• Registered: 2007-06-13
  • Posts: 39

Topic: How do you start writing music?

How exactly do you get started writing music?

i'm a 13 yr old and have been playing acoustic guitar for about a year, classical for five, but I just don't really understand how you people do it.

I can and have wrote lyrics, but I can never really think of  music for it. Is there any easy way to get started with that kind of thing?

do you just fool around until a tune comes and you start developing it?

I have written a fairly good song, but ti was a classical guitar song and that is TOTALLY different.

thanks!

To reach out with your hands/ See the world through your eyes/ To live with the love of the savior/ To feel with your heart/ And think with your mind/I'd give my last breath for your glory!!!
  • From: Starkville, Mississippi USA
  • Registered: 2006-03-04
  • Posts: 2,069

Re: How do you start writing music?

Hi KramL - How people write songs is different for everybody.  For me, it is something I started doing for fun just a couple of years ago (I'm 50 now).

At first, I started goofing around with tunes that were already written and coming up with new lyrics for existing melodies and chords.  I learned alot about basic song forms from doing that.

Then, I started playing around with some stuff that wasn't already written - stuff that is somewhat original . . . I say somewhat original since all my stuff is pretty basic and it all probably sounds like something else. 

Also, I work at writing songs every day.  I scribble down ideas constantly and have a notebook full of stuff that might someday work in a song.  Some days I 'finish' a song, some days I don't - but I do it every day otherwise nothing would ever get finished.  Also, I try not to get bogged down on an idea that just isn't progressing - I can always go back later and work on it some more.

Take your lyrics and try to fit them into a very simple set of chords.  The melody and will 'happen' with a little bold experimentation.  James

"That darn Pythagorean Comma thing keeps messing me up!"
[url]http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pythagorean_comma[/url]

James McCormick's Website

  • Registered: 2007-06-13
  • Posts: 39

Re: How do you start writing music?

Thanks!

Another quick question: Is it easier to put lyrics to music already written or vice versa?

To reach out with your hands/ See the world through your eyes/ To live with the love of the savior/ To feel with your heart/ And think with your mind/I'd give my last breath for your glory!!!
  • From: Hendersonville, NC USA
  • Registered: 2006-03-04
  • Posts: 2,521

Re: How do you start writing music?

Hey KramL - great question. For me I do it both ways but usually I get a musical idea in my head and put words to that. Usually the music fits better with the lyrics when I write that way. If I write the lyrics first and come up with the music I seem to have a bit more difficult time finding the right chord mix to fit the words.  Hope that helps.

J  E  T  S
...and yet a Washington Commanders fan (unless they change their name again) ...long story...HTT...C

jets60's Website

  • From: derbyshire
  • Registered: 2007-05-17
  • Posts: 2,844

Re: How do you start writing music?

I GET AN INSPIRATION IN MY HEAD AND WRITE IT DOWN WHILE I'M SINGING IT TO MYSELF  THEN I PUT CHORDS TO IT AS I SING ALONG IT WORKS MOST OF THE TIME...

love is life ,life is for love,keep a true heart and live life to the full....stay cool

daddycool's Website

  • From: Texas
  • Registered: 2007-07-31
  • Posts: 950

Re: How do you start writing music?

KramL wrote:

Thanks!

Another quick question: Is it easier to put lyrics to music already written or vice versa?

good question... see i HAD a tune that needed words, and now i have words that need a tune and im stumped on both cuz they don't go together lol
Sometimes i'll pick a neat little tune and i'll play it for months without comin' up with anything. Then some days lyrycs will come to me.... and then in my storehouse of lyrycs and tunes i sometimes find two that match

All You Need is Love smile

HannahBeth's Website

7 Reply by arkady (edited by arkady 2007-08-19 10:02:58)

  • arkady
  • arkady
  • ambient moderator
  • Offline
  • From: England
  • Registered: 2006-11-23
  • Posts: 2,147

Re: How do you start writing music?

Hi KramL
For me song writting was an integral part of learning to play the guitar.
I sometimes think people who are having formal training in learning to play the Guitar are left with little time to explore avenues of their own. With exams to train for and regimented playing patterns to follow little time is left for self expression.
What has worked for me over the years of playing is experimentation.
Playing chord progressions many different ways noting ones that sounded good.
Fitting melodies to the ones that seem to me to have potential.
The lyrics come last for me and are the hardest part.
I have started and stopped so many songs over the years, but that I think is normal for us all.


Hope this helps a bit.

Regards

Ark