Creating Great Melodies
How To Write A Song Part 2
How To Write A Song Part 1
Blues Chord Progressions
I-bIII-IV
This is the one that's used in all types of music from metal to dance. Some may think that it's a version of a minor chord progression but the main difference is the melody is a major scale played over the progression. A number of scales can be used over this progression; the major, blues and mixolydian scales are all available. This progression is used in two ways. First it's often used as the main idea in a rock song, usually played with a riff or reocurring line. It's also used in sequences where you would use a I-bIII-IV using the I chord and then transpose the entire progression up a fourth to be used over the IV chord. For example a E-G-A progression to a A-C-D progression.
Intro To Pentatonic Scales
It's Worldwide
Pentatonic scales are used in many types of music all over the world. Many different types of folk music use this scale. If fact most people are familiar with this scale without even knowing it because it's used so often. There's a great clip by Bobby McFerrin who sings a pentatonic melody to an audience and to their surprise, they finish the tune without him! African and European (Celtic, Scottish, Russian) folk music use pentatonics quite frequently.
Music Theory For Rock Musicians
The Cirlce Of Fifths: Other Applications
Forms in Music for Songwriters
The Ubiquitous Verse-Chorus
Pretty much the de-facto standard for today is the verse-chorus form. Most of the hits you hear on the radio follow this form. It's basically an intro, followed by a verse-chorus.
The Art of Arrangement: Bass
The History of the Bassline
The Circle of Fifths for Songwriters
Optimizing Your Creativity
Being On Fire
We all love those times when ideas are just flowing. The ideas are coming from every where and one seems better than the next. We all know though, that these times are fleeting and they seem to leave just as quickly as they arrived. Creativity can be like a little child. They come and go when they please. They're very erratic and can't be depended on. They can last but usually they're quite short...or never long enough. And the worst part is that the harder you try to get them to abide by your will, the harder it is to get them to cooperate. In short, when it comes to inspiration, we're at the whim of the gods.
How to Apply Your Music Theory
One of the things that I ask a student when they first start is what kind of music they listen to and what they want to accomplish on their instrument. You should ask yourself the same questions. Most students start out with the same basic exercises and theory and get into specifics later. Most students just want to learn songs but I encourage them to learn theory along with some improvisation and writing skills. It helps with their playing, ear training, and takes away some of the mystery away from how music is created.
You, the Editor
More and more it's becoming a one (woman) man show. We now have the technology and ability to do so many things in not only creating music but also publicity and marketing. It all becomes much too easy to start thinking that you can do it all. I've written about this in the past and will comment again in later posts mostly because I think it's an important topic. One of the things that we have to do when we're creating music and recording tracks is discern between the stuff that is good and the stuff that has to be thrown out: enter the editor. When it comes to creating music and content, the role of the editor is vital. In this post we're going to talk about the role of the editor in making music and its vital importance in the music making process.
The Professional Editor
When it comes to editing I always think about newspaper editors that are portrayed on television and in film. You know the one I'm talking about: the guy with the short temper and the non-existent personality. He's the guy who rejects everything, feels the need to put people down, and will do anything to get the paper 'out on schedule'. Of course this is one of Hollywood's typical stereotypes but there is a hint of truth here. The fact is that the editor is crucial in the process of creating content. Not only does the editor make sure that the material is of a high quality but also that the material stays on track and on topic. In one aspect, you have to be ruthless sometimes about what is acceptable and making sure that things do get done.
Your Internal Editor
As mentioned above, the editor is responsible for quality control and staying on course with the program among other things. There are other things that the editor may be responsible for but we are going to focus on these two because they relate to what we're trying to accomplish the most. When you sit down to write a song, there is an editor present. It's your internal editor. It's the part of you that discerns what's good and what's bad, what's right and what's wrong. There are two definitive kinds of editors; ones that are way too lenient, and ones that are too strict. Of course there shades of grey here but most of the time, your editor will be much too hard, or not there at all. A lot of this is dependent on your personality and your self perception. In fact, it has little to do with actual reality. It's like your view of the world in general; it has to do with your perception of the world and little to do with the actual world itself. Some people are much too hard on themselves and think that their work is terrible and some people are way too generous with their opinion and think that everything that they create is a masterpiece. There are fatal flaws in both of these perspectives.
