02-19-2017, 03:58 AM
(02-17-2017, 05:59 PM)Mattias Westlund Wrote: There's some really good, informative and in-depth responses in this thread but for the most part I think there's A LOT of overthinking going on here, given the simplicity of the original questions.
How do you write music?
And...
How do you write good melodies and chords?
Well that's easy.
1. Play a root note in the low register. Any note will do, but C (major) and A (minor) are easy on keys.
2. Try humming a melody -- anything -- over said root note. Keep it simple. Doesn't have to be Mary Had a Little Lamb simple, but try keeping it hummable.
3. Once you have decided on a memorable melody, start experimenting with moving the bass note around. See where it gets you.
4. Expand upon the root notes with different chord changes. Screw I-IV-etc and the whole formulaic thing, just listen if it sounds good to you and with the melody you have.
5. Done.
Some of the best advice I ever got was to come up with a melody first and the chords after that. This was years ago and I still find it extremely useful. My knowledge of chord theory is still pretty limited (I couldn't do the formulaic thing if you asked me to) but back when I was given this advice I was having trouble because I was using very stilted chord progressions (on the guitar, specifically; on the keyboard I was all about the inversions, but it didn't seem to translate back then, for some reason) and my melodies were very limited because of that. Inverting that approach also helped me expand other things as well, such as my rhythmic sense, and allowed me to start writing more interesting, linear parts overall.
