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How do you write YOUR music...???

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  • #16
    Re: How do you write YOUR music...???

    Originally posted by eclecticsynergy View Post
    Often the music comes first for me, usually melody but sometimes just a chord part. Or even fragments - a verse progression, a groove, a bridge, a bass line, a guitar riff, or just an intro. I have a lot of bits & pieces floating around my musical imagination waiting for their perfect matches. Or just for a place to put them to good use.

    Other times it's the words that come first and I'll write music to suit them. I've had some experience putting other people's poetry to music, so I can apply those methods to my own when a lyric arrives unaccompanied.

    But for some of the really good ideas, words and music come at the same time. Once in a while a song will manifest as a gestalt, complete except for a few tweaks to the arrangement. IMO those generally have been my best work.

    I tend to take a different approach writing on the keyboard than I do on guitar. Not necessarily better, just different. I agree with others here that if I'm feeling stuck for a part, playing another instrument often can produce fresh ideas. It doesn't always require switching to keys - sometimes just picking up a different guitar can help to jog my imagination.
    You write the exact same way I do, even down to the occasional fully composed piece coming to me. I attribute that to us both being multi-instrumentalists so we aren't focused on one instrument and see all the pieces playing a role in a bigger picture. I want the lyrics be more than just an afterthought to a great instrumental. I think vocal melodies and patterns should be treated like another instrument in the composition. If there's something about the composition that resembles the subject matter, even better!

    Word of advice to everyone writing and producing songs, sometimes you need a break from a song you've been spending a lot of time on. When the initial spark of why you liked it wears off, I find you can get really sick of your own songs just like you would listening to any song stuck on repeat for a long time. You can lose objectivity that way so don't be afraid to step away, let your mind "forget" the song to some extent and it can blow your mind when you come back to it if it's right.

    EDIT: I didn't mean to imply that there is anything wrong with only playing one instrument, more writing like only your instrument matters, so hopefully with that in mind I don't sound like an ass.
    Last edited by El Dunco; 02-13-2019, 07:23 AM.
    The opinions expressed above do not necessarily represent those of the poster and are to be considered suspect at best.

    Lead guitarist and vocalist of...



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    • #17
      Re: How do you write YOUR music...???

      Originally posted by Beer$ View Post
      Word of advice to everyone writing and producing songs, sometimes you need a break from a song you've been spending a lot of time on. When the initial spark of why you liked it wears off, I find you can get really sick of your own songs just like you would listening to any song stuck on repeat for a long time. You can lose objectivity that way so don't be afraid to step away, let your mind "forget" the song to some extent and it can blow your mind when you come back to it if it's right.
      Absolutely. If you get a bit jaded and you have the luxury of letting it rest for a bit, it often will rekindle the appeal and your inspiration.
      .
      "You should know better by now than to introduce science into a discussion of voodoo."
      .

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      • #18
        Re: How do you write YOUR music...???

        So many different ways I'd be hard pressed to say the most repeatable or consistent. I do know that I rarely finish the song I start out working on, my musical ADD takes where it pleases and I just try to keep up. I keep a stack of notebooks around, use my laptop, a handheld recorder, my phone, my Tascam multi-track or sometimes I just flat out remember it all. I just finished 2 songs that have been hanging around for 15 years or so and had another new one come to me in between working on them.

        Best thing I can say is if you want to write, write a lot. Hard work seems to invent a lot of good stuff.
        My Bands -
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        Just some fun guitar stuff from time to time
        GUITAR KULTURE

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        • #19
          Re: How do you write YOUR music...???

          Originally posted by Wattage View Post
          So many different ways I'd be hard pressed to say the most repeatable or consistent. I do know that I rarely finish the song I start out working on, my musical ADD takes where it pleases and I just try to keep up. I keep a stack of notebooks around, use my laptop, a handheld recorder, my phone, my Tascam multi-track or sometimes I just flat out remember it all. I just finished 2 songs that have been hanging around for 15 years or so and had another new one come to me in between working on them.

          Best thing I can say is if you want to write, write a lot. Hard work seems to invent a lot of good stuff.
          I've been building up sort of library of random pieces, partial songs, and stuff like that I've thought some way good or inventive.

          Just yesterday thought one song that has forming for a while could fit to one lyrics I remembered partially writing couple of years back:

          I looked up it and finished the very partial lyrics I had there. Also found out I actually had partially finished composition for the song too! Worked that half way through embedding the new stuff in it and removing and streamlining the excess. Sounds pretty good thus far.

          It really pays off to keep notes of your ideas.
          "So understand/Don't waste your time always searching for those wasted years/Face up, make your stand/And realize you're living in the golden years"
          Iron Maiden - Wasted Years

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          • #20
            Re: How do you write YOUR music...???



            Railroad boxcar's steel wheels hammering a hard driving pounding rhythm on steel
            railroad tracks can get the juices flowing .

            The tires on my car as I drive a stretch of freeway making grooves and hooks in
            syncopated and out sync rhythmic tempos .

            Listening to music that you dig whether old or new and using the inspiration
            it gives .

            All the above get me going and :

            Learning how successful song writers/singers/musician use rhymes , catching
            an alliterative phrase in a good classic writing .

            Listening to people speak who are good at it or interesting in how they express
            themselves .

            No one way does it for me , it's sort of what is there in there here and now ,
            our something triggered on the spot that takes you back in time to a [ moment ] .

            EZ :

            HR
            It started for me with Twinkle Twinkle Little Star in 54 on a Blues Harp and progressed , then life .....some death ....Evolving as I went like a small rock in a stream rounding out as I went with the flow as I go through the white waters and waterfalls of life . Life has always been interesting to me

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            • #21
              Re: How do you write YOUR music...???

              Interesting posts thus far, it's amazing how everyone has their own approach!

              It really depends on what I am writing. Is it a commissioned piece for someone else? Is there a deadline? Is it background music for a soundtrack? Is it one of my original projects, and if it is, is it meant to be tracked live off the floor or is it being built up track by track or via file sharing with studio musicians?

              Once that's out of the way, I usually think about what I am trying to say with a particular piece and then play the notes, scales, chords, that best reflect that emotion. I usually start with the bass guitar or the bass part because the bass is the most important part; it steers the ship. Sometimes I think rhythmically; such as a time signature that sounds interesting or a polyrhythm I like.

              From there it's a pretty quick process; I tend to write quick and I don't belabor the details, I just let it say what it wants to say and then move on.
              Why don't you take your little Cobra Kais and get outta here?!
              My collaborative PROGRESSIVE ROCK PROJECT, As Follows.

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              • #22
                Re: How do you write YOUR music...???

                Varies wildly for me

                1) Stumbling on an interesting chord progression
                2) Setting down to write some lyrics on a quirky or odd subject can trigger some musical fragments forming
                3) The oddest of all, misremembering something I had heard from years past. Currently working on a piece loosely based on a late 60's song by The Fifth Dimension ("The Hideaway").
                Hoo Hooooo Hooo Hoooooooo

                http://talktobears.hearnow.com

                Sent from an old crank telephone in rural GA

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