Your Approach To Creating An Original Song!

[Veji]

hey everybody

just curious.
how many of you are creating your own music?
How much theory do you need to know to create your own music?
and whats your approach?

for me.. creating new music is hard..
its me just noodling around and finding something i like and expand from there. or if i have a melody in my head etc.
but the hard part is..building up from that idea or noodling.


need some suggestions.

[onetubetone]

For me atleast, I like to start with a good chordal base.  I make up an interesting chord progression or a strummy-thing that I like, I'll build from there and try and make it resemble a song.  When I've got all that down, I then sometimes work on making a melody, if it's called for.  I usually do that by recording my chordal backing and then improving over that, either on guitar or harmonica.  That's how I wrote my last full song, here:

http://www.digitalsoundplanet.com/Members/...7_000025572.mp3

I'm sure everyone's method is different though, and that's good!

[GIGGLER]

I use alot of sus and aug as transition chords, alot of hammer ons, some sliding triads, travis picking mixed with pinches and modified boom chuck and frailing. I don't write it down, so I forget it by the next time I pick up a guitar.
Funny thing is, when I want to write stuff down, it's garbage!

[onetubetone]

Funny thing is, when I want to write stuff down, it's garbage!

Hahaha you're right... when I first started writing songs Id get really depressed cuz i'd always forget the good stuff!  That's why I've made it a practice now to write everything down or record it.

[Caleb]

ive written severals songs in the last few years. the only ones that have been any good are the ones that happen completely by accident. poeple that purposely sit down and write good music completly fascinate me.

but the songs that have turned out good have usually just poured out of me, starting with the chords and a chorus that i couldn't get rid of. i wouldn't call myself a songwriter though. not yet, at least.

[Fergy07]

I agree about the accident part, I am working on something which has a cool picking pattern, and has the following chords, C#m, Bsus, A, E. I haven't spontaneously been inspired on a chorus or bridge section yet, so it seems to be languishing a little. I really wish I had paid more attention to the chord theory of playing guitar...

Andy

[danerada]

I have written a couple of worship songs. I find, for that genre, the simpler the better. I start by just hanging out with God and inevitably some music comes out of that. The songs just for me are usually a little more chordy and complex than the ones I do for congregation worship. They all usually start by me just playing my guitar and experimenting. My wife is very poetic and will just start singing to whatever it is I am playing...without that I probably would have a million unfinished tunes...

[Caleb]

I have written a couple of worship songs. I find, for that genre, the simpler the better.

yes, for worship, the simpler is always better. you have to remember that you're trying to get people who don't sing well, or dont know how to sing at all to sing! some folks make worship songs way too hard for the average joe, since the average joe is not musical. simple, catchy songs are whats best for worship. i want a song to still be bouncing around in someones head on wed that they heard on sunday.

also, for worhip tunes, the capo is your friend. <_<

for some reason, a capoed chord progression really hits the spot sometimes and makes for a really great song.

[acousticmom]

I worked on one all night long a few months ago.  Thought I'd finally hit the spot.  Chord progression - check.......melody line - check...........I am so awesome....then my husband walked through the room and said " Hey that's the nissan commercial....wow you nailed it"   :(    And so ends my songwriting career!

[AcousTronic]

Acousticmom, don't quit or be discouraged by that... I am sure it was not EXACTLY like the "Nissan Commercial", and you said your husband "just walked into the room" and that's what he said. It may have reminded him of it during a short moment of paying attention to what you were doing.

I played a new piece for a buddy of mine last week, and he said "Oh, that's exactly like that  John Mayor song"... Well, at first I couldn't believe it and was a little discouraged by the comment. Last thing I am is a plagiarist. After finding the song in question on the Net, I found that what he heard was a similar strum pattern and he jumped to that conclusion, but the piece of mine was in fact completely different ie: key, chords and progression were nothing like it, just the picking pattern. My friend lost credibility in my mind, and I am not going to run anymore ideas by him. But that may be similar to what you're dealing with.

If you completely recreated the commercial, then you have a gift of bringing what you hear in your mind, out through your insrument!! Be glad of that gift and hone it. Leave yourself open to more ideas, don't shut down your artistic outlet due to your feelings being a little hurt. Now, dust yourself off and get back in the game  ;)  

[Fisherman]

Some of the best songs are ones that 'sound' like others because they appeal in the same way as other good songs. I have found that the first time you hear a song that sounds like another one you notice it but after a few listens you forget that association. Weird.

[rockstar_not]

Take a flight to somewhere you have never been.  Always works for me.  Here's a song I wrote after being on Mulholland Drive in LA.  Note: No acoustics, just piano, some Eno-esque filtered/delayed/reverbed strat and my bass.

View From Mulholland

-Scott

[drdan]

I have been writing lately by starting with the melody and maybe one verse or chorus or hook.  Most memorable songs have a recognizable melody you can whistle, and most have a repeated hook or chorus.  Then I grab the guitar and figure out chords to put under the melody.

I also write a lot of lyrics that often might sit around for a while before I reach for them to try to put music to them.  My poetry tends to be very rhythmic and songlike just naturally so they usually turn out well.  My main inspirations for lyrics are Langston Hughes, Jeff Tweedy (of Wilco), Woodie Guthrie, and Willie Dixon.

New seeds of ideas come to be usually when I am walking or riding my bike or driving.  Usually it is just a melody and a couple lines of a song.  I then call my voicemail at work and record the idea.  Over the next couple weeks I listen to it on my voice mail every couple days.  Then it sits in my memory for up to a year until the inspiration hits and I write a song.

I tend to think that all of us have many song seeds pass through our minds each day.  The trick is to notice them and document/record them so you can work on them later.

Hope this is usefull.   B)   Dan  

[danerada]

also, for worhip tunes, the capo is your friend. <_<

I find that the Cut Capo really opens things up ;)