As promised, I'm going to try and keep a somewhat half-assed progress log of thoughts and work done in regards to my music. With that in mind, I figure that in this first post I should probably talk about what I think is the most important part of the whole process of music making: writing.

Throughout the last five or so years I've been making or helping make music with a few bands. Sometimes songs would already be written and I would just add something here or there either vocally or with my keyboard. Other times, I would attempt to write the whole thing using my guitar. For the last two bands I was in, I did most if not all of the songwriting and now that it's just me I've realized some very important things about the process itself.

One, the process of writing a song is very personal and is usually different from person to person. Even with that said, the same person might employ multiple different methods for writing a song.

Two, jams don't necessarily make a song. I remember reading some great advice from a few articles online that said that the vocal melody or guitar melody/riff should probably be singable to make it more likeable. If you can't hum the melody, then you probably won't remember it and neither will anybody else. Because of the nature of jams, they don't always have a main melody and most of the jams I have had involved vocals probably 2% of the time. These jams were just endless solos and melodic phrases thrown over two, three, or four chord riff loops while a drummer happily chugs along helping to fuel the groove. This leads me to my next point-

Three, jams should probably provide you with ideas but nothing more until a main melody is identified. Why? Well, it appears to me that in the kingdom of song, rhythm is king, and the melody is queen. The rhythm will set the feel and tone of a song, whereas the melody will give the song its actual content. Seeing as how the king will do anything to make his queen happy, usually the rhythm helps to serve the melody. Basically without that melody, it's much harder to actually create a song. The rhythm however is a great starting place for figuring out this melody.

I know all of this is ultra basic and even beginning songwriters might think, "Well, duh". But this is powerful information because if a song does not have a strong melody, then it might not be that great. Hell, it might not even work out as a song. These realizations have helped me analyze the main crux of the writing/recording process I've been through in these aforementioned bands. 

Songs that had a main melody and were built to serve that main melody usually were not only easy to prepare and record, but they also didn't sound half bad! However, every other song that didn't have a strong melody and was really just a mish-mash of jam bits didn't come out quite as well. In fact, those songs are still to this day unfinished! But why? Because the songs did not actually have a main melody and were not built around it. And they sucked.

Granted, I'm not saying this is the only way a song can operate, but look at many pieces of music. They all have identifiable riffs, themes, motifs, melodies and what-have-you's.

I think a large part of the problem I've been having with writing and the indecision that I experience when doing so is the lack of a vocal melody or a strong other melody. I specifically say vocal melody because I was in choir for quite some time and when I used to write music I would start with the vocals and add on to it. But then in eighth or ninth grade I picked up a guitar and no longer used the keyboard as much. Now after all these years, I start with riffs and licks and guitar stuff first. I feel like this has been the ultimate downfall of the music I've been making. 

Simply put, songs usually have vocals (the word song originating from sing), thus it stands to reason that if vocals come first and a strong melody is identified,  you can build things more easily around that. And who would have thought? When I made a joke song some weeks back and started with a melody, it easily came together. But when I sit down with my more "serious" material and try to insert a vocal melody, it's a great deal harder because the vocals now serve the instruments. The melody is now serving the accompaniment.

Of course if that's how you write songs and they come out just fine, that's great! Wonderful, in fact. I think it's more of an issue of needing practice more than anything on my part. But all the same, I think I've now identified a more reasonable approach. My plan is to take the music I have and save it as ideas to pick from for each respective song. After reading some advice from other articles online, I feel like it is paramount to always title these jams and ideas with something that fits the mood it evokes, maybe a theme that I feel needs to be expressed by this song. Then from there, generate some words, ideas, imagery that seem to fit it. After that, maybe make a simple rhythm track with a drum machine and then figure out the key of the song. 

Once all of that is done, I'll write some lyrics and then try to use the key and rhythm track to figure out a melody. I've already decided that I'll know when the melody is right when I can't part with it. It'll be right when I love it so much I even consider ripping apart my dear children (jams and music ideas) just to properly serve it. Then the lyrics may end up with re-writes as well as minor alterations to the vocals until the ideas serve the melody and the melody is more refined. Once that is done, come up with more ideas for the song, rinse and repeat until the full song is written.

I know for some of you (if any) reading this, it might sound to you like I'm some over analytical dumbass. But for some reason I think too much about the stuff I really want to work on and end up being very indecisive about where to take it. Again, this is normally because, in my opinion, there's no vocal melody for the music to serve. Also, like I said, songwriting is a very personal process so the best any musician can do, I think, is to figure out which methods best help him/her to get it done and get it done well. My way might not work for other people and I have yet to see if I will actually profit from this backwards method. But it's a start and if it allows me to actually accomplish what I set out to do then that's all that matters.

For any of you reading, let me know your thoughts on my process and how you go about writing songs in the comments! And as always I wish you good luck in all your own endeavors.

Dillon