Wannabe musician needs tips

I have a real urge to make some of my own tunes for a game I am working on but haven`t a clue how to go about it. I have a good working knowledge of FL Studio but really have trouble writing my own tunes as I do not know where to begin even though I have a good ear for music.

There are so many `How to draw` tutorials around so I`m sure that there must be some `How to write a basic tune` ones about.

Can anyone give me some tips on how to start composing my own music or point me to any neat sites?

Thanks,
Jason.

1) Keep it simple, don't try complex chords if you're not up to those. I said the same to someone else this week who tried complex chords and counterpoint, the result of that was messy, while the initial melody wasn't half bad.

2) Compare a composition with the gliding ramp from when you were a kid (assuming you don't use them now :P), the more smoother the notes are, the smoother the ride is. Trick is to identify and smooth the rough edges from a composition. If something sounds complex or unnatural then there's smoothing to do.

3) Try a 3- or 4-channel tune first, think 80's home-computers. This will teach you focus and counterpoint.

4) A/B frequently with tunes you use as inspiration

5) Analyze zillions of tunes, either by listening to them, or by remaking them.. (just plain remaking!)

6) Try to spot themes and motives in all the tunes you can get, try give these small elements names and meanings. You might try the "Once Upon a Time in the West" (opera-)theme by Morricone to analyze.

7) A common method to create a theme is to use the question-answer method. Create a 'question' using notes, and then 'answer' it using other notes.

8) Be critical, dare to say that things suck if they do.

9) Convince yourself that you can clone whatever professionals are doing, that's the only way to set yourself a goal you can work to.

10) Practice^32

One more thing - focus on getting the piece and it's movements established before embellishing each section. Try to establish the overall mood and progression of the piece, and if you can, lay down bare bones tracks for each part to get a rough "framework." I have a tendency to write a couple bars, maybe 15-30 seconds worth of stuff, and then layer and layer and layer and turn it into something really cool - but then I have no idea how to smoothly transition all of these 93923 instruments into the next movement.

So yeah, don't do like I tend to do - try to get a track or two of a rough sketch of a melody making it through the progressions you have planned. You can always go back and change things later.

See if something like this gets you started in the 'write' direction (see what I did there?):

http://www.kuro5hin.org/story/2002/4/12/72348/4426

Thanks for the advice everybody :)

Jason.

I'm not sure if this has been covered allready, but I think it is worth mentioning. For selecting notes that fit together, use a scale:
1) C Major - use only the white keys on the keyboard/piano
You can make a melody with any of those notes, however the last one should be a C.
Chords that accompany this are C,F and G7. C=CEG, F=FAC and G7=GBD(F)
2) Pentatonic - use only the black keys on the keyboard
This makes the melody sound a bit Chinese.
3) Jazz - use these notes: C, D#, F, F#, G, A#
4) Blues - use these notes: C, D, D#, E, G, A
5) minor: C,D,D#,F,G,G#,A# (minor is used to make a sad melody.)

A standard setting for music is:
1) drum
2) bass
3) chords
4) melody
Start with the chords, add a melody, then a bass and finally drums.

Play the chords in a low octave, and the melody in the high octave.
One or two octaves below the chord octave, play the bass. This is usually the first note of a chord, or a simple tune.

If you are writing pop music, use this scheme:
1) verse
2) chorus
3) verse
4) chorus
5) bridge/break
6) chorus
7) chorus

I believe that a good ear for music is natural. Musical theory is based on existing music. A lot of famous musicians don't/didn't know how to read notes. For instance Paul McCartney and Lionel Richie. I saw that on TV two weeks ago.

Here is a great book from the KLF. They describe how to write a hit record: http://www.instrumentality.com/themanual.html
(Hmm, parts of the text seem to have gone. Last time I read it, it was still complete. Maybe amazon complained, because their banner wasn't there too the last time.)

Start with the chords, add a melody, then a bass and finally drums.

I strongly recommend against starting with chords. It'll limit your options greatly as you're likely to let the melody follow the chords, while the chords should in fact follow the melody. That's why I recommended starting with 3 or 4 channel tunes, by doing so you'll not have the luxury of chords 'n stuff (oh, no SID arpeggios please!) and you *really* need to focus on melodies. Once there's a suitable piece of music, one can always add chords in the end.

I used to make mod music. I was never an expert musician, but the way I did it was I would first lay down a beat, and then add one note at a time with a single instrument over that.

I'd just place down whatever note sounded like it should go next, with no prior planning. Then I would go over it a second time with that instrument playing a different tune which matched with the first one's tune. This created chords.

I should note (no pun intended) that I didn't write out the whole song at once like this. I'd do maybe two to four bars worth, and build that up until I had the start of a song.

Anyway, after I had a beat and the first instrument laid down, (sometimes I would get creative and have the second copy of the first instrument come in after a while, or stop for a while) I would add more layers to the beat, or add some deeper sounding instruments like bass.

Of course I finished very few of my songs, but I did make a lot of really catchy song beginnings. :-)

I strongly agree with CS_TBL - do not start with chords/harmony. It's far too limiting for a beginner.

Besides, it'smelody and it's rhythm that people remember when it comes to music. Focus on a strong melody first.

Unless you are writing metal-like music. I agree with SOS and CS. Don't start with chords. If you are attempting to write something like Iron Maiden, or Metallica, or even a lot of pop-ish alternative stuff, then you want to go with chords first. Why? Cause thats how they write thier music, and that is part of how they got their sound.

Whatever you write first -normally- sounds the best and everything else will support it. So typically, if you started with chords and then added a melody, the melody will lose a lot of it's presense without the chords.

If you want wild guitar solos and driving guitar riffs, then that is what you should start with.

At least when you are first starting out. I don't have anything I particularly start with when I write anymore. lots of times I write based off little themes I think up, which could be anything from drums to bass, to melody out to dramatic stings with combinations of parts.

Hmm, this thread could be another of those "learning moments" for me, too. I should really give that a try then.

Now myself, I've played piano since I was 8, I can't seperate chords and melodies. They're both integral to a tune and the chords follow the melody just as a matter of course. In fact by alternating chord structure as you play the melody you can accomplish some fine things and develop a style all your own. But I'm hardly a beginner.

The chords and the melody aren't really two sepparate things. You can play a melody with chords and chords with a melody. So melodies have only one note at a time, while some have multiple.
I have a really good ear for music, so what usually happens is I'll hear something in a song, it could be anything from a drum beat to a baseline to a group of chord changes to a melody, and I'll unconsciously begin playing it into whatever I'm playing. So the key is to listen to a lot of music. All you need is one thing, such as a cool bass line that you heard, and you can add some drums and a piano and a guitar and a saxophone and also extend the piece and soon a musical composition will start to emerge.

Good luck with it dude, FL is way cool :-)

I take it when writing/composing music that there's a fair amount of experimenting involved?

Been composing a piano piece to 10 instruments for my school project, and I've been wracking my freakin' brain as to how to make the instruments handle the main melody without taking the lazy route and have the trumpet hog the whole section, or double it up on the other treble instruments...

Yes, until/unless you develop a really good ear for music, at which point most of the experimentation can take place in your mind's ear.