The Non-existent Editor
If you've ever see some of the reality shows like 'American Idol' you've probably seen some singers who are terrible and yet when they are told how bad they are, they react with complete disbelief. It's always good to believe in yourself and believe that you have the ability to make it in the music business. The problem occurs when you believe this so much that you shut out any sort of criticism and bad reviews and believe that these people are just jealous and are out to get you. The problem here is that these people don't have an internal editor and believe in themselves so much that they're unable to take any sort of constructive criticism or advice. If you believe that everything that you do is genius, not only do you not improve as an artist, but you lose credibility as well. There is always room for improvement at every level of being an artist. Having the ability to step back and listen to your work with a discerning ear is a crucial skill to have. Some well known producers have developed this skill to an amazing level and it shows in their work and the artists that they work with. With your own material, it's critical that you can step back and figure out what works and what doesn't.
The Critical Editor
The other side of this is the over critical editor. This is the one that decides that everything that you have done is terrible or flawed. Many well known artists and writers over the years have been overly critical of their own work even to the point where they are doing rewrites even when the work is done and has seen some success. This is a problem for a great number of artists that never seems to leave them. The fact that they are critical about their work may be the reason why their work is such a high quality in the first. This though, can be taken way too far. Some people allow that editor in too quickly in the work thereby effectively destroying the creative process. In the beginning of creation, there needs to be some level of experimentation and play. Bringing the editor in too quickly can destroy this step or bring it to a halt. There needs to be some level of trust and having an open mind to allow ideas to flow freely. Then, some people bring the over critical editor in later when reviewing their work. This is the best time for your editor to do his stuff. If fact it's essential that your internal editor is brought in. This is what assures quality control. This is when you start asking questions and making sure that you've accomplished what you've set out to do. Here again though, we don't what to be so critical that we entirely dismiss everything that we've done. Some people are so critical of their own work that it never sees the light of day, or even worse, never gets done it the first place. They get so caught up in rewrites and working on 'newer and better' material that they never release what they've created before. This can be just as worse as the non-existent editor mentioned above.
Stimulating the Editor
One of the best ways to stimulate the internal editor is to start asking yourself some questions. It's usually good to not let the tough minded editor in too early in the creation process and generally it's a good idea to let the ideas flow initially without too much resistance. Once you've gotten somewhere along in the song, it's time to let the hard ass editor in and start asking yourself some questions. Depending on what you're working on and what stage in the process you're in, these questions are going to be a bit different. If you're at the song writing stage you will want to focus on the lyrics, the harmony and rhythm. Are the lyrics working? Is there an easier more effective way to put the message across? Is it memorable? Is the melody memorable? Do you need to make it more elaborate or less? Is it heading in the right direction? If you're writing for someone else is it developing into a good song for them? You get the idea. There are a ton of things that you may want to go over. The hardest part is being honest with yourself. Can you write something better?
The Rewrite
Sometimes songs get stuck simply because the writer is having a hard time with the rewrite and nothing good is coming. The problem with rewriting is that the further along you are into a piece of music, the fewer choices you have. When you first start writing a song, the palette is virtually clean. The further along a song is, you may have fewer options for things to fit into the framework on the song. You no longer have a million choices but you are looking for that one idea that will fit. Many artists have a problem with rewrites because of this. The other problem you may run across is that fact that you may have fallen in love with your original idea even though it may not have been the best idea. Sometimes the more times you hear a song, the harder it becomes to do the rewrite because you've become accustomed to the old choice and nothing else will 'fit'. In this case you may want to try a bunch of ideas and just 'stick them in there' for now. Once you stuck some ideas in something that you've heard a million times, your ears will once again become accustomed to the new sound. If you've tried a couple of different ideas and then listened to them a couple of times at a later date, your ears may become used to the new sound or at least you may be open to new ideas.
Criticism
One of the problems that some people come across is when they get criticism from other people about their work and don't know how to use that criticism. Either they completely dismiss the criticism, take it too hard and see it as a personal attack, or just try to ignore it like it never happened. Whenever you create a piece of art, there is going to a reaction to that art; good and bad. If you are in the business of making music, there is going to be a situation where you going to have to accept some criticism from somebody in the business. The problem occurs when you don't make the best use of the criticism. It's important that you take advantage of this situation when it occurs.
