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More thoughts on the art/craft/cruel mistress of songwriting
Author: Jim on August 09 2007 Viewed 1164 times. 11 people liked this blog. You can rate it below if you haven't already.
People who enjoyed reading this: madeofoak, hardvoltnine, opticecho, Analog, RRine, Roshi, deltasleep, cartesia, GregTArtZ, erieshore, jogn
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So I'm beginning to feel more confident writing songs (as opposed to loops or less rigid music patterns). I'm digging doing the verse-chorus-verse thing. Recently I've been thinking about a blog I put up here in March, when I first started really devoting myself to songwriting (http://www.em411.com/blog/2365/0/Finding_the_fire.html). I think most of those lessons are true for me.
The shift I had around that time, moving from writing music mostly in the session view (with the clips) to the arrange view (with the timeline) really was a big shift in the way I thought about writing, and really helped.
In addition, I think I've learned the following in the past 5 months or so:
1) I like good melodies. They sell a song to me. I can't explain necessarily what makes a melody good to me, but they usually have a bittersweet quality, a go-for-the-jugular kind of melodramaticism, and are not too repetitive.
2) I've learned more discipline. I used to let myself get off easily, I'd be ok with letting a drum beat continue for a long time un-altered, or I'd let some sub-par sounds remain in a song, all with intentions of "fixing those parts later." But I never did...eventually I just got bored with the song and quit. I've learned that I need to be more motivated to bring my music up to my standards. It's hard work, but it feels more rewarding in the end.
3) I've learned that "feel" is probably the most important skill in songwriting. I've been playing with this guy who's, by any objective standard, a better musician than I, and just watching and listening to him play had improved my skills dramatically. I think I need to listen for feel more in records I enjoy. Little things, like the way the drums and bass work together, you know, the basics, are still things I can learn a lot from. I guess a lot of the time I listen to records of artists I like, I simply enjoy the music without really picking it apart.
Anyway, The Positive Jam continues to be a lot of fun. We've done about 8 songs, and are trying to figure out how to do them live now. I posted one in the releases here the other day, it's definitely a big step forward from the days when I didn't know what a vst was (which was really only 2 years ago, 6 years into my endeavors at electronic music.) | |
Comments
08/10/07
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hardvoltnine
nice outline, I think most of it applies to me as well, although creativity is a big factor that exists in my opinion of music. It can be as disiplined as ever, but if there isn't that spark that makes me feel in the presence of creativity, I won't enjoy it.
08/10/07
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nightowl
very insightful--i like the part about "feel".
i can relate to that because i played blues guitar for a long time
and without feeling it aint the blues.
you have to abandon yourself to feeling in order to improvise solos,
you have to move your conscious mind out of the way of the music
& let it come out of you
i still like to put improvised solos in my electronic pieces.
08/11/07
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deltasleep
Theres so much to be learned about pop music by someone who has only done electronic music. Some of you are going to balk at that, and to you I say: prove it by covering the first song you hear on the radio. I know that before I took on that sort of a challenge, I was half the musician I am today. Which is to say, I was 1/4 musician. 
08/12/07
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GregTArtZ
I like good melodies, simple songs. Ideas that are to the point. To me a good song is like a good quote or sound bite, the less words
it takes to say it the better. Some people can say in a sentence what others try to say in entire lengthy books, people get lost in all that.
08/12/07
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revelcraft
Jim said: "just watching and listening to him play had improved my skills dramatically"
I'd love to spend a significant amount of time watching certain members of this forum create their drums, as it's the one area I'm totally clueless on how to sequence, both loops and oneshots.
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