Let's make better music ... Together! - Where do I start?
Introduction
Hello again steemians!
Today I wanted to do something a little bit different and talk about a general struggle that comes with creating music. What element do I start with?
Do I start with the chords? The Melody? The Drums? How we approach making a piece of music plays a huge part in what kind of song comes out in the end. So today I wanted to write more of a discussion piece than a guide to get people's opinions on one of the hardest parts of making music.
I'll start by categorizing the elements of a song and giving my thoughts on beginning with the element in question. If you have anything you wish to add feel free to comment. :)
Melody
Twinkle Twinkle Little Star Melody
Melody is and has always been a crowd favorite when it comes to writing music, which makes sense; it's the most memorably part of the song. If you have a song stuck in your head, you're usually humming out the melody. It's what makes your song unique.
Starting with the melody also means you have something to build around. Think of it as starting to build a church with a statue of Jesus and a stained glass window - as long as you build 4 decent walls around it you have a pretty OK church once you're inside. Starting with the melody does have it's downsides as well though. Generally speaking, whatever you start with is the part you put most focus on. If you make your melody complex, which is easy to do when nothing else is playing, then you leave less room for other things. The elements I find take the hardest hits from starting with melody are the drums.
I think this tends to happen, because the melody in itself already has a kind of rhythm and making intricate drums on an already complicated melody ends up leaving little to no room for anything else. This is why pop music has but a few set drum patterns. You want it to be catchy, so you start with melody and can't get too deep into the drums.
Drums
A rather popular drum beat as of late
Since I talked about the contrast between melody and drums in the first part, I'll get into the drums now.
You can think of drums as the rhythm of you song. How do you want people to move when listening to it? Each hit of the kick drum is a jerk reaction on the dance floor or a bob of the head if your music is slower. Starting with drums can lead to a lot of interesting rhythmical choices you wouldn't otherwise make. Originally, I was thinking as the chords as the foundation of your church, but I think that, if you have drums in your song, then the song sits on them. It's the driving force, the push into the direction the artist wants you to go in.
Starting with drums enables you to choose how the listener moves to your song more directly. I like to think of them as a the core of what your song is trying to do. Slow consistent drums give an amazing head bobby ambiance, while fast and unpredictable ones offer a playground for rappers to flow on.
Chords
The most used chords throughout history(probably)
Chords, like melody, tend to be a starting point of choice. This is because starting with chords ends up being the path of least resistance ( in most cases). I can play some chords, arp their notes for the melody and then proceed to add some simple drums. Just made a beat in 5 minutes right there.
But starting with chords is often overlooked when it comes to the emotional aspect of your song. The same melody can give off a near infinite spectrum of emotions depending on what chords you put it on. Pop music has chords kinda figured out and we end up going through pop culture metas in regards to chords. ( used to be the 1 – 5 – 6 – 4 progression now we are slowly moving into the 1 -4 -1 -4 meta).
If you're trying to write an emotional ballad, chords are definitely the way to go in terms of starting points. They also lay out the ground work and put you into a key. It's nice to start with chords because it take a lot of future decision making out in regards to what to play next.
Bass
There isn't much I can say about starting with the bass. It's unorthodox, but can sometimes have impacting results. I tend to think of the bass as a natural successor to chords, because most genres tend to just use the root note of the chord as a bass and then maybe the rhythm of the drums to decide when you're hitting notes. Going fancy with the bass can be very fun though and something to try out if you've hit a block as it does require you to think of the song in a different way.
So that wraps up the main parts of a song. Please note that in reality you can start anywhere and go anywhere you want with your music. I'm writing this in order to maybe spark some ideas or throw some people out of their routine when it comes to making music. Share your experiences with your starting points and until next time