How do you write music.

[caffeine_addict]

So, this sounds like kind of a stupid question, but how do you guys go about writing music.
I've studied music theory up to a level good enough to help net me a diploma in music, so I understand how music works, the intervals, scales, modes, chords, chordal progressions etc.  But what they didn't teach me was how to actually write music, and I struggle every time I try.  The same goes with playing piano, I was taught how to play up to a diploma level, but I was never taught how to improvise and make up my own music, or just muck around, so even though my technical skill is fairly good, I suck at doodling, because I can't seem to get past the blank mind, so I was wondering if there were any tips and tricks anyone might know to help me.

Cheers.

[Ali Kat]

What I do is pretty simple, but I wouldn't be able to get very far without the help of everyone here.  I start out thinking about what type of song I want to write  (ex: fast/slow, rock/jazz etc.)  Then I sit down at my keys and fiddle till I come up with a chord progression that I think sounds good, and from there I come up with when I want the chords to change their rhythm and so on and so forth.  Once I have my chords  I begin to write the melody and lyrics....but not all songwriters write their own lyrics so they just give the melodic idea by playing it on the keys or whatever .  Once I have an idea in mind of how I want the melody to go and the lyrics to use, I decide what the tempo should be, just what feels right.  I figure out what instruments I want to have playing on the song.   And, from there I usually just post that much for others to help play on.  I am still learning how to add parts in like my own bass ideas and simple piano riffs (cuz my fingers don't work much for me) so for now I leave that up to the others here.  I just post my chord progression via midi track and record my vocals to the midi to give them an idea of how I want the melody to go....so it gives them more of an idea of where to fill and where to stay back.  THen I write the ideas I have for it on the post, as for the feel, what type of guitar sounds, or whether I want strings, etc.  and I post the lyrics with the chords and the bpm for them to go on.  THat usually gets us to a pretty good starting point.  Then from there people begin to add their own thoughts to the mix and I choose from what I think fits best until we have a full band. 

I don't think I'd be much of a songwriter without this site and my local band.  I only now how to interpret a little of what I hear in my head.....but with their help I am able to make great music.  So thats how this majorly amatuer does things.  But, there are others here that are way more advanced than myself that could give you much better advise to this.  So, just know you're not the only one who doesn't know much on the fact.  Once you get to doing it more, it will come easier for sure.  Or at least it has for me. 
And, the people here are always willing to help and give tips and tricks to things as well.
Good luck, and have fun.

AK

[jeff]

I like to start with a beat. One that gets my foot tappin and encourages me to hit that first note. From there, the ideas just pour out. I'm actually tormented by song ideas. New song ideas come faster than I can get them completed.

If you're no good at doodling, try playing a song you already know to a different beat. Give it a genre twist. If it doesn't swing, swing it. If it swings, straighten it. If its slow, speed it up. If its fast, slow it down.

Maybe try rearranging a familiar song structure into something of your own. Make a medley out of different songs.

Doing stuff like that might help get you thinking creatively.

Jeff

[detune]

To write an instrumental or classical piece, I'll sometimes hit random white keys (or pairs of keys) on the keyboard until something catches my ear. 

A trick I sometimes use to come up with vocal melodies is to make up a completely different counter-melody to a commercial song, like while I'm singing along to the radio.  Essentially I'm using another song to kick-start my own creative process.

Mark

[caffeine_addict]

Wow, tons of good ideas, I like the sound of just randomly bashing white notes, right up my alley 
Normally I'm plagued with ideas and no idea of how to put them into music, but since I've become serious about trying to write something I've hit a complete mind blank, typical...  That and Christmas rush, but I'll start doodling around and see what I come up with.

Cheers.

[Wegman]

My first question to you is do you hear it your mind or not?

[CosmicDolphin]

My first question to you is do you hear it your mind or not?

Sometimes !.....if I'm lucky...There's a few different ways I write songs :-

I've had a few songs pop into my head almost fully formed with most of the lyrics and chord changes....I just have to get it down on paper...I've also lost quite a few of these because I haven't been in a position to grab a guitar and work it out and write it down.  I tend to find I can't remember stuff so good if I don't have the chords and lyrics written down, but it can happen anywhere - anytime.


If I'm actively trying to come up with something I usually sit with the guitar , a pencil and my song scrapbook , a chord book and rhyming dictionary are there on the shelf if needed but I won't reach for them that often.  Then I'll play different chord patterns until something sounds good and just sing the first thing that comes into my head over it.  If I like it i'll write the first 3 or 4 lines down and try to work out what the song is about and take it from there. Sometimes I end up matching a new verse part to an older chorus that's not been used or vica-versa.