Taking Advantage
If you've gone out of your way to get your music to a professional in the business and got some criticism about your work, it's an opportunity to learn and grow. Sometimes your music will get rejected because it's not right for the artist or it's not what they may be looking for at the time. But, if you've submitted something and there's a remark about it being too simple, bad production (or worst…outdated production!), then you should really take advantage of the situation. Thank them for their opinion and see if you can more info. Can they suggest things to do or to make the track better? Would they accept it if changes were made? Keep in mind I'm talking about a professional and somebody that knows what they're talking about. Sometimes people can be less than helpful (even though they don't mean to be) when they really don't know what they're talking about. I've played some material for 'other musicians' before and got less than great responses. Some people aren't happy when they see that you've created something great. Then there's the opposite side of the spectrum where it's family and friends who are really supportive and have nothing but great things to say about your work. Even though this may be a great boost for your ego, it doesn't help your craft that much. Effective criticism helps you grow as and artist and allows you to think and see things in a new way. Most of all it gets you out of the misconception that makes you think that everything you do is great and that sometimes you do need to do a rewrite.
Working on Your Editor
Being subjective about your own work is a critical skill to have. You have to have the ability to let the ideas flow initially without getting in the way. Once you've got something going, you're going to have to step back and assess what you've done. This is where the editor comes in. Did you accomplish what you set out to do? Is your message getting across? It's the ability to look at all of these things and know what you have to change. You have to discern what's working and what's not and know what to do about it. This part of the process may be the hardest for some writers out there because it's the time when you may not be too inspired and may have to work at it a bit until you have something you like. Your editor is like all of the other processes in music though; the more you work at it, the better you will get. Above all, there is no art without flaws. Sometimes it's these little flaws that make it great in the first place.
Optimizing Studio Time
The Plan
You would think that if you were going to do some work in your own studio that there wouldn’t be the need for any planning or preparation. It’s not like going into a commercial facility where you were paying by the hour and time was of the essence. The problem with thinking that you have all the time in the world to get things done is that you usually take all the time in the world. With this mindset, you may spend a lot of time playing around thinking that since it’s your home studio, it doesn’t have the urgency or even is as serious as something done at a professional facility. The problem arises when you go into the studio and spend a lot of time playing with the gear and experimenting without setting any goals or doing what you set out to do in the first place.
If you’re just starting out and are using the studio as a learning tool, then you can use that time to fool around and see how things work. But even this has its limits. There comes a time in the learning process when you have to get down to business and do things on a ‘need to do’ basis. That means doing projects as well as taking time out to learn specific disciplines and working on your craft. There is a huge learning curve when it comes to recording, mixing and professional audio that takes time and concentrated effort. To learn your craft, there is going to come a time when you’re going to have to stop experimenting and get down to getting things done. The Band You’re in a band and decided that you’ve written a couple of songs that you’re really happy with and are ready to record. If you’re a band that has spent some time rehearsing, it’s a good idea to rehearse the songs that you are going to record until you all have a pretty good idea of what you want to accomplish when you go into the studio. Some bands just go right into the studio without even working on the material at all and figure that that’ll come later. It’s usually a better idea to work over the tunes in rehearsal because you end up getting really familiar with the songs and can work through a lot of ideas until you come up with something that you really love. After working through the song in rehearsal for a while, you may find that the song takes on a life of its own. Things may start to gel in a way that they can't when you're just laying down tracks quickly. Just jumping into the studio, you may get the entire recording done, and then realize later that you don’t like the sound or even the song. If you can, write a couple of songs together and see if you come up with a general sound that way. When you rehearse with the band, the sound will further be developed. The basic point here is to work through the songs until you come up with something that you really feel excited about instead of jumping into the studio and spending a lot of time creating recordings that you may not like or doesn’t really represent your sound. Working on one thing at a time makes you focus on the songs first. The Lone Gunman What about if you’re a lone songwriter and are just working on material to demo or songs that you might want to play with a band at a later date? The same basic principle applies as far as working through the material and trying to find that sound that is yours. Too often, since we have the recording studio at our