Song writing

[sx-pi-r]

When you write a song, you start where? Do you jam, play yourself, use guitar pro or any other technique?

 

[Kenneth R.]

Jam my own stuff, and expand it into a song. Lyrics come later, but the theme of the lyrics I have in mind since the start.

 

[Detective Clarence Beauregard]

Jamming and Guitar Pro... lyrics always come last. A lyrical idea may be present when I write the music, but the lyrics and vocal melodies generally come last.

 

[inhe]

I usually come up with the riff/melody in my head, then i write it down if i have guitar pro availible, else i learn it on guitar.

 

[yosmark]

Mmmmmm first i jam then i put my own stuff and at the end we think if its gonna be instrumental or with lyrics.

 

[Eternal Dragon]

I've only ever made anything decent while jamming on the piano (my preferred instrument), and not really on guitar much cos i'm not as good on it. But I find that when I start putting it into gpro it just makes me not like it any more so i give up on the idea. Hence my preferred method of song creation would be as follows....

1) come up with a killer theme jamming by myself. Also keep in mind what i'm feeling and a possible storyline or lyrics.
2) expand on the theme and make a couple more variations or verses
3) jam with other ppl to put it together
4) write lyrics with a side of fries (hold the cheese (pun intended ))

I guess if I was REALLY good at all instruments I could write all the parts.... but i'm not. I'm only half good, which means its probably better to get experts to help out in those sections if its gunna sound uber pro in the end. Hence I need a band.

 

[<-Warheart->]

I usually come up with cool ideas when I'm just jamming unplugged and then try to expand on it using GP4. Sometimes though, I just type stuff straight into GP without having any ideas and see what comes up...it usually comes out shite. I seem to be ok at expanding ideas, I just can't come up with ideas.

I'll play a riff/lick/powerchord/note etc and it'll remind me of a song I know but whatever band and then if I try and turn it into something more, I'll end up playing that song because I won't be able to get it out of my head.

But I don't do enough jamming, I spend most of my time practising with a metronome.

 

[Eternal Dragon]

I usually come up with cool ideas when I'm just jamming unplugged and then try to expand on it using GP4. Sometimes though, I just type stuff straight into GP without having any ideas and see what comes up...it usually comes out shite. I seem to be ok at expanding ideas, I just can't come up with ideas.

I'll play a riff/lick/powerchord/note etc and it'll remind me of a song I know but whatever band and then if I try and turn it into something more, I'll end up playing that song because I won't be able to get it out of my head.

But I don't do enough jamming, I spend most of my time practising with a metronome.

You sound like the exact opposite of me. I come up with heaps of ideas but I suck at expanding, and I hardly ever use a metronome but I jam a lot.

 

[naboo]

When I write a song I usually begin with a general theme, like a chord progression or something. Over the chord progression comes the main melody plus other counter-melodies. I'll usually use dynamics to keep the song interesting without throwing it on a whole other tangent. I like to keep things related, with the goal of having the movements of the piece relating the others, creating a coherent work that makes sense. A lot of bands just throw random riffs together and makes songs. While I love many bands and songs that are like this, I think songwriting should be a much more intricate and delicate process using some of the techniques I mentioned above.

What I'm trying to say is: keep the movements in your song related to eachother to create a coherent and well thought out work.

 

[Kenneth R.]

I have the peculiar ability in that I cannot for the life of me keep a basic drum beat in actuality, but can write fairly decent drum parts. Same goes for piano and bass, in which, while not as pronounced as with percussion, my writing ability exceeds my playing ability. I tend to write all my songs on guitar.

 

[Mystique1721]

i usually come up with a melodic idea in my head, get it to come out on guitar, and then i write it in GP. but for me, i always write the melody first and then i have to go back and write in a part for rhythm guitar. i've always been more interested lead parts, but i know how important the rhythm section is. oh and i can't write drums for shit... just basic beats really.