First Steps To Writing Music?

You can definitly read about progressions and theory and all that.

OR

You can just start with a chord, and then play a chord after that. See how it sounds. Does it sound good? No? Try a different chord. Also, as you learn songs, you'll start to realize what chords go well together, what don't, what chords will create a happy sound when played after one another, what chords will sound sad....

Your ear is your best friend sometimes.

And as you're putting chords together, imagine a melody that goes with the chords and see if you can hum it or sing it.

thanks guys. I'm just afraid I might copy a song or something. Because a lot of progressions that sound good to me, are used in songs I know.

Yo
You can just start with a chord, and then play a chord after that. See how it sounds. Does it sound good? No? Try a different chord. Also, as you learn songs, you'll start to realize what chords go well together, what don't, what chords will create a happy sound when played after one another, what chords will sound sad....

That pretty much nails it. 8)

There's something about discovering things for yourself that seems to be more rewarding. It also seems to 'stick' better than trying to memorise sets of guidelines. At least that's how it works for me. :)

However, knowing a bit of theory can be very useful. It's a bit of a balancing act, but I see theory as a kit of tools - not really a set of rules - and I use it to support what I do rather than to drive it (if that makes sense!!). If you want to check out some theory that will help with songwriting, here's a few areas that can help:

Keys:

Keys, Scales, etc is all about picking smaller teams of notes that are already known to work well with each other. It's a useful starting point.

Chord progressions:

Each key has a set of basic chords that 'belong to it'. These are usually numbered with Roman style numerals I, ii, iii, IV, V, etc (with the big ones representing Major chords and the small ones minor). These are pretty 'safe' starting points. Apparently a big percentage of pop songs are written using the basic 'big three' chords - I, IV and V (1, 4 and 5). In the key of C that's C, F and G.

You might like to try mucking around with some of these to start with:

E, A, B (or B7)

A, D, E (or E7)

D, G, A (or A7)

G, C, D (or D7)

C, F, G (or G7)

Am, Dm, E (or E7)

Em, Am, B (or E7)

Rhythm:

Many beginners concentrate on getting chord shapes or scales patterns working in the fretting hand. But much of the real 'musicianship' comes from the strumming/picking hand. That's where you turn the notes into music by adding rhythm, timing, expression, varying note lengths etc.

You'll discover that the same chord progressions can be turned into many different songs, depending on what you do with them. Same with short runs of single notes - they can turn up in lots of songs sounding quite different. So it might be interesting to just take three of your favourite chords and see how many different things you can wring out of them. Then try decorating them up a bit with the addition of others that 'fit'.

Mostly, songs are about starting at a certain musical point, moving about in a way that creates tensions, emotion and interest and then working back to a 'resolution' - which pretty much means getting back to where you started. This happens in small ways within parts of a song, but also in an overall sense. :)

Good luck. It's a lot of fun. The more you do, the more possibilities seem to open up.

Cheers,

Chris

thanks guys. I'm just afraid I might copy a song or something. Because a lot of progressions that sound good to me, are used in songs I know.

Oh, you will! Don't worry about it. So did/does every other song writer. :P

After a while you'll start to develop your own style and feel, but the chances are you'll still use bits and pieces of very well used progressions.

I'm just afraid I might copy a song or something. Because a lot of progressions that sound good to me, are used in songs I know.

Any chord progression you choose to play will have been used in tons of other songs - its unavoidable. As Chirs C said, much of the real 'musicianship' comes from the strumming/picking hand. That's where you turn the notes into music by adding rhythm, timing, expression, varying note lengths etc

And thats the truth; the same chord progression can be used to create many different songs which sound completely different because of the way which you strum, pick, mute, change note lengths and so on.

Best advice I would give; just start writing music / lyrics (if thats your choice). The more you do, the better you'll get, and the more fun you'll have in the process.

Pete

EDIT; Chirs C, you beat me to the same point! :lol:

wow thanks a lot for the help guys! Chris, great post man! Right now I'm testing out plucking some chords. B minor, to a Dsus2 I believe it is: x00320 is that a dsus2?
anywho, thanks a lot for the help. Hopefully I can start writing some stuff and get a feel for a good verse and chorus and maybe write a song. if you have any other tips, please let me know. thanks a lot!!

You definitely don't have to learn theory in order to write music, however learning theory certainly will not hold you back either, who knows you might actually like it :lol:

Glad it was useful. :)

There's a lot said in a short space here too
Your ear is your best friend sometimes.

And as you're putting chords together, imagine a melody that goes with the chords and see if you can hum it or sing it.

If you take a very simple three chord song, say D, A, G - as Reincarnate said - you can make heaps of different songs just using them alone. But the possibilities become infinitely large when you start putting a melody line over the top.

Lots of notes can be sung (or played by a lead guitarist) over the top of that D chord - not just a D.

Sorting out harmony and melody is an almost endless study in itself, and you're sure to get the 'bug' to find out more at some stage. But as DemoEtc and Taso said, you really can't beat just jumping in and going for it and building up your ability to hear and discover what works. Which is exactly what you're doing already by the sound of it. :wink: 8)

Cheers,

Chris

wow thanks a lot for the help guys! Chris, great post man! Right now I'm testing out plucking some chords. B minor, to a Dsus2 I believe it is: x00320 is that a dsus2?
quote]

Well - it is and it isn't, there are two schools of thought about that chord - to play it as a dsus2, you'd need a D bass note on the bottom, so you'd play it as xx0230. The way you're playing it, it would be a Dsus2/A.

The other school of thought is, there's no such thing as a sus2 chord - it's merely an inversion of a sus4 chord. So Dsus 2, the notes needed would be D E and A (1st 2nd and 5th notes in the scale of D) - but those notes, if you take them in the order A D and E, are the 1st 4th and 5th notes in the scale of A, hence Asus4. I'll let you make up your own mind over that one!

By the way, what you're doing right now is GOOD - experimenting with chords, to see how they sound together. There are hundreds, if not thousands, of songs out there which use 3 chords (example...A, D and E....B, E and F#...and so on in different keys....) or maybe 4 chords - G, Em C and D, or A, F#m, D and E.

Example of two different songs using the same chords? Van Morrison's "Brown Eyed Girl" and Ben E King's version of "Stand By Me" - both use G, Em C and D, although Van M. throws a D7 in there. Lennon's version of Stand By Me is, I think in A, so the chords would be A, F#m D and E.

So keep experimenting - and more importantly, keep a record of what sounds good. You don't want to lose that life-changing career-defining killer riff because you forgot to write it down and couldn't remember it the morning after!!!

:D :D :D

Vic

more importantly, keep a record of what sounds good. You don't want to lose that life-changing career-defining killer riff because you forgot to write it down and couldn't remember it the morning after!!!

Oooh, the number of times that's happened to me.... :lol::lol::lol:

Pete

I dont do anything Special.
I do the lyrics, so it comes up with its own pattern really. Then, once I finish that, I just play the different Chords I want to use, over and over till I find what I want.

Thats just what I do myself.