Ok, I want to start writing my own music, but how to start?

So like I said, I want to write my own music, but how do I do it? Do I just pick random chords that fit into a scale, for example the scale of C. I want a simple I IV V progression (C F G) Could I pick a Csus4, F7, G progression? And also, I have a feeling that minors come into play, when can I make a chord, minor, or diminished or augmented so that they sound complete with the rest of the piece? Thanks, oh and about soloing, do I just play in the key the piece is written in? What about modes? A lot of questions but I know you guys are helpful, thanks again.

Alot about writing music has to do with knowing what will work and what won't work... sometimes you get lucky and figure out a great riff, progression or melody, other times you just really know your theory well and other times it can really just be a matter of experience: for example, if you play alot of hard rock (like me) you'll find that after a while you'll figure out cool riffs on your own that sound good. When you write a song, you CAN use chords that fit into a key but you might find that it gets boring... something that might help you is to study different chord progressions and figure out what you like and don't like. When you solo, most of the time you'll play in the key that the song is in: playing the E minor pentatonic and E minor scale over a minor chord progression will usaully work well, and after alot of experience you'll figure out what licks and what notes outside of the scale will work well too. You can use modes but most music isn't based on them.

Have you tried out the Songwriting section of this forum?

There's a bunch of people hanging out there who seem pretty friendly and are willing to share their experiences at doing what you're about to attempt. :)

You can just join in and get help as you go along.

There's also a heap of articles about composing and songwriting here on the Guitarnoise site:

Click here for index

Good luck.

I don't know if I'm even qualified to answer this one. In all the years I've played guitar I've only written about 20 songs (people seem to like them though).

I would say it's just like an artist making a painting or drawing. You have to start with an idea or concept. And then the music has to fit the idea.

For instance, a love song might be slow and beautiful. A song about your favorite car should be fast. A song about death might be depressing (unless it's your mother-in-law :D )

And just like an artist, maybe you start with a simple sketch first. For instance, you can start with a basic I, IV, V progression. But once you get the basic framework for the song down, you can alter it or dress it up a bit. You know, try a G6 chord instead of a plain old G Major.

The best songs make you feel the concept. When Jimi Hendrix played the Star Spangled Banner at Woodstock, you could hear the bombs dropping.

In the old Elton John song Rocket Man, when Elton sings the chorus you can hear that slide guitar sounding like a rocket taking off (I believe George Harrison played the slide).

So you get the idea. (pun intended)

(unless it's your mother-in-law :D )

ROTFLMAO!!!

Sorry, but I'm in tears right now. I'll go now........

:lol: :lol: :lol:

a little luck and alot of theory=P

As has been said here, alot of it is practice. Maybe look at songs you like and see if there are any patterns between them, and write accordingly. don't steal anything, just maybe mimic at first and then adapt it more to your own flavour and experience (again this will come with practice).

And on a sidenote...here's a resized version of your avatar.

Don't get too overburdened on theory, you're approaching it rather formulaic. Think about a theme, a rough story. Then think of how you'd like the sound to be: sad, happy, fast, slow, etc. Now there are two things you can do:

1) come up with some chords as background. Don't just use chords that fit entirely within whatever scale you started with, just play around and write down what you like. When you're done, whistle a melody over it and then sticvk words to the melody.

2) Other way around: Come up with a melody, attach words to them (so you now have an instrumentless song) and figure out what chords fit under the melody.

And ofcourse, you don't even have to work with chords, verses and chori. Plenty of stuff you can think of doing.

Sure - avoid the theory, but you're going to need a little bit.

If you just want the I-IV-V chords, C, F, and G - nothing wrong with that - then you might want to dress them up a bit fancy.

Use some 7ths - Cmaj7, Fmaj7, G7, and/or some 9ths (think Maroon 5 here) C9, F9, G9, rehash to Cadd9, Fadd9 and Gadd9 just to see how they fit, then throw in sus4's and sus2's.

That gives you more than a dozen chords. You won't want to use all of them but you can certainly work five or six into a song without it sounding overloaded. Use normal chords for the chorus and suspensions for the intro, or something like that, and just experiment until it sounds good.

Then extend the theory to 11ths and 13ths and see if you can use them anywhere. Partial chords are fun too - play an Em7 without playing the top or bottom strings and you've got Bm with an augmented 5th, for example (it's also an inverted G but the bottom two notes are B and D, which gives it a Bm feel)

Does that help?

Best,

A :-)

Hey thanks guys, and thanks for the avator too jason.

well I can't figure out the avator thing.. but noones hurt by it.

Right click image > Properties > Copy url > Paste in profile.

tracker's got it. Theory really, at least I feel, is important to know because it's like a roadmap...even if you don't know where you're going, it helps if you have a general direction.