Nitebob
Okay so I've written 3 songs and half-finished 2 others totalling 5. Now I've noticed that three of the five have the same chord progression, even though the melodies and feel of the songs differ greatly, and one is played with capo, so progression is still the same....should I be concerned?
DonovanB
Not at all.
A good album of 12 songs will have about 50 written for it. Then you filter the best ones.
Try venture to different sounds but just keep writing, the more you write the better you get
guidothepimmp
Credit to you mate,
I agree with Donovan about the different sounds, eg using a keyboard, or tambourine in places can make your songs sound pretty different from one another while filling what may seem like a "empty" sounding part of the song..
Nitebob
Thank you guys...the replies I was hoping for... ?
AlanRatcliffe
If the same chord sequence played differently for each song was a problem, the entire blues genre would be in deep doo-doo. ?
Ray
Put one tune on one lp. And then a few years later slap the other one with the same sort of riff or sequence on another best seller lp. Listen to Money for Nothing and Heavy Fuel.
PeteM
It doesn't matter... just keep writing. The more you do the more you'll grow-and-expand off your current base.
Jacquesg4j
The chords of a song is not even 10% of the song IMO. I've written a song for my wife on accoustic, I don't even know what chords I'm playing. In the process of recording. Just be careful for not using the same rhythm with the same chord progression. But then again, if the band comes in, they might give TOTALLY different feels to the song!
Nitebob
Thanks for all the feedback guys. Kinda new at the writing bit, but very exciting. Think the songs differ enough so it wouldn't be too detectable, different BPM, style and genre...Thanks again
Squonk
Interesting Topic this Nitebob
I have a gig on the 1st March and I am busy with a couple of compositions.
Chord progression isn't a problem as these songs are in Alternate Tunings so all sound very far removed.
I am trying to add lyrics but are interested to hear how everyone else goes about constructing songs.
deefstes
Nitebob wroteNow I've noticed that three of the five have the same chord progression, even though the melodies and feel of the songs differ greatly, and one is played with capo, so progression is still the same.
Well done. That puts you in good company with the likes of The Parlotones or Nickelback who uses the same chord progression for every song as well. Key difference is, you've noticed it, I suspect they still think they're churning out one original song after the other ?
But on a more serious note, as Alan said, many styles of music are characterised by their relatively rigid chord progression, Blues being a very good example. And just about every other pop song ever written uses the I-vi-IV-V chord progression. Didn't someone make a video of that once?
Nitebob
@ Squonk: Well to be honest... I'm not sure how I get the lyrics going....melodies usually come to me while I'm driving and I record it on my phone and save it. Then one day I'd listen to a song and say "How could I say it better?" and work from there, that was one.
Sometimes you force yourself to write something. I wrote a sad song, and my current girlfriend thought I wrote because I miss a previous girlfriend. So I forced myself to write a song for her basically saying: If I had known you were in my future I would've lived my life differently( :-\..No softy jokes please :-[).
But really I don't have any formula. I think one should just be ready to compose at all times...
deefstes
Nitebob wrote
@ Squonk: Well to be honest... I'm not sure how I get the lyrics going....melodies usually come to me while I'm driving and I record it on my phone and save it. Then one day I'd listen to a song and say "How could I say it better?" and work from there, that was one.
Sometimes you force yourself to write something. I wrote a sad song, and my current girlfriend thought I wrote because I miss a previous girlfriend. So I forced myself to write a song for her basically saying: If I had known you were in my future I would've lived my life differently( :-\..No softy jokes please :-[).
But really I don't have any formula. I think one should just be ready to compose at all times...
Methinks now that you've got Ableton Live and an Audio Interface you owe it to us to post a recording or two of some of these songs ?
Nitebob
deefstes wrote
Nitebob wrote
@ Squonk: Well to be honest... I'm not sure how I get the lyrics going....melodies usually come to me while I'm driving and I record it on my phone and save it. Then one day I'd listen to a song and say "How could I say it better?" and work from there, that was one.
Sometimes you force yourself to write something. I wrote a sad song, and my current girlfriend thought I wrote because I miss a previous girlfriend. So I forced myself to write a song for her basically saying: If I had known you were in my future I would've lived my life differently( :-\..No softy jokes please :-[).
But really I don't have any formula. I think one should just be ready to compose at all times...
Methinks now that you've got Ableton Live and an Audio Interface you owe it to us to post a recording or two of some of these songs ?
Will do, once I get them up to a standard that I am happy with... ?
Malkav
deefstes wrote
Didn't someone make a video of that once?
=
?
deebee
If you compose using an acoustic, once the song is done and dusted, do it with an electric using various tones, drive etc. You can totally rearrange a song this way and turn a ballad into a driving rocker. I've written way more than 5 songs and i know exactly what you mean, you tend to become somewhat one dimensional after a while. Also, look for different chords that are not common and play around. I did that once and had to look up the chords on the net, as i knew how to play them, but didn't know the names. [G6/A, is an example], it works well with Fmaj7 and other chords that are not as hard to play as what they are to pronounce. Have fun writing, and never let people put you off with their takes on anything that you write, it is a talent that not all musos have - enjoy
DonovanB
I read an interesting take on song-writing once where you write a tune, then leave it for a few weeks. Later on you "cover" it yourself. So try play it differently by changing timing, speed, chord progression slightly.
I often find the old tunes I've written sound way different now when I do that.
Nitebob
I enjoy the writing. I've wanted to write since I picked up a guitar the first time. Attended a workshop on it last year and it all started from there. The trick is, you can hear something in your mind as one way and once you get to production you end up with a way different sound you intended, but someone likes it, so you leave it. I agree with Donovan songs should be left for a while and revisited, however at times you write with a deadline.
Deebee, I just noticed it in three songs is the same progression, even though two is in C and one in C#. The other two is in Dm and F... so I do try some other stuff inbetween
FruitarGeek
Just out of interest. What are these chords? Some genre's have very specific chord patterns, so I wanna see how you are thinking ?
Nitebob
C G F Am mostly...
