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rightttt this is the latest thing burning on my mind. practise vs writing a song.

A lot of people sit down to write a song (and if you get it right first time then well done to you) but then struggle to realize why they can't get the same results as some of the releases out there, or struggle to write anything at all.

I think the problem comes from trying to play the instrument before actually learning it. You wouldn't pick up a guitar and then decide to write a classical masterpiece before you can play a note would you? You would probably learn some of the basic concepts like chord progressions, different ways of plucking the string, numerous ways to fret the guitar etc and study multiple pieces before attempting to actually write something.

And fair enough some people do sit down and try to figure out how their synth's work, look into drum patterns etc but then maybe it doesn't go past that?

My challenge is this: How often do you actually practice this stuff?

I mean you may be picking up little things along the way as you write that next track but you can progress sooooo much quicker if you stop, and actually study the stuff that drives you to write, pick it apart and find what makes it tick so that when the inspiration does come to you, you'll destroy that next track that you write

ALLLLOOOOTTTT more then I write songs.

Never WROTE songs until recently really...

Been practicing for a year now.

Basic A wrote:ALLLLOOOOTTTT more then I write songs.

Never WROTE songs until recently really...

Been practicing for a year now.

Should have made this a poll

ahhh welll,


big up!

practicing techniques is all well and good but you need to learn how to implement them in the context of a track. so the best kind of practice imo is to get on with making tracks and finishing them, but try and use new techniques/methods in each track until you become confident with them.

been practicing actual instruments for about 10 years now.
producing for around 2 1/2 years.

anybody know the ratio for that...

/sigh

With electronic music these things are one and the same are they not?

boot wrote:With electronic music these things are one and the same are they not?

lowpass wrote:I mean you may be picking up little things along the way as you write that next track but you can progress sooooo much quicker if you stop, and actually study the stuff that drives you to write, pick it apart and find what makes it tick

True man a lot of people do seem to just start off and bang out tune after tune which are technically great, but for the rest of us I'm saying it can help if you just sit down and figure this stuff out without "trying" to write anything.

a bit over a year and I'm just starting to experiment with my synths and get away from presets. I never go into my daw with ideas in my head but with influences. I pretty much practice and I get better, I got no life and alot of free time to work on tunes anyway

I've been playing guitar and piano for over 10 years now and I cannot stress enough how much it helps with song writing. Plus if you listen a lot of big name producers often if they have a guitar part or a piano part or a string section in a song more often than not it will be written as if they actually play the instruments themselves. You can tell the difference - or at least I can and so can a lot of people who play instruments rather than just producing the average joe mightn't notice mind you. Somebody who's been playing guitar for 5 years then starts producing will voice chords a lot differently than somebody who's never touched an instrument. I mean you can learn about voicing and phrasing without playing an instrument but i think it's probably easier to pick up if you sit down and learn an instrument.

lowpass wrote:
And fair enough some people do sit down and try to figure out how their synth's work, look into drum patterns etc but then maybe it doesn't go past that?
:

Sorry lowpass no long ass post on this one, as i fit into the sentence above, sorry

I did sit down MERELY to practice and learn techniques, but part of that practice was implementation in a musical context.

You don't 'get' a technique until you 'get' how to turn it into a rhythm or melody and make it co-exist with other techniques.

Sweep picking is one thing, sweeping as part of a guitar riff or solo is another.

every song i write begins with learning a new lesson, a new technique or piece of kit. if the song's good, i'll continue to work on it, if not, then i've completed my lesson plan. but practising finshing a track is just as important as say, getting a good sound out of massive, or whatever the lesson of the day may be.

this is my problem, i never practice stuff, just sit and write.

very stagnant recently

summer will change all that (fingers crossed!)

gravity wrote:practicing techniques is all well and good but you need to learn how to implement them in the context of a track. so the best kind of practice imo is to get on with making tracks and finishing them, but try and use new techniques/methods in each track until you become confident with them.

werd

ive accually been practicing playing the old midi keyboard alot recently, and it really does help.

I just started playing with ableton back around august/september... Had some basic drum rhythym knowledge from JR high band, and some experience making wannabe plastikman songs on FL about 9 years ago.

I usually play around with operator making and saving configs that sound reasonable or try to recreate something I've heard(who wants to go on a forum and ask how to make some common overused sound... oh right) from a real track. Basically just play with every parameter i can until i start to understand what they do and what sounds they can make... Sometimes record automation of me playing with the filter or whatever else for a few straight minutes and re-listening to see if i stumbled across anything

Or make a 2 to 8 bar drum loop and save it for later.

Or ill find a song i like and use the spectrum analyzer or a guitar tab(sometimes even the ear if its working properly) to convert it to midi and make a cheesy remix. This helps me see how basslines and melodies are structured.

Another one was to take a bunch of different guitar chords and make them into individual clips in session view and listen to different progressions. Chorderator.com is pretty good for this along with a custom fretboard to note cheat sheet.

And on rare occasion, hehe usually when i'm particularly stoned, I can actually hear some music in my head that I can sound out onto the midi/piano roll, and try songwriting first hand, then I can use my saved configs and structures ive learned to build something approaching a song.

Its nice what the internet has available to learn this stuff... this and other forums/guitar tabs/video tutorials/basic music theory lessons. Something something etc.

Imho in a short time of production I've found the amount of research I've done before making tracks directly impacts on how good they are. If I had 5 days to spend on production (which I never do ) I would spend only one-day making new tracks. The other four days I would divide up among music practice, production techniques / research / tutorials, samples / vst research / making vst sounds, mix downs, etc... still working on trying to keep to this lol

if you have a song idea to write, write. if you don't, sit down and practice something.

if that practice session leaves you w/ something worth developing-- awesome.

For me songwriting is practice. I can't really sit down and think "I'm just going to practice making noises today". Whenever I sit down I try and find something that sounds cool, and once I get it I usually try and make it into a whole track.
Sometimes I read about a production technique which I have to sit down and work out, I guess that could be called practice, but gnereally I just like making music.

boot wrote:With electronic music these things are one and the same are they not?

I guess this is what I think

Sharmaji wrote:if you have a song idea to write, write. if you don't, sit down and practice something.

if that practice session leaves you w/ something worth developing-- awesome.

Thankyou this is exactly what I was getting at,

I'm not suggesting that if you have a burning urge to write your music to sit down and just practice making drum loops and sounds, that would be counter productive,

But for those people who struggle at getting songs together/writers block and you have no idea what to do then just sit at your daw and work this stuff out instead of starting another 4 bar loop that isn't going anywhere