Home SINGER/SONGWRITERS

Composing for a song

When writing your music for a song, have you ever tried using the same progression throughout only changing the energy for different sections, or do you stay away from those type of songs?
Below is an example. (working on lyrics now)

Peace, Tony

https://youtu.be/Gn8qvYPL8DQ

Comments

  • bentkbentk Moderator, Pro, 2.0 PRO, 3.0 Streaming Posts: 1,650
    Really depends on your taste and how it's executed.

    Take a song like Hotel California, it's constantly the same, except the chorus is a slightly different progression, but the way it's played and the guitar fills everywhere keep it fresh. The solo at the end is of course a great bonus.

    If a song is like a constant 3-4 chord progression with the same melody over and over, i generally regard it as 'dull', because the repetition of certain melodies is just too much (think about a lot of pop music).
    So i'm not trying to say that something has to be complex, because taste is a big factor in music. It's art, but there are many levels op proficiency. Playing with intensity, and adding melodies or removing melodies now and then can make a repetitive part really cool. Sometimes you have a progression, and you just want to roll with it for 20 bars or more, lol.

    When i write little pieces here and there, i try to stay away from sticking to one progression. I like to at least separate verse from chorus and bridge. That's pretty standard too i guess? It really depends on what you want to achieve. Sometimes less is more. But experimenting with more complex stuff or simply going outside a 'normal' progression can open up loads of new doors for your melodies.

    The music you presented reminds me a lot of AC/DC!

    All the best,

    Ben

  • Most of the music I write I try to keep high energy, or very emotional. I like to play on the senses which is what brought me here.
    My band couldn't find any decent singers to perform our originals the way we wanted. Most would bail because it was too much for them (the high energy/emotion) so here I am to learn how to sing.

    On this particular song the intensity of the music changes, and the vocals will also change accordingly. Hopefully it works out. I hate getting that far on a song only to trash it in the end because it sucks lol.

    Peace, Tony
  • bentkbentk Moderator, Pro, 2.0 PRO, 3.0 Streaming Posts: 1,650
    I can only encourage you to finish it. Finishing something is always better. If you don't like in the end, so be it. But at least you have a finished product. I myself have the issue of not finishing projects and other stuff in various things. You can still do all this stuff well, but you just end up with 50-90% finished things. That's not ideal.

    Go for it!

    Ben
Sign In or Register to comment.