The other way is with my friend , I go to his house with a bottle of wine normally , we get a couple of newspapers and pick words and phrases that we like out of them and write them down.  Then we grab our guitars , and as we drink more the ideas start to flow !  We pretty much do the same as the above method but with two people bouncing ideas around it's faster and tends to come out better, as we can be critical of each other.  We normally work on each section till we are happy, so we tend to figure out the structure halfway through Intro - verse - bridge -chorus etc...That's how we wrote the collab ' Beautiful game '  that was completed on here.  I took the raw track away and we built it into a full song here.


Other times I've tried to write a similar song to one I really like at the time - so rip off the general vibe but use your own chords and instuments, they never end up anything like the song that inspired them anyway so it's all good.

CosmicDolphin

[Tacman7]

I tend to write chorus parts then I have to make up a verse to go with it.

I get this newsletter thing from this guy hawking drum files, it's kind of interesting...



3 Different ways You can use MIDI Drums for songwriting

Here are three quick ways.
1. In the beginning - It can start out as simple as just looping one
 of the drum tracks and singing a couple of lines of your newest song
 over and over again. The drums give you a great sense of rhythm and if
 you use your imagination, you can actually hear other musical parts being
 played along with you.

I use this technique a-lot in my songwriting. I am able to come up with
 a more 'pure' melody that way. Playing the piano while I sing is
 great, but it limits where I can go melodically especially during the
 'birth' of a song. Also, later on when I'm stuck on a song and
 can't seem to come up with any interesting background parts, I'll strip
 it back down to just the drum track and melody line. For some reason,
 this really helps in creating interesting features to the music, like
 horn hits, or harmonic runs, or creative musical breaks. I would suggest
 that every songwriter try this. It's so easy, and it will give you a
 new perspective on your music.

2. The middle - When I have a song that is basically done musically, I
 like to go in and replace the drum track with a different rhythm style.
 In fact I often try the song with 10 or 15 different alternate beats.
 This is a great practice.... but one that can't easily be done if you
 used a live drummer for your recordings (unless they're good with a
 metronome). When you do this, the songs take on a whole different feel.
 After listening to several rhythm tracks, I'll choose the one that I
 think is the best and the song now has a new groove.

3. The end - I have several songs that are headed for the recording
 studio shortly. When I go in to record the songs, my piano tracks are
 already finished. I record them via MIDI on my home computer while
 playing to one of these looped drum tracks. The drums keep me exactly on
 tempo and give me a great sense of rhythm to play off of. So when I go into
 the studio, I hand the engineer my floppy disk (That's right
 'floppy' - why waste a whole CD on files that are so small?) and he
 pulls them up on his system. He's got a ton of sampled grand pianos that
 he can route my MIDI tracks through. So now instead of paying him
 $130.00US for 2 hours of recording time, I have a prefect piano track that
 took about 3 minutes of studio time. And the tracks are in perfect time
 sync. because I played them to a looped midi drum track that is
 rhythmically perfect

I hope you will try some of these techniques on your own. And let me
 know if you have success with them. Also, any other suggestions that you
 might have, please send them to me.
http://www.mididrumfiles.com/creative/

[BassPlayer]

Jeff I so can relate...

I basically jam to my Jamstix plugin and then realize that thars a song in there some where. Then I record it. I get as far as 2 maybe 3 parts and then I need someone to bounce it off of. I've got something likr 10 or 15 projects in various stats of disarray all need that someone to bounce it off of. It used to be my old guitarist but now I don't have one of those in my new state.

[juice]

Jeff,
You're not alone. But it helps to have a direction which it seems that is where you are lost.

Writing music and writing songs are a little different and you didn't quite specify.

Writings songs has many directions in which to come in from.
Many musicians that don't write songs often feels lost at where to start but may be a valuablle asset to someone who isn't very skilled musically but have a knack for structuring ideas in a song structure.

I host a monthly event up here in NH where songwriters both experienced and brand new songwriters come out and perfrom their new songs. They are encouraged to write a new song every month. Nobody is out to write the next big thing but what they are doing is seeing how people have so many different approaches and they themselves are discovering how they click musically.

To know how to write music you must first find out who you are. Your education have given you the skills to use your tools. You are just unemployed musically so to speak. Once you start on that journey of discovery all you need to do is start planting ideas and what ever grows from it that is what you will have to cultivate it.

Don't wait for inspiration to come knocking on your door.
Let inspiration happen in the process of you trying to get some work done.

Hope that helps.
Just start writing and go where ever it takes you.