composing

[kmjohnson02]

My friend and I have been jamming out for about a month now and are satisfied with the sound we are making. We’ll jam for a few hours at time and it’s all on the spot improvisation. However, when we try to actually compose songs, we fall short.

I feel we are both good enough to write stuff so I wouldn’t say it’s a lack of skill thing. But we just can’t seem to structure songs together. I don’t know if it’s communication thing or maybe we are just being too picky. I guess I’m looking for two things:

1.Advice and tips for composing songs.
2.How do you go about the process of putting together songs?

Thank you!

 

[BlackMetalWhiteGuy]

A little more detail about what you're currently doing might be helpful. When you try to compose a song instead of just jamming do you actually write it down, or just try to remember it? If you write it down, do you use pencil and paper or a computer program? The more specific you are, the more specific we can be.

 

[El-Shoggoth]

I do all my composition in the software Reason, using midi to approximate guitar riffs, which I fine tune later on an actual guitar. It's really easy to move things around to play with song structure, or quickly experiment with multiple melodic parts. I'm writing and arranging alone though, for the full band. This method may not be ideal for collaborative writing.