disposal, we’re all to eager to just write anything and get in there and start recording. If your main goal is to write great songs, this usually isn’t a good idea. Some guys will write a song and then start recording right away and work on the song that way. This may work for some people but the problems lies when you get caught up in the recording and arranging processes and lose sight of the song. How many times have you heard industry people complain that there very few great songs out there even though there are millions being recorded? The point is that if you’re determined to write great songs, then focus on that and make sure you have a great song before you spend tons of time and money making a demo, or even worse, a finished product. I’m not suggesting that you forgo the recording process entirely, just the opposite. I always write on the computer. The difference is that I always keep the arrangements bare bones until I have the song to where it can sit on it’s own without any fancy arrangements. Composer/Arranger If you’re an instrumentalist or you’re working on writing better arrangements, or trying to write in different styles, then this takes a different approach. Yes, you’ll want to go into the studio right away and get going on recording but you’ll still have to take some time and decide what it is that you want to accomplish. You want to make sure that you’re working toward something and not just messing around with your gear. Messing around with your gear isn’t a bad thing; in fact it’s a really good idea. You do want to limit this to a certain amount of time or you’ll be messing around with your gear for years…without really getting anything done. For this approach you will want to decide which style and what kind of song you’re going to work with in the first place. Is an original, or is an arrangement of a standard, or a remix? You get the idea. The thing about doing exercises like this is it’s close to what happens in the real world. You get a call to write something in a specific style, like so-in-so artist with strings added, for example. Of course there are always deadlines and you should include this in your exercise. You’ll need some examples from the different artists mentioned or something in the general style and then work from there. The good thing about exercises like this is that you can take the results and add them to your portfolio that you can include in a demo reel or play to perspective clients. Studio Wonderland The studio itself can be a huge distraction to you actually getting to work. I know quite a few guys that have an impressive amount of great gear but never seem to get any work done. They preoccupy most of their time getting the gear and then messing around with the gear. These are the type of guys that make great techies and engineers but unless that’s your goal, you may not want to spend all of your time on this. The best thing to do when it comes to gear is to be really selective about the gear you get and then learn that piece of gear inside and out. There is a learning curve with any piece of new gear that’s going to take time away from your current project. Some pieces of gear are worth the effort to take time out and learn properly but be selective about this. In the end, the point is to make your results better and more professional; and that’s what this article is about…results.
There is always a level of experimentation in music that never goes away; the difference here is getting the essentials down so you can use time to experiment when you have it.
So let’s look at a couple of scenarios:
You’re A Big Biz Now!
We're A Lot Alike...
When it comes to doing business, corporations have certain ways of doing things. From what we’ve seen of the music business in the last decade, this hasn’t always been the best ways of doing things, but from a pure business and project management point of view though, there are a couple of things that we can learn from them. For one thing, businesses always put together a business plan including all of the financials when they first start out. This may be overkill when first starting a band because initially you may just be jamming and seeing if you gel. Once into a situation where you’ve been together for a while and are planning on going to the next level and plan on getting things done, you should get together and discuss some things. You may want to discuss where you are all at as far as the band is concerned, see what you want to do next and see where people’s priorities are.
On the surface you may not realize it but you have the same issues that a big corporation would have when taking on a new venture. You may be trying to figure out your style and the look and feel of the band. You want to get a demo done and start making some money. You want to set up some shows. You have to get a web site set up. At the very least, you need to have a MySpace page. These are the same things that a corporation has to deal with; they just call it different things. Finding your sound would be their developing a product, finding your look is their branding, making your demo is the same as their manufacturing and the MySpace and website is their marketing. If you look at how they get these things done, it will be easier for you to figure out what to do. Since corporations have big pockets, you may feel that you don’t have much in common but if you look at how they do things, you can learn a lot. For example, when the big labels release a new album, there are a whole series of things that they do before it ever sees the light of day. Yet I don’t know how many times I’ve heard a band booking their CD release party before they even have the CD printed. There should be about a 90 day grace period where you can set everything up before making the official release and having a CD release party.
