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Joined:
January 2006
Posts: 2120
Location: Chicago | My guitar teacher told me about Wes Montgomery who always started out with a nice set of chords; then came a melody. Others start with a lyric (this happened with some R. Hunter tunes like "He's Gone". So how do YOU come up with a song or a tune? |
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Joined:
April 2006
Posts: 2491
Location: Copenhagen Denmark | A tune going thru my mind , triggered of by .. anything , .. an existing tune which I want to do differently , .. the sound of a train , .. etc.
Then try to find notes/chords for it , .. words , usually resulting in something else .. sometimes it works.
Vic |
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Joined:
April 2004
Posts: 13303
Location: Latitude 39.56819, Longitude -105.080066 | I carry a notepad in the car and sometimes words that sound cool will pop into my head so I write them down for use later/somewhere down the road.
While noodling around I sometimes come up with a set of chords that sound good to me or have a unique sequence. I either flip on the reel2reel and record it before I forget it or throw it into cubase or sometimes into a little hand held recorder (that I eventually replay onto one of the other two devices).
Sometimes the two get married and I have a song. Sometimes it is the sound of one hand clapping and I have to figure out where that other damn hand is at (gotta toss a lob occassionally).
In the good ole days I could sit down with my two main bandmates and we could just compose a song within a couple hours. For me it was always easier when I was working with someone else to bounce ideas off of. Tougher by myself. |
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Joined:
February 2009
Posts: 194
Location: Huntington Beach | For me it just comes in - tune in to the vatic voice. Mindlessly start playing and vocalizing sounds that turn into words. Don't try too hard. Just let it in. Then the work begins. |
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Joined:
February 2009
Posts: 194
Location: Huntington Beach | And don't forget the hook. |
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Joined:
March 2005
Posts: 5567
Location: Blue Ridge Mountains | It's whatever works for you...just let it come, don't force it...
sometimes it's a tune/set of chords/etc...
Other times its lyrics/a thought/etc...
There is no set formula...just have fun with it! |
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Joined:
January 2006
Posts: 5881
Location: Colorado Rocky Mountains | Chords first, then the melody, which usually remains dynamic (always changing), and infrequently some words, but primarily it remains an instrumental. |
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Joined:
November 2005
Posts: 1126
Location: Omaha, NE | I usually start with a chord. And then work up a progression from there. The melody usually writes itself once the progression is in place. |
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Joined:
March 2008
Posts: 2683
Location: Hot Springs, S.D. | I love it when the words come first because it's easier (for me). But usually it's a chord progression, and to find the melody I make up words. Often I can't even find any words that fit the mood of the progression, so I make up words about the cat just to get the melody flowing. Of course I don't sing those words in public, but I can use the melody to make an instrumental. |
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Joined:
December 2001
Posts: 7247
Location: The Great Pacific Northwest | I usually start with a drum pattern... just noodle around with sounds and such until a progression or a hook happens. Once I get a progression, I modify the drum loop to be something else.... or I try to find a couple or three other progressions to go along with it just depends on the original. Once I have a loose structure and feel with drums and guitar I go through poems and lyrics I have written... or sometimes something new will pop in based on the feel.
Of about 35 tunes, only one really happened with lyrics, melody, rhythm all at the same time and another.... partially happened that way. Usually it's either music or words.. and I match'em up later.... or not. |
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Joined:
May 2003
Posts: 4389
Location: Capital District, NY, USA Minor Outlying Islands | Steal someone else's. Twist it a bit, et voila! |
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Joined:
January 2002
Posts: 14127
Location: 6 String Ranch | all of the above |
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Joined:
January 2002
Posts: 14127
Location: 6 String Ranch | When you are noodleing around listen to what you are playing. Remember your mistakes, a bunch of them are keepers. (yeah I know, that's a good line for a song too) |
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Joined:
December 2001
Posts: 7247
Location: The Great Pacific Northwest | Thanks for the reminder Beal... I always try to record the "noodling" sessions... nothing fancy... used a Radio Shack 19.95 cassette deck for the longest time.. that way it didn't matter acoustic, electric, whatever...
Now with drive space as cheap as it is.. there's no reason to not just plug a mic in to the laptop or whatever and let it go. Even mono, at lower quality if space is a concern is better higher quality than we had just 10 years ago... AND.. then you can get into cut'n paste and putting things together... saving them with clever names... AFTER you are done noodling.
Remember to keep the recording setup simple. If you can't walk up to it and turn it on to record.... find a different solution. Bunches of cheap digital records work great too.. Anything, but keep it simple, quality is not as important as simple for this role.. |
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Joined:
November 2005
Posts: 4833
Location: Campbell River, British Columbia | Asked which comes first, the lyrics or the melody, Sammy Cahn replied; "The phone call." When people would call him for songs for their next album.
I'm a word/idea oriented person so I USually start with a title, point of view, or goal to the piece. Once in a while I'll noodle something songlike and jabber some words that fit which may grow to become a song.
A couple times I've written melody only out of a piece of an idea or finger exercise I was working on.
Cheap Trick said it best; Everything Works If You Let It. |
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Joined:
December 2001
Posts: 10583
Location: NJ | sometimes it is melody driven
sometimes it is lyric driven
sometimes it is mood driven
sometimes it is lick or phrase driven
sometimes I drive
sometimes someone or something else drives
sometimes I walk |
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How do you go about writing a new tune?
