Let's talk about songwriting...

[Terr-or Form]

Let's start a new post and see how people do it.

As an industrial musician with only two members of the band, here is what we do:

We start with a hook. Sometimes it's a cool beat, sometimes it's a cool bassline, and sometimes it's nothing more than a sample (like the doorbell ringing and the UPS dude says, "I have a package for..." (yes, we record them!!).

From the hook, we build. We look for measures to focus on the meaning of the song (verse), a way to keep the song interesting (chorus), etc.

The basics is usually:

Drum
Bass
Rhythm
Arrangement

Once we have figured out how many measures of this and how many measures of that, we start to perfect (strange, that term really doesn't apply to music). We will usually go through the song and add drum fills to transition to the next part of the song, add samples where the song seems to lose steam, even have an instrumental section where we can change directions for a time to keep the song interesting.

Anyway, that is how we do it basically. As far as how we sequence and track and record samples and such - that is for other posts. How about the rest of you. How do you approach and write your music?

 

[Skipp]

hehe... cool topic. This way we may learn more about how other member on the forum think...

So anyway... I never do full song composing... I do only the piano part. Usually it starts with pure improvisation, then that little part sounds cool,
and I try to evolve it... I have the help from a friend of mine who does some lyrics for me. She's quite good in making good points and directions where to take the music so we do some stuff together...

Yesterday I came up with this... a very simple tune yet to be expanded

http://www.box.net/shared/g65uvqqucc

 

[Musika]

Sysryn i like that a lot.... when i hear something like that it makes me write songs lol

 

[Dr.Clock]

I recently stared to write some metal riffs and a blues solo in guitar.
In piano, I usually start with ... F# mayor for example, and then a I came up with a melody and then I add some chords. I should finish one song this week.

 

[torry]

Songwriting

Hi all

I'm s songwriter who writes for the commercial market. I am also a teacher in songwriting at a university. I am building a website about this subject. It is under construction, but it can be seen here:

www.songwriting-guide.com

Maybe there's something of interesst there

Tor

 

[JimRH8]

I don't really approach it in any specific way, really. I'll have an idea for a title or a good riff or chord change, and the rest just kind of follows or is totally cliche and forced if its not a good song (which is most of the time!) -

I've tried writing with other people but it never really, works for me anyway. It's not really an ego thing, I don't think my ideas are neccecarily better than the other persons', it just feels really weird. like trying to draw a picture while someone else holds the pen at the same time as you

 

[Dr.Clock]

like trying to draw a picture while someone else holds the pen at the same time as you

I like that phrase

 

[Riotblade]

I usually record people like that! My dad usually says things while I record my house and I put some qoutes in. I usually use a drum machine and my foreign friend u plays bass send me his recording and I make some simple licks on the keyboard and some guitar parts and use computer arrangement to make the song have a junky groove to it.

I like Jam music like this.

I only wrote 3 songs though.

 

[evergreenthompson]

Great topic! Dragging song from head to some kind of permanent form is something I've always wanted to do, but have yet to sit down and do, largely because I don't really know how.

The process Terr-or Form describes is a lot like how I tend to write software (start with "hook" and keep adding/editing until the customer is satisfied). More than once I've heard that developers who are also musically inclined tend to be better developers. I don't know that I'd call myself any more musically inclined than anyone else, but hopefully my peers' comments about my code-building skills is an indication of what I'll find in my eventual music-building skills.

Tor, great looking site. A quick read of a few pages will have me going back for more. You have nicely distilled some of the topics I've recently relearned from a few books down to something I can more easily remember and use.

 

[JimRH8]

Great topic! Dragging song from head to some kind of permanent form is something I've always wanted to do, but have yet to sit down and do, largely because I don't really know how.

The process Terr-or Form describes is a lot like how I tend to write software (start with "hook" and keep adding/editing until the customer is satisfied). More than once I've heard that developers who are also musically inclined tend to be better developers. I don't know that I'd call myself any more musically inclined than anyone else, but hopefully my peers' comments about my code-building skills is an indication of what I'll find in my eventual music-building skills.

Tor, great looking site. A quick read of a few pages will have me going back for more. You have nicely distilled some of the topics I've recently relearned from a few books down to something I can more easily remember and use.

Dude, don't be scared or think there's some secret genius behind song writing - I'm an idoit; if I can do it anyone can. If you have an idea, say for some catchy hook or something, but you can't think of the rest, just record the hook and leave it like that. I have a stockpile of crappy guitar riffs on powertab on my PC - sometimes I just dig one up and make a song, years after I wrote the original hook. For about 2 years into starting writing the only thing I would write would be intros to songs - like 4 bars or so of music (it used to really annoy my bandmates...).

usually songs follow a structure something like:
-intro (sometimes - can sometimes be the chorus, an instrumental chorus, or the main hook)
-verse #1
-chorus
-verse #2
-chorus
-instrumental
-chorus

but there are countless exeptions and varaitions so don't feel limited to this in any way.
there's stuff like pre-choruses, bridges, breakdowns etc. etc. as well.

 

[evergreenthompson]

...
I'm an idoit; if I can do it anyone can. If you have an idea, say for some catchy hook or something, but you can't think of the rest, just record the hook and leave it like that.
...

Hey, that's me! Now if only I could figure out the best keyboard and software combination for me. (Oh, alright... and the family too. )

Thanks for the word of encouragement!

 

[airean]

im in the same aea well sort of viking/follk metal. ther are 3 in the band so far. someone of us will write a riff usually on guitar pro or some short we jiff and let the other guys hear it if its gud guitarist will back up with guitars as accordian is a big thing in r band. then before we enter verse we always stop and write a interlude very important in r band. After that we all muck in with ideas and a song is born. then send to bassist and he writees his stuff