M
musicsdarkangel
New member
ok, I play instruments, vocals, and record. I suck at recording, but hey, i'm learning =P. Well, in my opinion, there are a few traits that EXTREMELY help with song writing.
1. Learn the notes up and down the instrument. This is by far the most important one. If you can do this, then the music you dream up every night you can wake up, play, and tab out easily. Always tab what you write for later use, you'd be surprised what clips from different songs you write would fit together.
2. Listen to many nice song writing bands (probably not pop), not cause I think it sucks, but rather because it will give you ideas and help you.
3. Learn about chords, if you know these, and are clueless, you can just complete the lead guitar with notes from the same chord.
4. Don't just ramble up chords in drop d thinking your some death metal band, think it out. Usually you really shouldn't just play stuff, its great to experiment, but if that doesn't work, always play what you think rather then what you guess.
5. Basslines always should be independant, and an interesting backround. On many of my songs, i'll probably put on napster within the next month, I put basslines on different notes. You can play scales up and down the neck that go with the notes, thats what I do, it really really works. It makes it VERY interesting.
6. Drumwise, you shouldn't really have to do much. However, either record them first, or listen very carefully. I've screwed up lotsa drums messin this up. Its always night to have a different beat for every part. Then when the same part plays later in the same song, go to the drum beat you used before for this.
7. Vocals-oh gosh. Its the toughest, vocals are all practice though. I improved really quickly. How? Sing to the styles you want to sing like, and sing to songs while doing homework. You can't be shy, even around your family. For writing, its all a matter of how you feel. Don't think of what rhymes, but think of the subject you want to write, then write a buncha words that deal with the subject or just sound damned neat. See what you can rhyme with that. (you have to think of rymin sometimes). Either don't rhyme at all or pick a pattern of rhyming. You can rhyme every other phrase rather then every single one.
8. For guitars, in my opinion, there should always be a rythm guitar unless you already have a bassline and you want it to be a nice mellow part (finger eleven does this in there song quicksand). If you want a really really interesting effect, blend lead in guitars at very low volume in every once in a while while the bass line is going. It'll sound GREAT. (they did that in quicksand too). If you have rythm, its not always best to play really big chords for leads, but pick special notes, pick a pattern, and repeat it. Otherwise it will always sound like a solo.
9. Dynamics-of course, its always nice to change around the song a bit. If all your riffs are the same, you could still make it a great song. You can make the verses nice and soft, wheras you can make the chorus an outburst and powerful. Its a great effect. (once again used in the song Quicksand by Finger Eleven). If you want examples, listen to ANY song by Finger Eleven. They're my idols and very underrated. The more you listen, the more you realize, the more you like. If you want just ingenious songwriting technically, listen to Dream Theater. If you want brilliant recording, effects, and songwriting, get Nine Inch Nails (the fragile (cd)). Its great.
Thats about all I can really think of. I don't know much about recording or anything, but these by far help me most on songwriting, which I do very often. Hope it helps.
1. Learn the notes up and down the instrument. This is by far the most important one. If you can do this, then the music you dream up every night you can wake up, play, and tab out easily. Always tab what you write for later use, you'd be surprised what clips from different songs you write would fit together.
2. Listen to many nice song writing bands (probably not pop), not cause I think it sucks, but rather because it will give you ideas and help you.
3. Learn about chords, if you know these, and are clueless, you can just complete the lead guitar with notes from the same chord.
4. Don't just ramble up chords in drop d thinking your some death metal band, think it out. Usually you really shouldn't just play stuff, its great to experiment, but if that doesn't work, always play what you think rather then what you guess.
5. Basslines always should be independant, and an interesting backround. On many of my songs, i'll probably put on napster within the next month, I put basslines on different notes. You can play scales up and down the neck that go with the notes, thats what I do, it really really works. It makes it VERY interesting.
6. Drumwise, you shouldn't really have to do much. However, either record them first, or listen very carefully. I've screwed up lotsa drums messin this up. Its always night to have a different beat for every part. Then when the same part plays later in the same song, go to the drum beat you used before for this.
7. Vocals-oh gosh. Its the toughest, vocals are all practice though. I improved really quickly. How? Sing to the styles you want to sing like, and sing to songs while doing homework. You can't be shy, even around your family. For writing, its all a matter of how you feel. Don't think of what rhymes, but think of the subject you want to write, then write a buncha words that deal with the subject or just sound damned neat. See what you can rhyme with that. (you have to think of rymin sometimes). Either don't rhyme at all or pick a pattern of rhyming. You can rhyme every other phrase rather then every single one.
8. For guitars, in my opinion, there should always be a rythm guitar unless you already have a bassline and you want it to be a nice mellow part (finger eleven does this in there song quicksand). If you want a really really interesting effect, blend lead in guitars at very low volume in every once in a while while the bass line is going. It'll sound GREAT. (they did that in quicksand too). If you have rythm, its not always best to play really big chords for leads, but pick special notes, pick a pattern, and repeat it. Otherwise it will always sound like a solo.
9. Dynamics-of course, its always nice to change around the song a bit. If all your riffs are the same, you could still make it a great song. You can make the verses nice and soft, wheras you can make the chorus an outburst and powerful. Its a great effect. (once again used in the song Quicksand by Finger Eleven). If you want examples, listen to ANY song by Finger Eleven. They're my idols and very underrated. The more you listen, the more you realize, the more you like. If you want just ingenious songwriting technically, listen to Dream Theater. If you want brilliant recording, effects, and songwriting, get Nine Inch Nails (the fragile (cd)). Its great.
Thats about all I can really think of. I don't know much about recording or anything, but these by far help me most on songwriting, which I do very often. Hope it helps.
