How long was it before you started writing your own music?
 

Hey all,
Was just hoping to get some personal experiences here. How long did you learn/practice others' music before you went on to writing and making your own stuff? I haven't been playing long. Been teaching myself guitar and drums for a few months with books and the internet. My "grandiose" goal is to be able to write some of my own stuff, and perform/record it. I just feel like I'm unable to make that leap from looking up tabs/chords and learning them to coming up with my own stuff. Any advice? How long did it take before you were able to come up with your own drum beats or guitar chords/riffs? Love to hear peoples experiences.
Thanks!

I've always been especially artistic. I didnt learn other people's stuff for very long, maybe a year before I met with my buddy and started weiting our own stuff. I don't really learn songs at all anymore, I just write constantly.

A couple years worth of playing Maiden, Dio, Rush, Sabbath, Ozzy (Randy, and Jake), then I was off to the races. Although I wouldn't consider my earlier stuff to have any type of solid song structuring, it was just noodling around, but I always had the same noodles, and that laid the foundation for what I do now 30 years later.

There really is no magic milestone, as everyone is clearly different in their understanding of how they see fit to put a song together. Diligent practice, and studying others works is probably the best advice I could give you. Pick your favorite song apart. Dissect it. Try to understand "Why" you like it, then take that knowledge and mold it into something new .

I don't really write songs anymore. I used to when I was little but realized I could say more with poetry. That and nobody really understood my esoteric themes. With poetry, no one has to.

Isnt a song often just poetry put to music?

How long? like 3yrs after i first started to play in a Nirvana cover band i started as a drummer but after like 2 yrs i switched to the guitar and the year after i started writing and making songs

i would advice you to start writing songs right away because at the beginning they are not gonna be very good it's a learning process just like playing an instrument so the sooner you start the better

Also i would suggest to find a good lyricist within the bands you like cause before you learn how to do it you have to see how it's done then you'll get a basic sense of how to structure song lyrics

But the first step you should already be doing is start writing! you'll see your songs will gradually get better and the more you write the quicker you'll find your own voice

Are you trying to make me laugh?

As a songwriter poetry could turn out to be a blessing in disguise to have poetry in order to pull lines from here and there when writing music. Of course it might be harder to add a full (coherent) embodied meaning to the song using this technique. One could possibly be in surprise at how well it actually works out sometimes.

A lot of learning (guitar) for me was just jamming and getting a feel for chord transitions and stuff. As soon as I could play a few different chords though I remember just jamming and messing around which eventually lead to the first song I ever wrote.

I definitely learned a few simple tunes before that though. I think it's essential to learn at least a few songs before you start writing. Getting a feel for structure is important. Even if it's a four chord song. The first song I learned was Horse With No Name and that's only two chords haha

And as a side note I love covering songs. I still do a lot of covers I'm always down to learn more of my favorite songs. I think it's a show of respect for the artist. It's also nice to take a break from writiing and its always fun be able to play your favorite jams.

A good point made, indeed. My poetry, though, would sound pretty dumb. That, and I can't play any instruments anymore so I'd be stuck with a couple of acapella songs.

:laughing: you're just being modest.

Not even kind of although if it did I'm glad. Lyrics cant be poetry or the other way around?

Hey, thanks for all the replies everyone! Glad to hear the experiences of everyone else. Seems like it'll be a long road, but I'm having fun messing about. I feel like I'd make some quicker progress if I had some more people to play with, but as of now I'm my own band. I've added keys to the mix of things I'm teaching myself, which hopefully won't slow any one thing down too much. I feel like those three things will get me covered though.

It's ceetainly important to try multiple instruments. I'm a pianist by trade (classically-trained), but I've also dabbled in guitar (didn't interest me, not sure why) and saxophone. The nice thing about a piano is that it can play just about anything any (non-percussion) instrument can. Not as well, or with the same attitude, but it's a useful tool for arranging basslines, riffs, chords, etc.
And I haven't written anything serious yet, but give me a song's chord progression, and I can arrange it for a band.

^if you're playing a prepared piano, you can also make several percussive noises.

Prepared piano - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

I feel the same, I find songs can be too forced. Poetry however, has no limits. I began writing poetry from about 13. I was getting pretty serious about it and managed to get a poetry editor interested in my work but I lost steam once at University. I'd really like to get back into writing, my most ideal time to write is on the bus/train to class.

the first thing i did when i started to play guitar was to try to write a song. I have wrirtten 120_140, who can tell, so far, and none of them is actually good, so i guess it is about talent. Which i have not. But still, only trying to create something by yourself is more satisfying than if you do not even try.

i think you are being too humble with so many songs a couple of them have to be good lol

But i agree with you i think is best to try and fail than to never try at all

My thoughts exactly.

I'm totally down with turning songs into poetry but I think that both mediums should be separate. When it comes to me, at least. If you've got some lines that sound like sing song tunes then go for it, but I think that the two are very separate. Like sculpting with ice and and doing woodwork.

Now that is a refreshing attitude and actually inspires me to give it a shot. Part of why I have not tried is a fear of failure I think. Im not really an artist in any way. And im sure there is a gem among all those songs you have written. Maybe you need a Walter Becker to your Donald ***an self.

When I got my first guitar, I started writing stuff right away. Now I don't. It all kind of came out folky, which was annoying. I write music (riffs and structures), but not words. I am the first person to criticize a forced rhym or when people use too big of words though.

I wrote songs (vocal melodies and lyrics) when I was a kid and could not competently play an instrument. When I started playing guitar, as soon as I could play my first song (Mad World) I began writing my own stuff. Not good stuff, mind, but original work, nonetheless.

I like how my post made it seem like I was insulting Taxman by changing Donald ***ans name to look like something obscene.