Q&A: Troubles with creating music and improvisation...

Hey people. First off, thanks for all the questions coming in. I'm trying to answer as many as I humanly can, but there does come a point where I just gotta leave my computer screen and grab some sleep!

Anyway. Moving on... here's an email I received recently:

Shamir,

I am an aspiring singer/songwriter/guitarist. Your emails have been extremely helpful as far as lyrics go, unfortunately, lyrics are not something I really have trouble with. It's the music i have trouble with. In particular writing music for lyrics that are finished. Scales and keys are simple solutions, however i was wondering if you had any other advice. Also, i have a maddening trouble creating musical harmonies. I can write a riff with the best of them, but writing something to play along with that riff, or improvising to someone else playing is almost impossible for me.

I know your probably a busy person who receives many emails, but i would very much appreciate your help with this.

Hey man, I really appreciate the compliment.

Listen, you're not alone in this one. LOTS of people suffer the same thing.

Here's the thing. Have you built up a song library in your head? If not, build one from today onwards.

Why? Because searching for tunes and chord sequences will be an absolute cinch when you already have a few hundred floating around in your head from songs you have already learnt and played.

And yes, I'm talking about OTHER people's songs. Whatever style you're into, you should learn a new song from that genre EVERY WEEK. I'll say it again, learn one NEW song from the style that you love every week.

Example:

You prefer Rock? >> Learn how to play and sing songs from Aerosmith, Nirvana, Alice in Chains, Green Day, Linkin Park, etc.

You like folk? >> Learn how to play and sing songs from Bob Dylan, Fairport Convention, Neil Young, etc

You prefer pop? >> Learn how to play and sing songs from Prince, Elton John, Phil Collins, Beatles, etc

You prefer R&B? >> Learn how to play and sing song by Stevie Wonder, Boyz II Men, Erykah Badu, etc.

Please don't scold me over the definitions for these artists above... lol. For me , it's not even about style and genre. It's more about what you like, and then learning it (on the piano in my case) and then trying to sing it.

This does two things. One, the chord progressions of other artist and groups get burnt in my memory. Secondly, the melodies are subconciensly recorded in my brain too. So it serves a dual purpose.

Actually, I'll add a third to that list. You generally become a more competent musician! :-)

This all might sound like something you've heard before. Maybe you're reading this thinking "erm, yeah whatever". But *I* can tell you from first hand experience that it WORKS.

When you are already familiar with chords and melodies of other songs, then you have more chance of ACCESSING that information when you in a creative mode. Make sense?

So if you haven't built up a song library, start today. Learn a new song a week. You'll be surprised at the results.

For those who don't play instruments, you can STILL do this by learning other people's lyrics and melodies.

I know this wasn't the step-by-step answer that some of you are looking for... but songwriting isn't like maths. It's MUCH more intuitive. It's a creative process.

I'll finish off by saying this... and I hope you've made it this far because what I'm about to say is one of the MOST important things I've ever said about songwriting....

When you write something, you should NEVER dismiss it. Even if you think it's a crappy idea. You can edit it, change it, play with it. But never dismiss it. This is the number one problem with songwriters today (and I'm no different either).

Whenever you say "I can't write lyrics" or "I can't write chords"... what you're really saying is "it sounds to crap to even consider". Think about that for a minute.

If we took the time and improved on what we have, then maybe we won't be starting from scratch every 5 seconds?

:-)

Shamir