoid the open mics where people just play cover songs). Go and observe and listen. It will inspire you and challenge you. Maybe you'll meet some folks to work with (as an example, the band Head & The Heart was started by three songwriters who kept running into each other at a particular open mic in Seattle).

3. Most songwriters will say (and it's true for me too) that sometimes a lyric comes first, sometimes a musical idea comes first, something they both come together. There are no rules. The most important thing is to be attentive to when an idea comes, and pursue it. Many songwriter keep notebooks with them to jot down ideas, or use their cell phones. Sometimes it take 30 minutes to write a complete song, sometimes it takes years

4. Get some recording software (Garageband, Logic Pro, etc.) or a digital recording device (such as a Zoom R24) and learn how to use it by making recordings of song ideas.

5. No, you don't need to know music theory (of course it's helpful if you do). By your age you've imbibed enough theory, such as diatonic harmony, by osmosis from listening to music. Even though you may not know the nomenclature, it will come out naturally. You already intuitively know what chords sound good together because you've been hearing it all your life. So yeah, grab a guitar (or bass) and start noodling.

Just my $0.02

 

[gtmalone]

First off, I'm not a professional musician. The stuff I have learned has been picked up over the years and I've taken a couple of arranging classes at a local community college. I also found a couple of really good books on arranging methods that were used in that class. There are some generally accepted methods but it's also a lot of trial and error. Over time you'll learn what works and what doesn't. I also play bass in a jazz combo and the big band at that school. I'm fortunate to have that as my "lab" for new stuff.

Your melody and chord progression need to work together. I would suggest starting with a chord progression from a tune you like, then develop a new melody. You can use bits of the original melody. A blues would be a good and pretty easy place to start. Play the chords until you get the sound of the progression in your head, then sing (or play) a melody that fits the changes. Transcribe the melody on paper with the chord changes. Play the chords on piano or guitar then sing the melody. How does it sound? Move the melody notes around until it sounds good to you. You can also transcribe the chords and melody into music editing software like Dorico, Sibelius, or some of the free stuff that's out there. Harmonize your melody with chord tones from whatever chord is in effect. Lots of options here.

That's more or less my approach. When I sing or play the melody the notes may not be exactly what I want but I at least get the shape of the line and the rhythms I want. I'll adjust those until I like it. Most of my stuff is arranging an existing tune. Some are instrumental and some are vocal tunes usually with four horns and rhythm section. I've done one big band arrangement. Here are snippets of a tune I arranged the other year. It was originally a vocal tune but works well as instrumental. I started with a lead sheet of the chords and the melody, transcribed that into the software, then developed the tune. It took about three months but I only worked on it a few hours each week as part of the arranging class. The first attachment is an 8 bar intro and where the melody and a composed counter melody start, then transition to a fully harmonized melody. The melody rhythms have been altered from the original. The other attachment is a horn soli section where I used bits of the melody then wrote the rest of it. I have a live video of this arrangement I can post if it would be helpful.

As others said, jump in and do it! I will be frustrating at times but it's also fun especially when you hear your stuff played.

 

[fishdreams]

It can be done in all kinds of ways incl. the ones OP described.

I have written or co-written numerous songs and compositions over the decades, none of which I sang myself and rarely uses in my own projects.

I would consider the following when starting out:

1. Do you know who is the voice you are writing for? Your own or soemone else you have on mind? Then write with that voice on mind.
2. There are all kinds of ways to chose a backbone for a song. Play riffs and glue them together onto a coherent pièce of music? Hum some Melody and find some chords to go with it behind the piano or acoustic Guitar and put some Words to it? Have a notebook of lyrics and start there? All of these work and all of these come with strategies to turn them into coherent pieces of music. Experiment and have fun whilw you put in the work.
3. Writing the compositions is one, arranging it into the finished product another, getting a good recording or demo that shows off the song in a favorable light yet another. Keep these crafts separate and find help where you need it. Be honest and generous with giving writing or arranging credit. Good musicians will make your music better and they should be a aknowledged for it.
4. Especially when starting out, pick tunes you like or admire apart and reverse engineer them back together. Dont steal or ‘borrow’ the hook or catchphrase or idea - steal the construction and try to put something together in that vein. That is the way I learned real fast where my strong and weak points were, and what makes a tune work or not work. Over time I grew into a workflow that accentuated my strong points, which were also the things I appreciate and tend to emotionally connect with in a piece of music. It allowed me to produce some inspired work I took some pride in. In the end that is what kept me going.

 

[coyote1]

Do you write lyrics, then set it to music? Do you write the "harmony" first, then add the bass, then add the other layers, then find lyrics that fit? Is this more of an art? Or a science?

Answer to all the above: YES.

Do you really need to understand music theory? Or just grab a guitar and start strumming and changing chords, and see what happens?
Would it be totally inappropriate to "borrow" some of your favorite tunes and slightly re-write them so they're a "derivative" of the original? (A la "Sweet Home Alabama" and "The Four Horsemen") Or just straight-up rip it off? ("Under Pressure" > "Ice Ice Baby") Granted, most of these songs (Amazing Grace, Sweet Hour of Prayer, Old Rugged Cross) are in the public domain, so there's nothing ILLEGAL about it...just probably highly frowned upon.

Any advice would be appreciated.

You don’t need to understand theory. Copyrighted songs consist of either melody, or melody + lyrics. Chords are not subject to copyright. So if you come up with an original melody, you can copyright it even without lyrics.

Therefore, go at it from either (or any) direction. Wherever you get the inspiration. Bang out chords and mumble a melody. Write some verse and set it to music. Whatever gets you going.

If you’re writing lyrics, don’t get hung up on rhymes. One on the greatest songs of the 1970s was by Barry Manilow (seriously). Looks Like We Made It had very little actual rhyme. What it had was feeling, flow, emotion, and melody. All those were more than strong enough.

