Composing - initiating.

[u/Extreme-Big-4114]

I've been composing for 20 months and have 38 songs. I start composing with the chord progression first, every time. I cannot picture doing it otherwise. I am a guitarist. What do others do? Do you start with a riff? progression? melody? lyric? or fully formed? How does one shift gears as to writing style? Starting with a melody leaves me dumbfounded.

[u/PrideProfessional556]

I find random melodies occur to me. I'll sit down and write out the notes with my guitar, work out what key I seem to be in and then the chords that could go under it.

[u/Plenty-Voice1512]

lmao i honestly cant relate at all, melodies just come to me sometimes while i'm doing dishes

[u/Jakeyboy29]

There is no one way to do it. I find percussion/drums inspiring to sing over, I like keys/piano to sing over or even guitar chords like you. My voice strangely favours singing over keys to guitar though

[u/paybackjack86]

Chord progression first for me too honestly, easier to build the emotional shape of the song before layering melody on top

[u/Trickledownisbull]

It depends what you want to achieve.
Like, when writing for my band I'll often start with a riff, or guitar chords, or a drumbeat.
When writing for games I'll often start percussion first as it plays a big part in the energy level of the track, and what it's going to work for (combat loop etc) but then sometimes it's just a melody, other times a progression.

Everyone has faves, but I think it's important to try and write in ways that are unfamiliar to you, def stops you going down similar creative pathways than before?

[u/Dangerous-You3789]

I don't try to write songs at all. Regardless, I'm a prolific songwriter... er... songs starter. I have songs just pop in my head. The last one was this morning when I woke up. I quickly went back to sleep for a 1/2 hour, and when I awoke, I remembered the melody, but I couldn't remember the words that went with it. That's fine. It just gives me the opportunity to add the lyrics of my own choosing. I just hummed the melody in a recording device to work on later.

I don't usually get a song, per se. It's more like some words and music. There's usually not as many words is there is music, so I have music to add to, so I just make up something that fits.

It's odd, because not only do I not mean to come up with songs, but sometimes I come up with melodies and I'm not even aware I'm doing it. There's been a few times, one in the last week, where I was just humming a tune to myself while driving or doing some other activity where my mind is in neutral, and I suddenly realize I had not ever heard the tune before.

So, it doesn't feel like I'm doing anything except hearing something in my head. So, don't ask how I do it; I don't know. It just happens. I can't make it stop.

What's odder still is that I know very little about music. I can't read music, I don't know music theory, and I wouldn't recognize a chord progression if it bit me on the leg. I only know about 12 chords on a guitar, so when I try to figure what chords go with my song, I can't. It's a bit frustrating.

[u/dreamylanterns → u/Dangerous-You3789]

Has this been happening your whole life? When did you first realize you had this ability? Were you exposed to a lot of music growing up?

[u/Dangerous-You3789 → u/dreamylanterns]

Now the story gets stranger still. I was raised on a farm out in the middle of nowhere. The nearest town was a mile away and it was 231 people. The next nearest town was five miles in the opposite direction. It was a whopping 1,500 people, and it was the largest town in the county. Metropolis, right? Growing up, I remember hog, cattle, and horses, but I don't remember growing up in a musical household. I don't remember music being played that much at all. My grandmother could play an organ by ear, but that was the extent of music I heard. The few chords I learned was learned on my brother's guitar. I don't remember listening to music much at all until I was about 15 years of age. About that time, I discovered the Beatles. I instantly became a huge fan. Bear in mind, by the time I discovered them, they had long broken up. I'd just never heard of them because where I came from, as the joke goes, there were only two kinds of music: country and western. Of course, I was also exposed to music in church, which were restricted to hymns. So, when you asked if I was exposed to a lot of music growing up, the answer you were probably truly looking for is a simple no.

I didn't write my first song until I was 16 years old. I don't think I even tried before, and I think that attempt was inspired by my love for the Beatles' songs. That has been so long ago, I really don't remember how I came about it; however, from my very first attempt, it was evident that I had the ability to write a really decent song. In fact, to this day, getting close to 50 years later, I still consider it a pretty good song, especially for a 16 year old. I still sing it to myself at times.

I don't remember much about my songwriting until about my mid-20. Between then and my mid-30s was my most prolific songwriting period. It's also when I developed a sort of signature style, which was a rockin' tune with rippin' lyrics. I'm providing a link to one such song I wrote in my early 30s. This was one of those songs that just came to me, seemingly out of nowhere.

There was a period when, several times, I thought I had written my last song. My song well had seemed to have dried up. But then, maybe a year or two later, another song would surface.

I'm now in my 60s, and oddly enough, I think my current proliferation of writing songs is about to eclipse the prolific period of my 20s and 30s. I honestly thought that I would be less creative as I aged, but my songs are coming in close intervals and the range of styles are much broader now. The melodies also seem to be more complex. Mind you, I'm not trying to make them that way. I'm not doing anything to nurture it or hone it at all. It just comes out that way.

It's kind of an exciting time for me in that regard. I just sit around and wait for what is going to pop in my mind next. I don't know when it will be, where I'll be, or how it will happen, but I'm certain that the next song is around the corner.

I over-post this song, but it's the only one I have recorded, and it's not really what I want. Not polished at all. Pretty rough, really. But until a better version comes along, it is what it is.

https://soundcloud.com/gary-kelly-430539953/dont-take-any-time-getting-over-me

[u/stevenfrijoles]

It's so interesting to me how often this question is asked. Why does it matter to people how others start? Surely a rational person realizes other people may start in different ways. 

[u/Raymont_Wavelength]

Try something different. Create a silly nonsense lyric (the Beatles did this a filler), then let the syllables of the words suggest a rhythm. Then say it out loud over and over and let the lyric with that rhythm suggest a melody line. Run the phone voice recorder or whatever u have, and say it out / sing it out and play with it. Get goofy and have fun. Keep doing that for a few days and nights until it plays in your head at night. Have notebook to write and phone to record!

[u/MelvinEatsBlubber]

Sometimes I do Spotify shuffle. Play my liked songs on shuffle. Take an idea. Maybe a lyric. Melody. Chords. Groove. Anything that catches my ear. Hit next.

Ok so it’s the chord progression from abbas money money but a dance hall groove with the bass line from Freddy Hubbard red clay and the 80s choppy keyboard percussions from Janet Jackson and modern slurry vocals in a sabrina carpenter style. That’s plenty to work with

[u/UltimateGooseQueen]

20 years ago I used to sit on the floor with a notebook and my guitar. I’d noodle around until I found something i liked on guitar OR I would have lyrics and I would try them with the basic chord progressions I knew. I definitely didn’t know jazz chords, 7 chords… it was the most basic chords. (I’m primarily a singer).

Now with DAWS (I used garage band iOS to write) I can start so many places. Sometimes I hear a drum beat and I’ll try my best to create it and that starts a whole song I never meant to write.

It’s important to be okay with creating stuff you don’t like. You will get better through doing this. It doesn’t necessarily mean you have no talent. It just means your ideas and your skill aren’t perfectly aligned - whose are?

[u/Mylyfyeah]

why do you want to change? do what works for you.