creative technique???

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MartyMcFly

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Ok...
Heres what I do. I have my stereo in my basement. But my shower is upstairs. Sometimes when I am taking a shower I like to listen to some tunes. Now most of the time I have the bathroom door shut (incase someone walks in) Music is pumpin. I can bareley hear the music while I am taking a shower. I can hear it but I cant tell which song it is exactly...This is when my head will fill in the rest of the song but it will be different than the song on the stereo. Would you guys consider this a good method for creating music? I just wanted to know if anyone else has tried this.
 
Theres nothing wrong with that, Marty.
Wanna know why?
It works for you.
Also,
It has worked for me. I live alone and out in the country and shower to the bass and fading riffs it all the time when I take my monthly shower.
Anything that gets the gears and juices moving is good.

I do a lot of walking everyday with my dog.
Some days I walk slow, some days fast.
Either way I have a cadence in my step, a beat.
That works for me too. It's like a metronome or a drummer.

Use what ever you can find as a tool to help you.
Good post, thanks for sharing it.
 
The shower is a good place for singing warm-ups, too.

Unfortunately my shower expired last week, spectacularly, in a hail of water and sparks. I'm still trying to catch the plumber. I believe he's down the pub all the time, singing karaoke.

Have fun.

Sarah
 
So with the lack of responses Im guessing no ones ever tried this right? I guess I just wanted to know if anyone else has tried this NOT wheather or not it works...cause I know it works for me.
Discuss...
 
Hey Marty.
I don't know what happened in this forum. Last year at this time it was pretty busy.
We had some good threads and for me it was a real educational trip here each time I came.

I'm still writing songs, and I still drop by now and then.
I can't say for the others though.

I'd like to see this forum really busy again. Me and a few others started some threads a whle back to get some of the others involved. Hardly anyone replied.

All I can do is toss my .01 copper piece into a thread now and then. We don't have a resident songwriter to spur us on.

Maybe everyone has written their last song. Possibly there is no new topics to post. Could be no one cares anymore.
We need new blood and some attractive ideas or something.
Any ideas?
 
Here's a little food for thought..

My approach to recording guitar tracks is to determine whether the feel of the song requires a cold Strat sound or a warm, evil Les Paul tone.. I have a modeller which I hook up to my amp, and I go through 140 different a/b tests to determine what the best sound will be (in other words, I play the same sample of the song 280 times).. This is just with a mic. I do the same process over again for mulitple tracks and with a DI configuration..

What does this have to do with songwriting? Well, not much when the rhythm guitars parts are already written..

But I'm finding this process works really well for constructing guitar solos..

See, I really don't believe that most guitar solos on albums are completely improvised. That has to be nonsense.. All solos have groups of patterns that give enough space for small improvisations..

So what I've been doing is saving any solo writing for when I am dialing in the right tone through the a/b tests above. This means I'm killing two birds with one stone: getting a good guitar solo sound and writing the part in the process...

....

I'd have more to contribute on this forum, but I find it difficult because for me, songwriting is an extremely subjective thing.. I don't have a process so much (except the one above), and since I try to only contribute when I think I have something to say (and I'm finding out that when I do post something it's usually useless crap anyway), I don't really have that much to contribute.. The only technique that I can think of at this point that has really started to grab my attention is just listening to other music. Groups like Tool and Dream Theatre are masters at songwriting: No two verses are musically the same. Vocalists like Freddie Mercury, Maynard James Keenan, and Tom Araya have fantastic vocal techniques. The former two end their words in vowel/breath inflections("Another one bites the dust-a"; "Running-a/Breathing-a/Staring-a/Thinking-a"), while the latter two do really cool things with sustained notes..

I can't just sit down and say "Today I'm going to write a song".. For me it's when I'm listening deeply to the structure of the song and say "hmm.. that sounds great, I need to make a mental note to try that on a song one day.."


Another example is when badgas said something really sarcastic in the Cave a couple weeks back. I had to write it down because it would fit perfectly in my usual, sarcastically hateful songs..

Cy
 
Food for thought?
What a load of crap. :eek:

Now, that's some good crap Cyrokk.
I'm going to try that guitar thingie you mentioned.
The people I've known who recorded songs like twenty years ago usually did work for weeks on their solo parts. I remember John Todd telling me he spent three days in the sudio working on the solo for "Rest In Peace".
I thought at the time he was full of it, ego and all ya know. But now I'm finding out for myself that it's very well possible.