...With One Big Difference
From a music point of view, I’ve heard this analogy for a long time from industry professionals and never really cared for it. Comparing my band to a soulless corporation took all the coolness out of it. It's just a good idea to keep this in mind when sitting down and making decisions. I actually think it’s better to keep the attitude that your band and music is anti-corporate. That what you’re creating is not some lame dispensable product but your voice: your art. The reason why I bring this up is because when making big decisions and trying to keep organized and get things done, it’s better to approach it with the professionalism of a corporation. If you’ve ever put a CD together or a tour for your band, you’re aware of all of the things that go into making these things a success. It’s so easy to start out without any plans and just jump right in. Ask anyone who’s been on tour though, once you do this the first time, you don't do it again. There's nothing like being stuck in the middle of nowhere with no spare tire, no transmission, etc. You can always tell a band that’s been on the road a lot. They seem to have it all down to an art form: organized, stripped to the bare essentials, and prepared for all the million things that can ( and usually) go wrong.
Lessons From The Road
They are the things in the business world called logistics. That’s all the things that are needed to get you (and your product) from one place to another. Most of the guys that I know who’ve spent a lot of time on the road, including myself, learned the hard way. The first time I went on the road I took so much stuff with me, that I spent half of the time just moving this stuff around. The band I was in was also booked for about 6 months so I left my apartment, put my stuff in storage and was going to find a new place when I got back. Bad idea. The tour ended prematurely and I ended up being homeless for a month. The point is that when you undertake any one of these things, it’s better to be prepared than to just do it tempt the Gods. If you can get material on the subject and most of all talk to bands that have been on the road and ask them about their experiences. You'll be amazed how much you learn. Guaranteed one on the first things they'll say is 'Make sure you don't...' and then go on to tell you some horror story.
Project Management 101
When it comes to project management though, there’s a whole other list of things that you should take into consideration. Right now I have about 5 different projects going on at once. This is nothing new for me and a lot of times it’s necessary. For example if I have the time, I like to have something I’ve completed sit for a day or two before I come back and make any final decisions. If you leave a piece of music for a while, you come back to it with fresh ears. If there’s anything wrong, it’ll usually jump right out at you. I try not to listen to something I’m working on too many times because you tend to fall in love with something after a while. I listen to it once or twice, then make the changes. If you’ve listened to a track too many times, you lose your objectivity. It's called demoitis, falling in love with the demo simply from listening to it over and over.
Let’s start at the beginning. You have the idea for a new demo, new song or new band. The first thing that you should consider is if this is worth pursuing in the first place. Keep in mind that you already have a couple of things on the go and your time is precious as it is. If there is money involved (I mean money now, not the prospect of some in the future) then that my take the highest priority. If you’re making the final adjustments on another project that’s really important to you, you may want to put it off or not do it at all. It may be something you’ve always wanted to do creatively (like tackling a new genre or new instrument) or work with somebody that you’ve always wanted to work with.
There are no hard and fast rules for making these decisions. For example, the two above (working in a new genre or with somebody new) sounds like a no-brainer. Anybody will tell you that it’s always a good idea to work with somebody new to make connections and hopefully make something better than you alone could create. Musicians generally hate to say no to anything, especially more music! The problem is that there is only so much time in the day. Even if you’re young, there’s only so much you can accomplish in a 24 hour period. You might be thinking that you just want just try anything that comes along and see what works out. This was always my thinking. The problem with this is you don’t have any focus and instead of having more opportunities, you end up limiting yourself because you have no real direction.
Focus
I remember the turning point for me. I always figured I would become a session musician; playing one- nighters or whatever came up. I practiced a lot and tried to become well versed in many styles. Not a bad plan, right? The problem is that I had been in a couple of projects that were terrible from the very beginning yet I spent time and money (gas mostly) in them anyway, while still pursuing anything else that came my way. I had spent valuable time in a lot of bands with people with attitudes and a lot of flakes. Keep in mind; I don’t think musicians are any more flakey than the general public, they are trying to put something together that does take a lot of personal time and effort.
