Writing instrumental music

[grace_slick]

Did anyone listen to my things? lol

 

Also, the songs (again very incomplete) Bunsen & Beaker Go Snorkelling and Caf

[speierg]

 

Did anyone listen to my things? lol   Also, the songs (again very incomplete) Bunsen & Beaker Go Snorkelling and Caf

[fenderbender66]

 

 

 

beat me to it with Explosions.

I had been working on some instrumentals when I first heard those guys...said to myself...hmm, better rethink what I'm doing here.

[grace_slick]

Heya Speierg, thanks so much for your feedback!

 

Yes, I am a keyboard player, though technically I can

[hshaitan]

I like to get high and then turn on the recorder and just forget about writing anything. When I do this the only thing I keep in mind is to try and not play anything that I've played before. Then after that is done I go back, edit the workable content into it's own little segment and see what I can work with...

[Chicken Monkey]

 

I have been trying to come up with 8 to 10 original instrumental songs for about 5 years now.

 

 

Has anyone suggested that maybe you start by trying to come up with just one first?

[speierg]

 

Heya Speierg, thanks so much for your feedback!   Yes, I am a keyboard player, though technically I can

[Robert Rowe]

 

Well, you probably have a good mind and good ears for music if you are able to create in this way. I know that every person is different, and for some, what I am about to suggest would make them cringe for fear of losing their "creative method of playing without traditional limitations." But having said all that, you really should consider taking piano lessons. I would bet that you would take to it very quickly and once you began to learn some of the basics, your playing and creativity would really take off! Just a thought.

 

 

 

Yes ... I'll "2nd" this suggestion.

 

BTW -- Yanni started out the same way. Did he ever learn to play formally?

[grace_slick]

Thank you. I do know I have to go to someone to further improve my keyboard playing...I am definitely stuck right now on a plateau...

[TieDyedDevil]

Everyone follows certain patterns or cliches when they play. Part of the problem may be that you're trying to fit your usual cliches into a new mold, and they just don't sound right within the new context.

 

If that seems like it might be the case, try to break the old habits. Do something different. Turn out the lights, play a different guitar, play clean instead of dirty (or vice versa), grab the neck in a different place, forget about scales and play patterns (or vice versa), whatever helps...

 

More things you might try:

 

1) Slow way down. Try to hear the note before you play it. If it helps, vocalize the note first.

 

2) Think of chords in terms of their individual notes rather than just a grip. Experiment with moving each fingered note up or down a fret or two. Experiment with dropping or adding notes. Listen to the voices (the individual notes) within each chord, choose one, and move it. Then find a chord that fits that note. Lather, rinse, repeat...

[Kristofer Dahl]

To me writing an instrumental involves the exact same kind of thinking as writing a vocal tune (As mentioned by others). However it does require a very different execution from the instrumentalist. What I mean by that is that you might be an excellent rhythm guitarist of flashy solo guitarist - but the skills needed to play an instrumental line in a vocal way is a very different ability.

 

This is something I am struggling with to this day - here is one of my attempts ( I play the second half of the tune)

[grace_slick]

For me I find it hard NOT to write instrumentals...I've not gotten my head into lyrics/vocals-mode yet...I keep filling up all my songs with billions of instruments and using instruments as the main melody lines, instead of leaving space for the vocals!

[IanAlderman]

I just wrote a piece a couple nights ago, just plugged in, slapped a little delay, hit a note and bounced. The end result? About 8 minutes of instrumental that reminded me a little bit of Explosions in the Sky and somewhat a little of Tool. Weird mix, I know but it worked. The delay wasn't overbearing, and I was able to coax a little subtle feedback from the song and it was all in the clean channel.

 

I found a note I liked and went from there. Once it turned into a progression, the rest of the 'song' took shape. It started out quietly and turned into a gradual buildup, thus making it a more dynamic piece, instead of finding something that was a 'verse' then 'chorus' then a nother 'verse' 'chorus' 'bridge' then back to the beginning. I let the tune evolve, kind of like how the Lord of the Rings evolved from silly innocent hobbits that smoked weed and drank their ale to the roaring bombast of Mt. Doom.

 

I didn't deliberately try and write an instrumental, but it just came. Sometimes, without overthinking and overanalyzing, and if you just plug in and play, who knows what kind of magick you'll reveal from deep within yourself.

[grantsabbath]

I think a good instrumental needs a sense of drama. The rise and fall of the melody and rhythm. Sigur Ros and Explosions do this so very well.

[fingerpicker]

The song that comes up on Myspace is one of my instrumentals.

 

I tend to think Intro-Body(repeat body)-Tansition-"Bridge"(kind of)-Outro

 

check it out--just solo guitar:

http://www.myspace.com/vinnyjacobsmusic

[AlastairEno]

Writing instrumentals is not just writing. It is really composing. And, honestly, composing truly inspired multipart pieces is very difficult. Most vocal based music is pretty single threaded. You write a catchy melody, write a catchy chorus and then throw some music around it. If you are good, you add a hook here and there. However, when you are scoring a piece, you are constantly having to worry about the whole piece. Unless you are intending to just replace the vocals with an instrument and fill around it, you will need to spread out the listener's interest to the whole composition. Everything really has to work together to make the listener get the message, and this can be a huge task, especially for large multipart pieces.

 

I have found that if I break this down into pieces, like most giant tasks, it is not soo daunting.

 

Now, I do not know how much music theory you have under your belt, but composing good instrumentals is very intense. You should probably have a good handle on Keys, scales/modes, chords, multipart writing, and the different progressions and cadences. Of course, you do not have to be an expert, but I have found that the rules help lay a foundation on which you can build solid pieces. Also, It is much easier to bring some mush into an ordered piece than it is trying to bring rules into mush.

