How To Compose/arrange

Hi all,

I play the keyboard when I was 12 years old, I trained by ear, I have imitate others really well, but never completed a song that I would called my own. The reason I think is because my knowledge in music theory is lacking. I could listen to a piece of music and find the keys on the keyboard/piano really quick, but to come up with something of my own, I have no idea. I basically start out with an 8 bar and that's it. I could never get beyond this. I am not classical trained on the piano nor do I read music sheets. I consider myslef more of urban worship music guy. I like to play chord progressions, traids ( root, 3rd, 5th, and 7th), diminished. I like smooth and romantic type of stuff, think of Jim Brickman as an example.

That said, I'd like to ask for some advice on how you guys compose your music. How do you do it? Do you plan the arrangment first before you make up the melody or do you just kind of go along playing the melody and then just copy and paste the arrangement as you go along? I like to work with my drum first. In most cases, I play the drum for 8 bar. On the first bar when the drum begin, I already begin my piano chords, then add the flute to lead. Heck, I don't even know how to start an intro and build it up. I just play everything all together on the first bar (LOL). I know this is a very wrong way to start a song. I would sit for days and days don't even have an introduction. So maybe give some advice how to start an intro and build this up to verse 1. A good song is a good production/arrangement, each sounds supporting each other, builds up, comes back down etc. You have to make them talk to each other.

Thanks for all the help. I am all ears.

First off, and I don't mean to sound preach-y or anything, but a fairly basic amount of music theory is virtually essential to your success composing and songwriting. Now, there are some musicians who can't read music whatsoever and are getting along just fine, but this works best when they are the ones playing their own music. Being able to write your music out in some form that others can decipher in order to learn it is the key to having musicians play what you want them to. Unless you are there to teach the song by ear, or if you are performing it yourself, some kind of notation is necessary, and the western music-stave approach is the most common.

So, I encourage you to learn to get the notation down. This could be as a piano part, or just a melody and chord symbols, but it will help your progress immensely. Try to learn by playing piano music or looking up pop songs you know for the tabs, see how they are written out and what makes them tick, and you will understand how to express your own music better.

Now, as to your questions about how to compose and what to start with. That's a bit like asking if the chicken or the egg came first, you get an endless loop. Music and lyrics often gets asked this, and there is no industry standard as to which comes first. Do whatever is natural to you. In reality, melody, arrangement, and structure happen simultaneously when working on a piece, to an extent. You may be working on just the melody, but you also wind up thinking of how you arrange it, and other cases like that. There are some people who are dead set in starting with one facet of the work, but most people tend to mix because it feels right for them. Chances are, some part of the overall piece will be rewritten as you realize you would like it better a different way, and you will reorganize the form or rewrite the parts because you now realize that. Think about the big picture, work on the small details, and your destination will be the same no matter where you begin.

You seem to be focused in songwriting, and I'm not entirely up to scratch in that, but I hope this helps. Don't feel pressured to write in a linear fashion. The best introductions I ever write are when I start writing the middle of the piece and come back for the intro once I've finished. Songwriting is like dreams, "you always wake up in the middle of whatever is happening". Inspiration will take you to the most important part of the song, so figure that out while you still have it. Then, once you have your parts, mess with it in chunks for structure. Once structure is put in a good place, finish any auxiliary parts you need. As you move through the piece, pull out parts of the main section you were inspired to write, seeding them throughout the whole piece. A melody here, a snippet there, and you'll look like the smartest guy in the world for pulling them all together, when all you really did was break one section apart.

For starting a piece, or finding a melody, my best recommendation is to improvise. If you can learn pieces by ear, you can improvise just fine. As you come up with lots of bad improvised melodies, just remember and write down the good ones. Repeat chords as you try this, until the background of the song is hardwired in your brain, and the piece should begin to work itself out.

On a final note, I'd like to welcome you to the forum. Also, though you don't seem like a classical person as much, I'd like to recommend you listen to some minimalist classical music. You mentioned you like electronic dance music? Minimalism like Reich and Glass is actually very similar, and maybe something you'd be interested in. These are the kinds of people who can write a 30 minute piece based on one of your 8-bar phrases and pull it off. Check it out a bit, see if it works for you.

I often find it helpful to start from a text (e.g. a poem), and try to sing something to the text.

You can use that melody as a starting point to try and add some chords under it.

After you're done, you leave out the poem (especially if it's copyrighted) and you have your own music piece.

Welcome!  If you can write eight bars, you can write a whole piece.  Just don't be discouraged by the fact that it doesn't come easily. That's completely normal.  It doesn't come easily for anyone all the time, although there may be days where everything just seems to click and you make great progress.  Keep at it.  Keep trying new things added to the eight bars you've got.  Set it aside.  Come back to it.  Set it aside and go listen to something else.  Come back to it.  Go play something else on the piano.  Come back to it.  Write a different eight bars.  Try smooshing them together.  Is there a way to connect the two as if one is the chorus and one is a verse?  Or one is a bridge between verses?

And learning some theory is definitely good in the long term, but take it a little bite at a time, or you'll make yourself nuts.  Try learning a little sheet music first.  It will take time.  Learn to read basic rhythms.  What does a quarter note look like, what does a half note look like.  How about a scale that starts on C?  What does that look like.  Start with what you know and build a little every day.  Just five or ten minutes, but every day.  

I've written music without any training whatsoever. I'm self taught. Listen to music, love it, find patterns, and write them down. Listen to a wide variety of music. The real genius comes out when you don't overthink things. Here is a link to a quick something that I wrote on the spot: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c45XrUwKjxE

Music is a great way to explore the parts of our mind that society teaches us to ignore or shut down. It is one of the greatest art forms and marks of cultural advancement. Good luck and have fun!