Writing music is giving me troubles.

[trevorus]

dangit, I'm trying to write music, and it's tough. I have always played to other people's music, and not really written my own. So, what I am running into, at least as I think, is I am trying to write too complicated of stuff. Too much movement too fast. It's been hard to myself from putting too many steps in the process. Anyone got any tips beyond the realizations I have come to?

[Wattage]

Yeah start out simple, really simple, and fight your way thru it. I don't know what you are going for stylistically but write in your head. Build a song just by singing and humming it, don't even worry about having an instrument in your hands but finish it.

Do that a few times, get the well flowing and then take some of your ideas to your guitar or what not. Don't get too hung up on whether you will rock the song with your band or anything, too much pressure at first, just let it flow. Keep at it and if you have some talent for it you'll get it going.

Be patient and consistent, it is worth it.

[Funkfingers]

Do you mean songs? Do you mean choral or orchestral music? Do you mean music theory counterpoint and harmony exercises?

One common problem when first trying to compose is overcoming the desire to use every musical trick that you know in one composition. My stumbling block used to be trying to force a melody over my chord changes. The smart approach would have been to create a strong melody first. The chord changes would have been largely dictated by that melody.

One of my favourite exercises is to attempt to complete a song using as few chords as possible, no matter how complex the melody happens to be. In my opinion, the master of this is Ray Davies of The Kinks.

[trevorus]

Just good straight ahead hard rock. We are building a band that will hit you like a ton of bricks, with a counterpoint of female vocals on top.

[innerdreamrecords.co]

I usually just start with the chord progression on a bass, then you can embellish all you want.

[DankStar]

Have this in mind always: Keep It Simple Stupid (KISS). makes writing and recording a lot easier. Doesn't mean sloppy or bad, just simple. Few riffs and changes per song; limit yourself to like 3 minutes until you don't have troubles. Try just one bpm the whole way through just to crank a tune out. maybe forget the "ton of bricks" part for now, just get a simple idea out/across.

[ksmith63]

I approach writing songs as building a foundation for bass + drums to play over. After that I will look back at previous songs I've written and make sure that I'm not copying myself. Also don't try too hard. You can't force inspirado.

[apj]

Writing songs takes time. I probably wrote songs for at least a year or two until I had stuff that I considered somewhat good. It's like anything, it takes practice. You can't just pickup a guitar and solo right away, you have to learn scales, patterns, phrasings, learn how to play in different keys, etc. Writing songs is the exact same, you probably aren't going to write a killer riff on your first attempt, but keep going and eventually you'll find a groove or a strategy that works for you.

[krankguitarist]

Keep it simple.

Keep realistic expectations.

Do not compare yourself and your songwriting or playing skills to famous touring bands in an evaluative manner.

Write as much as you can.

Don't dwell on a song for too long if you're having difficulty writing it, come back to it after you've completed something else.

Record yourself.

[Ninja Monkey]

Don't get it right, get it written.

Do something random.

Do something simple.

Imagine a melody, then play/sing it.

Support the melody with rhythm and/or harmony.

Evaluate the songs you know and find out what the roots are for the sound you're trying to create.

have fun.

[ksmith63]

Record yourself.

this is good advice.

[guitfiddle]

Don't avoid the cliches...they're cliches for a reason...verse-chorus-verse-chorus-solo might seem boring, but more people will like it if it's done that way.

Ninja said it well...don't get it right, get it written. You might turn out nine clunkers (believe me, I know) and then mumber ten pops out all nice and good sounding. You might get to that on number six, if you're talented and lucky. By number 15, you should have a solid grasp on what works, and have refined the clunkers to work, or chucked them.

Don't dislike any of the ideas you have...make them work, 'cause that's YOU man!!

And remember... a good song will always trump technical prowess.

[philthis]

Yeah start out simple, really simple, and fight your way thru it. I don't know what you are going for stylistically but write in your head. Build a song just by singing and humming it, don't even worry about having an instrument in your hands but finish it.

Do that a few times, get the well flowing and then take some of your ideas to your guitar or what not. Don't get too hung up on whether you will rock the song with your band or anything, too much pressure at first, just let it flow. Keep at it and if you have some talent for it you'll get it going.

Be patient and consistent, it is worth it.

this is good advice. and remember, not all the verses need to ryme perfectly as long as its close. talk the verses out-dont try too hard to come up with the verses. sometimes its better to sing the chorus and wright the verses later as they come slowly or even abstract verses and if they dont come at first, go to somthing different and the song will come to you over time. some come fast and some slow-dont know why it just works that way. good luck

[bobtrack]

I'll learn a new chord type and write a song around those chords or at least try too. Branching out and listening to a new genre usually helps me break my writers block.

[Gearjoneser]

It all flows smoother when you sing it out in your head as you go along.

Your song ideas tend to be better when a voice in your head is dictating it, rather than writing random riffs and trying to force a melody onto it.

Another thing to be conscious of, when listening to songs is this.....
You naturally listen to the verse/chorus. Pay closer attention to breakdowns and solo sections, because those are usually the biggest obstacles when constructing songs. The more attention you pay to those in songs you like, the more ideas you'll have in your head when coming up to them in your own songs.

[ksmith63]

By number 15, you should have a solid grasp on what works, and have refined the clunkers to work, or chucked them.

15 is a lot of songs....what time frame are you talking about here? (I can't even do that many in a year and I am the songwriter for my band.) I guess I prefer to write slow and try out every note possible in the context of the song. Anything that I have written fast has ultimately ended up in the garbage.

[Uk Ant]

For me song writing is usually a fast process (when I can be bothered to do it).
When writing a song you need to keep it simple, embellishment and arrangement come after the song is basically written.
Start with a riff and then see what melody/words comes to you.
Quite frankly there are so many ways to write/be inspired that you could write very large book on the matter and still not get to the bottom of it.
If this is a new project then don't worry too much in the detail, go along with some verse/chorus/verse/chorus ideas and then see what the rest of the band does with them.

[ImmortalSix]

dangit, I'm trying to write music, and it's tough. I have always played to other people's music, and not really written my own. So, what I am running into, at least as I think, is I am trying to write too complicated of stuff. Too much movement too fast. It's been hard to myself from putting too many steps in the process. Anyone got any tips beyond the realizations I have come to?

You and me and everybody else!

Get in line, mister!

[lpmarshall]

If it was easy everyone would be making millions off their songs.

I can come up with complete songs all day long, but once it comes to lyrics/melody I'm just lost. I really need to sit down and force myself to come up with something. I have 10 years worth of different parts of songs up in my head that I need to finish off. I'm thinking about recording all my parts then playing over them with my guitar to get a good melody, since I can't sing for crap.

[guitfiddle]

15 is a lot of songs....what time frame are you talking about here? (I can't even do that many in a year and I am the songwriter for my band.) I guess I prefer to write slow and try out every note possible in the context of the song. Anything that I have written fast has ultimately ended up in the garbage.

It is a bunch, but maybe a tune a week wouldn't be out of the question...that gives you 15 tunes in a little under four months. They don't have to be good...you just have to write the bad ones, and the kind of OK ones and get them out of the way so the good ones can surface.