Song writing help

[JohnIce]

I didn't mean to suggest that one wouldn't improve with time, but just that you won't become a world-class composer by hammering it out, i.e. you'll be technically able to compose lots of stuff "well," but it may lack anything actually interesting.

Nice, I fully agree! Cheers to that!

 

[All_¥our_Bass]

And I'm venturing to guess that most people don't turn on the radio to listen to this:

I know I would though.

 

[Mr. Big Noodles]

I know I would though.

I personally think it's freakin' awesome, but various people have pointed out that I have a particular taste for the avant garde. As I understand, that quartet is part of an opera, which I have yet to listen to. Hey, check out the ending of this bit:

 

[All_¥our_Bass]

^Yeah, I've also liked anything that's strange for basically my entire life.

That vid sounds amazing.

 

[fantom]

I'd suggest you develop your ear first. Most community colleges offer something equivalent to "Ear training & sight reading" courses. You don't have to take the course if you are disciplined. The goal is to "name" intervals. For example, if I play 2 notes, you should be able to tell me the second one went up a major 3rd. That is "ear training". "Sight reading" is the other way around. If I tell you to sing a perfect 4th, you should know exactly what it sounds like without having to play it.

Next, figure out and transcribe songs you really like. Don't be lazy and look for tabs online. Take a few hours and figure out what people are playing. If you have a basic grasp of music theory, take the time to reverse engineer what they did harmonically. What's the key? Does the key change? Do they re-use rhythms in ways that aren't obvious? Do they elaborate the melody over time? You don't have to find blazingly technical passages. You just need to focus on figuring out intervals, harmony, rhythms, themes, etc.

When you are "more technical" in terms of your ear, you can sing a melody in your head and play it with little effort on your guitar. That's one way to write. You can also "jam" and reverse engineer what you played when you hear something that you liked. Lastly, you can compose on paper (using theory) and adjust things that don't sound right. Also, try writing styles of music you don't care for as much. For example, write a blues song if you don't usually listen to blues. You'll be far less critical.

 

[InCasinoOut]

When it comes to composing melodies, I usually draw inspiration from really good singers. There are some guys who have such a distinct style when they sing melodies, and those are usually the ones I often think of when I write leads. Anthony Green from Circa Survive is an awesome singer, and the stuff he comes up with translates to guitar really well too.

 

[JohnIce]

Fresh rep for both fantom and InCasinoOut I agree completely with both of you!

I haven't read a tab in years, simply because I don't think it's beneficial in the long run. The better your ear gets at picking out intervals, the easier it gets to pick out the notes in faster passages as well. If you're only playing as a hobby then by all means use tabs, but if you're set on being a professional musician for life, you're better off without them.

As for listening and being inspired by singers, that's a very important point too. If you want to write vocal melodies, you should also listen to vocal melodies. I would also highly suggest that you take up singing yourself. Singing has helped my songwriting heaps, because I can test my ideas right away without having to imagine them being sung at another time. But not only that, it's helped my guitar playing become more melodic and lyrical, and less pattern based. Thirdly, it's also helped me get good gigs with other people because a guitarist who can do backing vocals is always more handy than one who can't.

And singing, like any other instrument, does not require any pre-existing talent or whatever, it's just about rolling up your sleeves and doing it. The more you do it the better you get at it, so you might as well start today.

 

[RenegadeDave]

I'd suggest you develop your ear first. Most community colleges offer something equivalent to "Ear training & sight reading" courses. You don't have to take the course if you are disciplined. The goal is to "name" intervals. For example, if I play 2 notes, you should be able to tell me the second one went up a major 3rd. That is "ear training". "Sight reading" is the other way around. If I tell you to sing a perfect 4th, you should know exactly what it sounds like without having to play it.

Next, figure out and transcribe songs you really like. Don't be lazy and look for tabs online. Take a few hours and figure out what people are playing. If you have a basic grasp of music theory, take the time to reverse engineer what they did harmonically. What's the key? Does the key change? Do they re-use rhythms in ways that aren't obvious? Do they elaborate the melody over time? You don't have to find blazingly technical passages. You just need to focus on figuring out intervals, harmony, rhythms, themes, etc.

When you are "more technical" in terms of your ear, you can sing a melody in your head and play it with little effort on your guitar. That's one way to write. You can also "jam" and reverse engineer what you played when you hear something that you liked. Lastly, you can compose on paper (using theory) and adjust things that don't sound right. Also, try writing styles of music you don't care for as much. For example, write a blues song if you don't usually listen to blues. You'll be far less critical.

Before reading your post, that is what direction I started going in. I sat down and figured out the melodies of a lot of popular tunes that were pretty simple this past sunday (Ode to Joy, Frosty the Snowman, Happy Birthday, Amazing Grace, etc). Really I sat down and asked my wife to think of songs for me to figure out before trying to really transition into stuff that I listen to.

Any recommendations for software for ear training anyone?

 

[Mr. Big Noodles]

Before reading your post, that is what direction I started going in. I sat down and figured out the melodies of a lot of popular tunes that were pretty simple this past sunday (Ode to Joy, Frosty the Snowman, Happy Birthday, Amazing Grace, etc). Really I sat down and asked my wife to think of songs for me to figure out before trying to really transition into stuff that I listen to.

Any recommendations for software for ear training anyone?

Ricci Adams' Musictheory.net

Ear Training Software - EarMaster for Windows and Mac (If I recall correctly, this one is pretty good. I knew a guy who used it. I can ask him tomorrow.)