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Who here writes music?
What styles do you like to play, what methods to you use, and what keys are your favourite to write in?

My favourite keys to write in are Eb Major and G Major, but my best songs probably come out of F major and A major.

Does anyone here even write songs at all?

I take my hat off to people who can write even the simplest songs. I'm a fairly average guitar player, been playing for 15 years, and I wouldn't even know where to start when writing a song.

i write songs, but i cant really play and instrument. I'm a bass hack.

I've wanted to try for a while, but coming up with chord structure intimidates me.

the way i usually end up writing is when i have to retune my guitar to a certain tuning for a particular song i want to learn and then once i've got bored practicing it then i start experimenting in that tuning...come up with a couple of riffs...email them off to my band mate who is better on guitar than i am...he'll work out a complimentary piece and we take it from there

Originally posted by jaden101
the way i usually end up writing is when i have to retune my guitar to a certain tuning for a particular song i want to learn and then once i've got bored practicing it then i start experimenting in that tuning...come up with a couple of riffs...email them off to my band mate who is better on guitar than i am...he'll work out a complimentary piece and we take it from there
That's sorta what I do too. I don't find it too difficult to find one good chorus or verse for a song, but coming up with variations for different parts of the song is very hard sometimes.

I'm bumping this thread... any new comments?

Alright, D major, G major, and E major are now the best keys that I play in. C#minor and A m7 are the best metal chords there ever were with the exception of potential Eminor.

Someone try this progression on electric and tell me what they think please... it's written in Emajor with standard tuning:

C#minor
A major m7
F# minor
F# minor
(Repeat two or three times)

A major
G#minor
C#minor
F#minor
B major
E major

A major
G#minor
C#minor
A major m7

And this on acoustic please... each is gonna probably have two downstrokes followed by an upstroke...:

C major
E minor
A minor
E minor
A minor
D major
E minor
G major
E minor
G major

I just get inspired. Music comes to my head...often complete songs. Harmonies, arrangement, the whole bit.

I don't know how it happens...it just does.

I never sit down and try and write a song from scratch...I don't understand anyone who would...it's not really what music is about. I might get inspired though and then sit down and work stuff out from there.

To me, music is the aural representation of what's going on inside us...emotionally, spiritually, etc...starting from the outside just seems kind of awkward to me.


The actual WAY I write music, is I train myself to be able to hear music in my head, challenging myself to be able to work out more and more complex music in my head over the years, and then wait 'till I get inspired.

When I was 10, I had basically just heard kids songs and the like...and I was able to hear those songs in my head (not fully...but almost). And then when I got inspired, I would be able to only write to the level that I could hear stuff.

Now that I've grown and listened to Beethoven, Hendrix, and Underworld, I have fed my head with more intricate rhythms, chord progressions, song structures, etc...and I've practiced being able to recreate and hear that music in my head (although not fully...but almost).

So now when I get inspired, I'm automaticaly able to come up with music that is more complex than when I was 10, because I've made my brain more and more versatilely "song-ready" for when inspiration comes.

Then it's only a matter of writing it down or playing it/working it out on an instrument and recording it.

That's how I write music.

Originally posted by Nellinator
And this on acoustic please... each is gonna probably have two downstrokes followed by an upstroke...:

C major
E minor
A minor
E minor
A minor
D major
E minor
G major
E minor
G major


I don't have a guitar with me, so I just did it in my head.

I'm going off a rhythm like "When I come around" by Green Day...think it sounds good that way.

Although, I'd probably ditch the E minor after the D major...and go to an F major, and then a G major 7...and that's the 8 bar progression...going back to the C (I know yours is 10).

I do like the way it it goes back and forth between the E and A near the beginning, and breaks out of it with an intereseting major chord in D.

Nice


And I struggled with the first song...kinda hard to imagine it in my head, although I think I got the verse (or whatever the first part is)...and it's pretty eerie...sounds cool.

Originally posted by EPIIIBITES
Although, I'd probably ditch the E minor after the D major...and go to an F major, and then a G major 7 Blargh!! I hate playing out of key on acoustic, plus for no good reason I hate playing the standard F major at the top of the neck... this is the first song I've written on guitar for my band because well I'm the keyboardist and the worst guitar player (but gaining) which is why I wanted feedback.

Speaking of songwriting...here is a cool way to see a master at work, and study music

Hope you like Mozart...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gqPz5B-TA1w


I dig it anyway

Originally posted by Nellinator


And this on acoustic please... each is gonna probably have two downstrokes followed by an upstroke...:

C major
E minor
A minor
E minor
A minor
D major
E minor
G major
E minor
G major



The D feels out of place, to me.

Too bright or what? No one likes the D chord there apparently... maybe I'll invert it or something.

A bit too bright, yes.

I'm sorry Nellinator I was wasn't paying close atenttion.

No problems.

D...I really dislike D.

Writing music is incredibly difficult. I used to do it a lot in my late teens, and I thought I was pretty good at the time. In retrospect, I was horrible. I've played guitar for a few bands over the years but I've never been a driving creative force, and nowadays I'm content playing acoustic cover versions in tandem with a friend of mine. I still try to write the odd song here and there but they're far from special. In my head I sound like Neil Young, but when pen hits pad it all turns out horribly disappointing.

What's wrong with D?

My best song has it so it must be good right?

There's nothing wrong with "D" itself.

...and really, if I just played a D for Deathblow, I'm guessing he wouldn't recognize it as a D (with no reference there for him)...although it's possible he might.

I think he's just saying he doesn't like it with the chords he usually uses.

I suck at playing by ear on guitar, I can only do it on piano. I think the only chords I'd recognize with no reference would be E minor and A minor and F major because it is the opening chord of Free Fallin'.

Originally posted by Nellinator
I suck at playing by ear on guitar

I find hands to have more effect.

-AC

Good one.