One day a friend of mine who I had played with before asked me if I wanted to be in this band that a friend of his was putting together. I said sure without even meeting the other guy because my friend was a good guy and I trusted him. Well, I hated it. I didn’t get along with the guy who ran the whole thing but I stuck with it until the end anyway. The reason why I didn’t like the guy was that even though he had put together this CD which wasn’t bad, I didn’t consider him a very good musician and had trouble ‘taking orders’ from somebody who I felt had less talent than myself. Plus, it wasn’t a true band in my sense of what a band should be. The main guy had put together a CD and was looking for a band to play his material. I wanted to be part of a band that wrote together, he just wanted people to take orders. There are times when the above situation could lead to some work, even a tour with a major artist. But for me, it was a bad situation that surprisingly turned into a great learning experience. I decided that if I was ever going to do anything musical again, it was going to be on my terms. That was the last time I was ever in a band that I didn’t put together myself. I learned a lot from this guy. As far as I was concerned he had minimal talent (it was no secret among the band members that he was the least talented player), and was a bit of a jerk. But, he had put together this CD, got a lot of great players to play on it, and got a band to tour with. Not bad. It was because of two major factors; he was organized and he had focus.
Focus..With A Point
Which brings us back to the point in the very beginning; while it’s great to pursue many avenues while trying to make a living and figure out what it is you want to do, it’s vital that you have some sort of focus. If you do have that focus, you will have to turn down some ‘opportunities’ while pursing your personal vision. If you're not sure what exactly that focus is, as soon as you examine what you really want to do, ideas will pop up. If there a couple of things on your list that you'd love to get done, just pick one and get on with it. Make sure though, that whatever you pick, you stick with and see it to it's final conclusion. This guy only did the one thing; he created the CD. Once that was done, he put the band together, and shopped the CD. He was the least talented of all of the musicians yet he had the most success.
From that point on, I decided that I was going to really sit down and decide exactly what it was I wanted to do and I was going to see it through. The next band that I played in was my own. It was a funk band and it was the best band I ever played in. I got the best players that I could and this time it was me who was the ‘worst’ musician. This sounds bad but it’s really a good thing. If you’ve ever played in a band with musicians who are better than you, it can be intimidating but you learn so much and become a better musician way quicker. The bar is raised that much higher. Plus this band rocked. It lasted a couple of years and ended up disbanding because of lack of gigs. I then started a small project studio and opened my doors to songwriters and musicians who wanted to create a demo without the need for a band. I had learned to play numerous instruments along the way (not something that I planned but was well worth it; you can’t plan everything) and became a one stop shop for songwriters. Most of my clients never even played an instrument and I usually had to fill everything in, including the chords. It was another great learning experience. I stopped playing live for a while to focus wholly on this new business. Financially it kept me going for a while but on its own wasn’t enough so I had to augment this with a couple days of teaching a week. I now just work in the studio, focusing on creating the best music that I can.
Intro
Since this is my first blog I thought that I’d introduce myself and let you all know what to expect from this space. I’m a writer/producer living in Vancouver, Canada. I studied orchestration at university and jazz at college before I went out on the road with a rock cover band. I’ve been writing and producing music for about a decade now and have written in many different styles.
As much as I loved playing live, my true love is writing and producing. I can write in many styles but love some more than others. I ended up writing in all of these genres because I ran a small studio for about 5 years that basically provided background tracks to songwriters.
Most of my clients never played an instrument or knew anything about theory or production so most of the time I ended up playing all of the instruments and co-writing because all they had was a germ of an idea and some lyrics. I always made an effort to make their tracks their own. I not one of those producers that feels he has to put his personal stamp on everything and try to simply do what’s best for the artist and the song. I produced tracks in every style from RnB, to Hip Hop, rock, country and everything in between. I stopped a couple of years ago to focus on my own stuff.
I’ll upload a couple of my tracks soon to give you an idea of what I’m all about. These are all written and produced by myself. Give these tracks a listen and tell me what you think. I have a lot of stuff in a lot of different styles so I’ll be uploading songs in different genres. When it comes to songwriting I do best with middle of the road stuff: RnB, pop and rock that’s ‘radio friendly’.
Basically I’m going to use this blog as much a journal to myself as I am a public forum. I’ll just be talking about the tracks that I’m working on and share some of my thoughts. If you have any thoughts or questions I would love to hear them.