 

To demonstrate the steps below I wrote a piece.

You can listen to it here: http://www.theVerrazanoNarrows.com/music/windswept_days.mp3

The full score for this piece is available here: http://www.theVerrazanoNarrows.com/music/windswept_days_score.pdf

 

Step One:

Pick a key and a mode. This is import to start with, because it can help make the initial parts of the writing process much easier, but removing notes you should not concern yourself with right away.

 

Step Two:

Pick a meter and tempo. This might be a good time to start a metronome. Do not worry about the drums yet. Percussion is complicated (so complicated, I am going to take a drink now thinking about it while I write this).

 

Step Two:

Pick a chord progression and cadence. There are a few ways of doing this. There is the very formal way. Where you write out a progression and figure out the chords in that progression. Or, there is the informal way. You can use the notes in the key you selected to write out a bassline or a melody against your metronome. When you have something you like, you can figure out what chords those are, and now you have a chord progression.

 

Step Three:

It is a good idea to figure out, at this stage, how many instruments or parts you are going to want in this thing, and how many are going to be playing at any given time. It is ok to have a ton of instruments in a piece but very deep polyphony is super difficult to manage. In the words of an old band mate, "I am way too drunk to understand all those notes." Start writing for each part keeping in mind your chord progression, but, also, every part you have written before it that will be playing while this part is playing. Make sure you follow as many of the rules of multipart writing(http://smu.edu/totw/partwrit.htm) as possible.

 

Step Four:

Keep repeating step three until your head explodes from trying to keep all the parts moving correctly without falling off a chord or out of key.

 

Step Five:

Fill in your percussion. Use accents were you need to help bridge parts.

 

When you get good at all this, you can start playing with really off the wall stuff like key changes, and tempo changes, strange ass keys, and off-the-wall meters.

 

Music and booze have a lot in common. No one wants to drink 100 percent pure alcohol. It will just "taste like burning." And, no one wants to listen to 100 percent perfect music. It will just "sound like boring."

 

It is with intention and diligence we must add the most captivating imperfections.

[grace_slick]

Hey Aeno, can you listen to my stuff? I put a link somewhere on the last page or 2. Is it instrumental stuff? (most is very short, sorry, and Stem of Love and the Onion Foot Endings are not counted as an instrumentals, just to warn you in case you listen to them and are confused)

[IanAlderman]

Music and booze have a lot in common. No one wants to drink 100 percent pure alcohol. It will just "taste like burning." And, no one wants to listen to 100 percent perfect music. It will just "sound like boring."QUOTE]

 

Such a true statement- I've never thought about it that way, but there's so much truth to that.

[mcmurray]

Here's an example of 'less is more'. One scale for the whole song, and just a handful of chords.

 

http://bucketheadland.com/01_The_Landing_Beacon.mp3

 

Btw AlastairEno, good advice, I'll be using it.

[AlastairEno]

Thank you Ian.

 

Grace, I listened to your stuff and I really like it. I love unconventional songs. You have a great ear. You seem to be excellent at capturing a feeling and finding or building the "sound" for it. Father Eno would be proud. I especially like Onion Ending 1-4, and I believe you could, actually with not too much work, make a full song out of it. Throw in some bridges and you could make a Propeller Heads meets Eno style sample ambient song. If you were to become more versed in formal music theory and could bring those tools into your mental studio for SOUNDcraft, I think you could be dangerous.

 

McMurray, you are right. There is always a danger once you know the rules to get very caught up in them and forget about the purpose. You get so excited about your crafty use of inversions and strange chord progressions you forget about what is important. Sometimes a scale, a few chords and a little arpeggio is all the song "wants". That was very nice, by the way.

[DavidMgT]

I usually start with a progression and build from there. All of my music is instrumental and I must say that it is indeed challenging to come up with good music.

[Robert Rowe]

 

I usually start with a progression and build from there. All of my music is instrumental and I must say that it is indeed challenging to come up with good music.

 

 

 

Sorta "comes and goes", 'eh?

[Melodeous]

 

I have been trying to come up with 8 to 10 original instrumental songs for about 5 years now. I have been playing for 25 years and I have chops and a good grasp on theory but I cannot write an interesting piece of music to save my life. I beat up ideas for a few hours and then i struggle to connect a riff or a melody to a chorus or a bridge. I tend to actually over think my compositions and i cannot get a cohesive piece to develop. Where do some of you start when writing instrumentals? Beating up a chord progression ? The melody ? just mindless wanking ? I often feel limited by drum loops as well. I run Ableton Live and Addictive drums but I feel overwhelmed for the most part. Help.

 

 

Hard to explain but I'll try. I'll take a chord and dwell on it. I'll just linger there moving all around it and inside it coloring it with notes from other chords within the scale building and setting up the changes to and from them always returning to the first chord. This is the backing track. Once I'm satisfied that it has captured the mood and phrasing without unnecessary noise I will save it as a loop to come back to later. I don't have many "laters", unfortunately, because I was getting caught up in the loops. Now I think I'll spend time concentrating on a harmony without the loop running to distract me into it. I'm all acoustic guitar with occasional keyboard accompaniment so I have no experience with drums/percussion or other instruments other than midi instruments dialed into the keyboard for grins. I have more success with instrumentals than with songs. My songs a really bad lyrically so attempting them is a rare occurrence.

[grace_slick]

Ok, now that my music has not been exposed as complete crap, I

[mcmurray]

Ok, now that my music has not been exposed as complete crap, I