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

Fixums · 02-12-2014, 08:28 PM

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!

YorkeDaddy · 02-13-2014, 08:22 AM

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.

Plankton · 02-13-2014, 08:36 AM

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 .

Alice in Chains · 02-13-2014, 04:53 PM

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.

Moss · 02-13-2014, 08:33 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Alice in Chains

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?

Alice in Chains · 02-14-2014, 10:42 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Moss

Isnt a song often just poetry put to music?

Are you trying to make me laugh?

Moss · 02-16-2014, 07:12 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Alice in Chains

Are you trying to make me laugh?

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

Necromancer · 02-15-2014, 09:12 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Alice in Chains

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.

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.

Alice in Chains · 02-16-2014, 05:04 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Necromancer

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 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.

Necromancer · 02-16-2014, 05:54 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Alice in Chains

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.

you're just being modest.

02-12-2014, 08:28 PM	#1 (permalink)
Fixums Groupie Join Date: Feb 2014 Posts: 3	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!

02-13-2014, 08:36 AM	#3 (permalink)
Plankton Just Keep Swimming... Join Date: Apr 2012 Location: See signature... Posts: 7,765	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 . __________________ See location...