Swindon Music

This is bang on the money.

Yeah man I get this with other band members wanting to "put more in it " and me and our singer asks why? if the words go over it fine why f**k about with it.

its fine jamming about with tracks but changing it like adding some stupid riff na thx

I like doing the endings get them right and you can make a real inpact and makes you look good, the band ending at the same time works and leaving a note to fade.

keep writing songs you will see what works ,how to write that chorus to that cracking verse it will come to you.

I can do it in my head at work now , thats how I wrote the chorus to Pill's , thirll's, I think the words at work
and DON'T BE AFRAID OF BEING SIMPLE! it works

Deluk

Echoing what Valjester and DrBob have already said but dynamics can make a hell of a difference. Simple songs can appear so much more by varying the power, big pick ups after a cut back sequence can have a major inpact. It's not just about clever chord progressions, sometimes just taking your foot of the gas can open a song up nicely.

Also as Valjester said, instrumentation. I played in a six piece folk band for a long time and we had cracking lead guitar and sax players, but the main man insisted that they pretty much played throughout as well as both soloing in most songs. It frustrated the hell out of me as some of the songs would have been much more interesting if we had just cut things out of them instead of constantly adding more layers. Just because you have a nice wide range of sounds to use in your song, dosnt mean that you have to use them all at the same time.

Its all a learning curve.

Another point I'd like to make is that if you are trying to write better music it is just so important to listen to others' songs and fully take in what it is you like about them. I mentioned The Beatles 'instant entry' earlier - that's something I love about them. 'Love Me Do' for example: no mucking about - straight in with the harmonica hook for just over 10 seconds, then come the vocals, back in with the hook after just 15 seconds away. There's no fat on it at all - it's all perfectly necessary and hence great to listen to.

A more recent example of this structural perfection in a pop rock song would be Kings of Leon's 'Sex on Fire' - like it or not it's a fantastically well-written piece of music, which develops as it goes on (more instrumentation is added to later verses, the pre-first verse intro is absent for the second verse after the chorus, choruses get longer, etc). It just sounds 'right', and I think that's the secret to great songs - making something sound vital, which can be done by using a formula that can be tweaked for each idea you conceive.

on the subject of kings of leon


By the way, i've had http://www.songwright.co.uk/ bookmarked for a while, has some pretty useful posts

Good linkage.

Another thing, if you can, record what you are doing!

The old cliché where "if it's any good, you'll remember it" is mostly misunderstood, if you're just jamming, the likelihood of remembering all the good ideas if pretty slim and at most remember one or two, then not know what to do with them.
Once you have something recorded, you can easily put that into software and manipulate it into a song, maybe more, maybe you'll get nothing, but you get to spend time actually listening to it, rather than just playing and listening to your part.

Good hustle.

The most important thing is to do it and do it often. It doesn't matter if you don't feel 'inspired', just write something anyway, if it is s**t then noone need ever hear it. And it's so worth writing a load of s**t to get one or two beasts that you're really proud of.

If you've got a good head on your shoulders, you'll be fuckin A in no time.

less is more

Possibly one of my favourite musical quotes of all time, from Miles Davis (I think...): "It's not the notes you do play, it's the notes you don't."

Sometimes though, I think people forget that instruments can be played quietly, and sometimes they don't need to be played at all. Again though, it's all down to taste - otherwise all music would be pretty much identical.

For me, though, when I write songs, I make sure they come from the heart - mainly because I'm not funny enough to write comedy songs... Ahem. When I watch a band, I want to see them put their all into their songs, and I think that's what's missing from most bands I watch. Even if there aren't any vocals, music can still have passion - you only have to look at someone like Beethoven to see that.

I look at music as a way conveying emotion, and no matter the technical ability or the sound quality, if it doesn't make me feel anything at all, I most likely won't like it. One of the reasons why I can't listen to guitarists like Mr Vai and Mr Satriani and why I can listen to Miles Davis.

Write your music until you like how it sounds, don't be afraid of trying anything new or different and play it how you like to play it. Let other people decide what genre it is, or whether your guitar amp has the wrong valves in it or whatever.

All art is driven by the need to communicate. If your artwork does not communicate with the recipient you've failed.

Great art conveys something so primal/universal that the majority of humankind will understand it.

Intellectualising art is bullshit...

agreed , If your artwork does not communicate with one recipient then you've failed epicly

Deluk