 

[TOOL460002]

I write very differently in a band context versus solo, mainly (linear) electronic music to a buddy I Zoom jam with using Ableton, so loop-based. If it's purely digital drums or a synth line are the best starters. With a band anyone can start with anything and it's a back and forth. They are different levels of control and investment. Many ways to skin this cat.

 

[logdrum]

If song means something with lyrics, it always starts with words, a story poetry a concept

If song means melodic composition then many approaches

1- Motif / riff based (includes ragas)
2- Chord progression
3- Rhythmic based (including beats electronic music - groove box)
4- Evolving themes (like scoring)
5- Sound design
7- Electronic sequencing or electronic assisted randomization (Euro rack - synth)
8- Pure improvisation, think Avant grade like Anthony Braxton) No harmonic guard rails
9- Noise and effects based
1- - Classical compositional techniques
11 - Improvisation rooted to chord structures or modes/scales

 

[Phe]

Didn't read all the answers here, so there might be some overlap.

What you're describing as your inspiration is very riff based music, as in short-ish and repetative musical ideas. So, modern rock. You can set your riffs to any key, although some riffs are easier to transpose than others. Or your riffs can be chord progressions on their own.

You can either write your lyrics first and try to fit them to melody, or you can write the melody first and try to fit the lyrics there. You'll find out fast if the lyrics don't match the melody and vice versa. Aaaaand you can write your melody to existing chord progression, or you can harmonize your melody later. Or just imply harmony and not hire a guitarist or keyboard player.

Your song can be a one chord wonder or have more chords than a jazz players wet dream, doesn't matter. And you can definitely borrow from existing songs. That's a great way to learn how that type of music is composed.

 

[KeepItMoving]

There's been a ton of good advice shared above! I would just add one thing that took me a number of years to figure out.

Like the OP, my day job is mostly focused on rational, logical, analytical thinking. While that can absolutely be helpful at certain points in the composition process, I've found that overall I get better, more musical results by consciously tapping into other parts of the brain that are more poetic, intuitive, and connection-making.

It can be challenging to "turn off" one set of neurons on demand, but in my experience it's an important step, especially for writing lyrics.

Best of luck to everyone who's writing!

 

[srosenthal13]

There's been a ton of good advice shared above! I would just add one thing that took me a number of years to figure out.

Like the OP, my day job is mostly focused on rational, logical, analytical thinking. While that can absolutely be helpful at certain points in the composition process, I've found that overall I get better, more musical results by consciously tapping into other parts of the brain that are more poetic, intuitive, and connection-making.

It can be challenging to "turn off" one set of neurons on demand, but in my experience it's an important step, especially for writing lyrics.

Best of luck to everyone who's writing!

That's a very valid point. I'm also in a "rational/logical" career (software development), and it's important to be self-aware enough to know when you're in "rational" mode or "intuitive" mode. One thing we can do to help us shift modes from rational to more creative and intuitive, is to go back and edit what we wrote previously. It's a bridge from one thought process to the other. Look for the weak spots in the writing (whether it's music or lyrics), and then work on making it better. Take that musical or lyrical cliche, and figure out a way to knock it off center. That's one way to get back into a creative flow.

 

[mambo4]

Be specific about melody.

It's easy to vamp some chords and improvise vocals over them.
But at some point you have to nail down the melody specifically.
You'll need to know precisely which notes you are trying to sing.
Can't hit a target if you don't have a target.

 

[monsterthompson]

Can't hit a target if you don't have a target.

Thinking in terms of targets is something it took me way too long to figure out.

 

[KeepItMoving]

One thing we can do to help us shift modes from rational to more creative and intuitive, is to go back and edit what we wrote previously. It's a bridge from one thought process to the other. Look for the weak spots in the writing (whether it's music or lyrics), and then work on making it better. Take that musical or lyrical cliche, and figure out a way to knock it off center. That's one way to get back into a creative flow.

Great point! I'd never thought of it that way before, but it's totally true that looping back to a work in progress can be a portal into the right mindset. And the old saying, "amateurs write, professionals rewrite" is 100% applicable here.

 

[Krisfield]

Always remember what Brian Wilson said about songwriting. Write the Chords, then the Melody, then the Lyrics.

But from from a theory stand point, these are some of the things to consider.

• Musical Form
  • Repetition, Variation, Contrast
  • Theme and Variation: A*A**A***A****
  • Through Composed: ABCD
  • Strophic: AAAA
  • Binary: AB
  • Rondo: ABACA
• Dynamics
  • Loud <—> Soft
  • Notes
  • Phrase
  • Song Structure, Loud Verse, Soft Chorus
  • Dynamic Range
• Tonality
  • Key and Scale
  • Major = Happy
  • Major = Sad
  • Atonal = Confused
  • Modal = Folk Style
  • Consonant vs Dissonant
• Timbre
  • Pure Sine Wave vs Distorted Guitar
  • Instrument Character
  • Voice Character
• Texture
  • Thick vs Thin Texture
  • Monophonic, One Part Moving
  • Polyphonic, Parts Moving Independently
  • Homophonic, Parts Moving Together
  • Heterophony, Two or more parts with variation
• Rhythm
  • Tempo
  • Time Signature
  • Accents
  • Length of Note
  • Beat or Pulse
• Melody
  • Phrase
  • Cadence
  • Conjunct vs Disjunct Motion
  • Contour, Up and Down
  • Monophonic texture
  • Scales, Major Minor
  • Melodic Intervals
  • Rhythm/Meter, Duration of pitches
• Harmony
  • Chord
  • Interval
  • Parts, Seperate Lines in the Progression
  • Tonality, Home Base Note
  • Unison
  • Triad, Most Popular