I took the liberty to fix the spelling and some of the grammar. Sorry, I'm an a-hole.:

Originally Posted by: davesellarHey if you get the ideas but you lose them by the time you come to writing them you should buy this thing called "Absolute Pitch" on the net. It's a collection of CDs that you listen to during the day and before you sleep. You do this for about 4 weeks total and it helps you develop perfect pitch, which in turn gives you the ability to hear a note and instantly know what the note is. You are also supposed to be able to hum/sing any note without a root note. I got it about 2 weeks ago now and I haven't got perfect pitch yet but I'm quite confident it's working, maybe you should give it a go. It's about £40 but if it works it will be well worth it.

The site from which I got the CD ishttp://www.absolutepitchpower.com/index.html as I said, though, I haven't developed perfect pitch completely yet, but I can see it is starting to work as I am picking out notes just by hearing them. Anyway, have a look and see what you think.

As for actually writing the songs, for me, I find that by listening to a wide variety of musical genres and then picking out certain songs and sort of analyzing them can be quite helpful. Write down any similarities between the songs you and your mates like, such as the intro guitar: does it have bits with just guitar? with just drums? etc. Write down each instrument and then what each instrument does at what time. This way you'll see what works well and what doesn't. Obviously this doesn't always work but by taking ideas (song order, how the guitar and bass works together, etc.) from different songs can work quite well.

As for you not being able to read music, it's not the end of the world. It's a very useful tool to have especially if auditioning new band members or trying to get in another band if your jammin' with your mates, though you can probably get away with just knowing the note names and remembering the riffs you come up with. A useful tool for learning to read and write music is http://www.powertabs.net/, download the powertab editor and you can learn songs from it and write your own down. Because it has a playback function, you can write your own stuff using tablature and listen to it to make sure it's right. This can also be helpful in writing new songs as you can hear what you have written before actually playing it on the guitar, then learn it later. Also, you have to change note values etc., just do this by experimenting and you'll find you'll pick it up quickly.

Anyway, I've spoken for way to long now. I hope I've been of some use to you.

dave