What I do now, and I've only recorded one song, but I've worked on the damn thing for a year and a half, is to break the songs I'm working on now down into chunks and work on each part.
Sometimes line by line for the vocals so as to not feel monotonous, getting that just right 'turn-around to work between two unrelated chords and getting the bass to not sound like a deep lead.

I agree with your feeling of subjectivenism. In fact I find it a bit spooky when I play something for someone or even the song I did record.
I've been a really private person for about fifteen years now. When I write a song and play it I feel I'm giving away some of my self. You know, like taking a wall down so someone can look into 'me' through my songs.
Other people just write and sing them like they're proud of their work. I wish I was like that.

What I'm finding in this forum, and on other boards I go to, is that there are many different styles of starting and completing a song. Many branches in those styles and various ways of doing such and such along those branches.

I've found what works for me and I've been using it for years. Now I'm constantly trying other peoples techniques. Some work, some don't. Generally I stay on familar ground but I do try different approaches.

As of yet, I've found a wall when I have the words and try to add music to them.
I end up rewriting the lyrics.

Anyway, (to cop a well stated statement) I'd have more to contribute on this forum, but I find it difficult because for me, songwriting is an extremely subjective thing.. I don't have a process so much (except the one above), and since I try to only contribute when I think I have something to say (and I'm finding out that when I do post something it's usually useless crap anyway), I don't really have that much to contribute........
 
"So with the lack of responses Im guessing no ones ever tried this right? I guess I just wanted to know if anyone else has tried this NOT wheather or not it works...cause I know it works for me.
Discuss..."


Marty -

Obviously, if it works for you, do it! Everything you write will probably be a conglomerate of everything you've ever heard anyway. (by the way, I loved your guitar solo in "Johnny B. Goode!):D
I've been writing for a long time. Over the years it has gotten easier, and my style and methods have changed. When I'm writing I try not to listen to any other music, as there is a chance of subconsciously plagiarizing another song. Lately I'm writing complete songs in one sitting. It takes discipline (which I've always been short on), and can take several hours, but it works for me. There is always a bit of rewriting, but that is much easier when the song is in a complete form.

Biff
 
I have NOT tried this technique, Marty.
I'm skeptical as to whether it would work for me as I usually stumble upon melodies in different, albeit alternative ways.

I also have similar concerns to BuffBob where I wouldn't want to mistakenly plagiarize anyone else's work. Not like it doesn't happen anyway but I still have to try to avoid it. :D

As for this forum, I think it's back on the rise. I got a great number of quality responses to my last question about overall songwriting Weltaanschauung. Lotsa smart opinionated people lurking means major discussion is always possible.

Stone
 
It's a good thing to do Marty... I did that often. And I never care until I read this thread. Most of the time I wrote (I though) a great song, I just leave my bathroom / toilet after have been there with music whispering outside. The idea is not the bathroom or the basement / third floor things. But, doing something NOT musical (eg in the bathroom, office, etc) while our ears still had a chance to listen up some shimering tunes & beats, will generate an unrealized music on our mind. Our brain just catches the "can be catched" part and fill the rest with whatever it likes to put. The result would be good if we sudenlly realize and write it down. I put notepad, pens, and an old Sony walkman in my bathroom next to my closet. In case I've got a good idea, I will write it down without even leaving the bathroom. Write, or record it on the tape. ;)
 
I just learned something new..

I had to stop practicing guitar about six months ago. I had to take a business trip to Mexico, then I decided to take a business-related college course, and then I had to put in 11 hours a day at work doing year-end processing and tax preparation. On the weekends I was playing guitar, but all I was doing was pre-production on rhythm tracks.

I spent what little time I had listening to music. I listened to stuff I liked (as I mentioned in the previous post above) and took everything to heart.

Tonight was the first time I sat down and played guitar for recreation.

All that listening without playing totally paid off: I got a bunch of riffs and ideas out of an hour of wankering.. all on tape.

So, if you have to be away from your instrument, that's the perfect time to immerse yourself in songwriting ideas.

Cy
 
There has been times in my life when I laid the insturments down to chase after some idea.
During that time music is still in my mind. Amost all bands I worked with did cover, but this one time when the Jazz band broke up really got me. There was a lot of original material there and even though months passed, I was still playing new riffs, intros and solos in my mind.

