How do you start writing your own music? It’s a pretty big question with many answers, any one of them just as valid as another. I’ll try to give you some ideas as to how to go about creating your own music, and hopefully stimulate some ideas in you. I’ll lay this out by presenting an approach and then giving my commentary on that approach.
Some Preliminary Considerations
Starting to write your own music is all about finding a way in to the process that is easy and logical for you. It should most likely start with your instrument, no matter what it is. Even movements for string quartet I’ve written started with the saxophone, because that’s the instrument I’m most comfortable on. Embrace your instrument; trying to start writing any other way will only create more obstacles for yourself, and you don’t need that. If you’re a singer, but you play a little guitar or piano, don’t start with the guitar or piano. You’re a singer; start with your voice. The rest can be figured out later. Note: if you’re a singer or a single-note instrument player (like myself), you do have to be able to navigate a chordal instrument at least a little bit (piano or guitar) to arrive at an end product.
If you’re an absolute beginner at writing, don’t sit down and tell yourself I’m going to write something now. Just fiddle around with your instrument for a while. Let some lines or chords flow from your hands or voice without any judgment or extra effort, and try to start listening to what’s happening as if someone else is making the sound. When you hear a line or a set of changes you like, as a listener, work with it some more. Play it again, and again, and see if you can expand on it at all (but for absolute beginners I would recommend keeping it simple at first), then record it in some way: write it down or use a sound recorder. Then you just keep working with it. Take whatever time you need to finish it. Just remember that you have to make decisions and finish a piece. Some pieces get abandoned. That’s fine, but don’t endlessly tinker with a one piece. Either abandon it or finish it and be done with it, take it to band practice, lay it down on tape (I’m dating myself with that one), play it live, or have it played live. I find that once a piece gets played live, it’s truly done. You can still change things to keep it fresh if you find yourself playing it for years and years, but it’s basically done.
So here are some basic approaches to writing
Harmony First
One of my former teachers recommended that you always start with a harmonic layout, like a set of chord changes. His thinking was that it’s easier to write a melody over a given set of chord changes than to write a melody first and then find chords that work with it. This method provides a good sound skeleton for a piece as well as a strong form to build things around.
My Commentary
If you really like working with chord changes and using interesting harmonic turns and modulations, this might be a good approach for you. I’ve heard a lot of pieces that rely solely on harmonic variety to be compelling. Plus, it is pretty easy to just plug in a melody over a set of changes you’ve committed to (see Tyler’s article, “Building Chord Tones”). One limitation about this approach is that you determine the structure of the piece before you’ve come up with a melody. What if the melody you’re finding over those changes wants to go in a direction that doesn’t jive with the changes you’ve decided on? Just remember: be flexible as you work into the piece.
Melody First
This is sort of the arranger’s approach, and often a way I like to work. Get a melody going and then look for chords that fit with it. It can be a little more time-consuming than the Harmony First approach, as you have so many more options for chords over a melody than vice versa, but that openness can provide a lot more variety in the end product.
My Commentary
This is a good approach for those who like to sing in the shower, or in the car, and come up with melody lines. Obviously that’s your way in to music, so embrace it. It doesn’t necessarily have to be really time-consuming to find chords that work with your melody, but if you want to go beyond the obvious chord changes, it most definitely will take a while. Once again, it depends on what kind of music you’re doing. If you’re doing something that’s very lyric-driven, a bunch of complicated chords might just get in the way of the immediacy of those words, in which case I would say keep it simple. But even then, a little harmonic spice doesn’t hurt, particularly when you’re moving to a bridge section. Most bridges go to the IV or VI as the tonic of that section, mostly because it’s easy to get back to the original tonic from there, but does it have to be that way? Not at all. My admonition for this approach is similar to the last: be flexible, and be willing to take some time to find not-so-obvious chord changes to go with your melody.
Rhythm/Feel First
This is usually how I start working on Jazz tunes, because the feel is so important in that style. Essentially, you figure out how you want the piece to feel. Not to be too scientific about it, but there are a few elements that influence this: tempo (fast/slow/medium), mood (somber/aggressive/tranquil/simple/etc.), and meter (duple/triple/odd). Also, is it straight or swing? If you can decide on this before you start playing any notes, then just jam away on your instrument in the feel you’ve decided on and see what happens.
My Commentary
This is an extremely vague approach, and that’s exactly what I like about it. You’re pretty much laying out the emotional context of the piece and then trying to find chords, melody, and structure that embody that emotional context. You’ll find you have a lot of options, because the truth is that no chords, melody, or structure totally define an emotional context, but they do shade it significantly. The basic harmonic/emotional relationship is usually presented as follows: minor = sad, major = happy. This is sort of true, but what happens when you write a minor tune with a fast, bright feel? The result is generally pretty intense, almost warlike. On the other hand, a major tune with a slow, lilting feel can break your heart. Be willing to let the piece take on new shapes, but be prepared to make a decision.
Bringing It All Together
Eventually, this is where you’ll end up. In one session with your instrument, you’ll be utilizing all of these approaches to write pieces, and you’ll be much more prolific. You may start with one concern in mind, but in a matter of minutes, the rest will assert themselves. This comes with practice, and writing a lot of pieces. I only mention this to point out that the approaches I’ve mentioned so far are only pertinent if you’re just starting to write, and to give you ways in to the compositional process. They are not meant to be the way you write music forever. Find something that works for you, for now, and at some point down the road you’ll be doing a whole lot more.
Summary of Points:
Use your own instrument, where you’re comfortable. Make some sound and don’t judge it. Just listen. Keep it simple at first. Make decisions. Finish the piece. Repeat.
more articles by Brien Henderson
- Anatomy of the Blues Scale
- A Great Site for Old Music
- Every Musician Should Read This
- Saxes: Work Your Pinkies!, part 1
- Spice Things Up With The Tritone Sub
- Intro to chords in Jazz
- Subdivide. It Pays Off
May 14th, 2007 at 3:26 pm
Good article,
I think songwriting can be one of the most rewarding experiences one can have when learning an instrument. The main thing is to give it a try and commit something to paper or even just memory. A simple exercise I like to give my students uses the harmony first approach. I’ll give them a list of chords in the key of C and say “Pick 4″of sometimes even 3. Usually this random approach results in something nice sounding but hopefully it inspires them to make their choices a little more contientiously on the next go round. It’s a lot easier once you get the ball rolling. Hopefully late comments are better than no comments.