When I returned to the my guitars, It was like a new door opened. My mind was uncluttered and I really went deeper into areas I shyed away from. Country, Classical and theory for example.

I think now I need a lay off every once in a while. Even if it's a day or two. Cripes, I play anywhere from two to five hours a day/night.
Which reminds me,,,,,,,,,
 
Writing Songs

Never had a problem writing a song, usually write the music first then the lyrics. If you are creative, and your not tone deaf, it's not hard.
 
I am not a songwriter, but I've known a few pretty well.

A favorite of mine is a guy named Alan Crisman. Haven't seen him in over ten years, but his writing style was incredible.

His method was to first pick a concept. An emotional situation. The situation would dictate the direction of the music.

He would next work on the chorus. He always felt like the chorus had to be the strongest part of the song. Had to be catchy, with it's own original flair.

After he had a chorus framed up, he would work on the verse. Once he had a verse framed up, he would work on the bridge.

Once the music was arranged the way he liked it, he would work on the lyrics. He felt the lyrics would be easier to write... both in content as well as expression... once the music was framed.

He was always careful to leave the appropriate space in the music for lyrics... sort of a 'less is more' concept. He always felt that other instruments could fill the gaps (he wrote with a guitar).

Although he listened to plenty of other artists' music, his style was fairly unique (though his method of writing, I am sure, was not).

You never know where your creativity will kick in until you try. Thomas Edison used to bring himself to nearly asleep, holding a small weight in each hand, while relaxing in a chair. If he accidentally fell asleep, he would drop one of the weights... which in turn, would wake him up. He felt like his best creativity was when he was nearly sleeping.

I don't believe too many of us are born as songwriters. Maybe a few, not many. It is a craft, like any other, that requires patience and practice. Trying different methods will only help you determine what is best for you.
 
Sarah Green said:
The shower is a good place for singing warm-ups, too.

Unfortunately my shower expired last week, spectacularly, in a hail of water and sparks. I'm still trying to catch the plumber. I believe he's down the pub all the time, singing karaoke.

Have fun.

Sarah
Click to expand...


In the shower or in the car are two great places for composing vocals, because of the acoustics. (Everyone really DOES sound good in the shower because they can hear themselves so well.)

Showering with sparks, unfortunately, is never a good idea.
 
badgas said:
Theres nothing wrong with that, Marty.
Wanna know why?
It works for you.
Also,
It has worked for me. I live alone and out in the country and shower to the bass and fading riffs it all the time when I take my monthly shower.
Anything that gets the gears and juices moving is good.

I do a lot of walking everyday with my dog.
Some days I walk slow, some days fast.
Either way I have a cadence in my step, a beat.
That works for me too. It's like a metronome or a drummer.

Use what ever you can find as a tool to help you.
Good post, thanks for sharing it.
Click to expand...

KEEP AWAY FROM ME!

(I've never tried the technique, by the way):D
 
LI_Slim said:



In the shower or in the car are two great places for composing vocals, because of the acoustics. (Everyone really DOES sound good in the shower because they can hear themselves so well.)

Showering with sparks, unfortunately, is never a good idea.
Click to expand...

The shower is good for the vocal chords - all that steam. My shower is still bust, and the plumber's still down the pub. So I shower at the local swimming baths.

Swimming up and down, I pass the time going over the words of songs - I don't usually write my own, but I do need to remember, and interpret, other peoples'. And as I'm singing with a jazz trio now, I improvise harmonies in my mind, to try out later.

Sarah
 
Badgas - shower once a month? What is it with you Americans and your obsession with personal hygiene?

Sarah - I can see from your posts that harmonies are really your thing. I posted a link to some of our MP3's recently and one of the points made in the (very helpful) feedback is that they were crying out for some vocal harmony (that was from triple M who it seems always says that but he's right). Just about everything we do from now will have more than one vocal layer. It makes you work hard on the guitar part (if you write on guitar as I do) because the harmonic stuff which naturally comes from the six string has to be rethought to leave room for the voices.

Personally I love counterpoint - probably because as a kid I played trombone in the school orchestra, which generally gets used to punctuate melodies with thematic variations and the stuff you do as a kid really sticks with you. But counterpoint in popular music really takes some thinking about if you're not going to sound like a puddle of mud or a barbershop choir.

I'm beginning to think that a big part of writing good songs is the stuff you take out again, leaving simple but strong and distinctive harmonic layers. Easy to say....
 
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