What makes a great song?

Cool - composing in your head. Maybe I should try this! At this stage, I'm pretty dependent on the guitar. Though, lately I noticed a song by Crowded House, and I wondered, 'how did they know to put THOSE chords together'? Maybe I might be able to do similar stuff, by putting the guitar down!

Originally Posted by: Matteo MillerWhen I write songs, I don't use my guitar. I have my music come directly from my heart, my head, my mind, my body, my spirit...

I rely ENTIRELY on ear training. I do use my knowledge of modes and arpeggios and music theory to an extent, because I know which note sounds like what when I see it, but I compose without my guitar.

Cool - composing in your head. Maybe I should try this! At this stage, I'm pretty dependent on the guitar. Though, lately I noticed a song by Crowded House, and I wondered, 'how did they know to put THOSE chords together'? Maybe I might be able to do similar stuff, by putting the guitar down!

yes, our instrument locks us in its boundaries...
music written by pianist would be never look like music written by guitarist!

Haha yeah that's why I like to write drum parts... they don't sound anything like what a drummer would play! :D

maybe it could be a good practice for developing of songwriting skills to learn some minimal basics of playing another different-kind instruments...or at least LISTEN a lot of instruments. I remember my first experience of playing classic music (Vivaldi, Bach etc). Although the notes were played right, I was totally clueless about what original instruments this music was written for. My teacher explained to me a huge difference between bow-made sound (like sound of cello, violin) and finger-made one (guitar, bass guitar). Then I watched lots of video where cellists played classics and it totally changed my level of understanding and playing music. I became to imitate their sound, sustain, articulations, rubato-tricks etc. I had not even touch cello, but my playing became much better!
The same story about jazz. Listening for great saxophone-, trumpet-players contributes colossal value into your mind and helps you to perform that music in correct way. These people have a natural necessity to make pauses while playing to breath in, so their phrasing is closely related with human speech.
Bottom line: even listening for multiple instruments will greatly develop both your playing and songwriting.:)

i think the thought are mos important.
as the seed of a tree :)

the better your tought the better the result but its only a part of it.

Heck yes, that's why I love the Mars Volta!

They've got like 6 instruments or something... drums, saxaphone, keyboard, bass, guitar, synthesizer effects, random other drum instrument type things, vocals... crazy.

Person's mood also play a great role in songwriting process:)

I like different things for my different moods one thing I universally love is a brief eighth rest followed by some awesome groove like gojira or say opeth, its just a release

Check out this forum post as well......

Melody, Lyrics, Music

Great thread!

My answer - Emotion!
I don´t give a damn how somebody brings that across! One finger, no structure, twenty fingers and feet combined with a complex structure...I don´t care - as long as I get emotion!

Best wishes!

I agree with you Andy, but i think emotion sometimes is independent of the lyrics.

It doesn't matter too much what you said when music speaks for you.

Let's take a look at one of greatest rock hits of all time: Deep Purple's Smoke on The Water. Have a catchy hook, a great melody and a well constructed structure (conversational in the verse, emotional in the chorus).

Have you ever thought about the lyrics? Ok, its fun, but stupid at the same time. Is not a common story for most people, it´s something singullar. Does not evoque any particular emotion, like happiness, sadness, anger, etc.

I think in this case, like in many others hit songs, emotion occurs more by the riff than anything else. It´s an energic, catchy, memorable riff.

Something to think about...

Well, i´m not saying that lyrics are not important, they are very important to convey emotion.

But have you ever stopped to heard a song by its lyrics? In this case you could read a poem or a book, for example.

What makes music unique? Music. Melody, riffs, hooks, harmony, rhytm.

So i like to think this way: music first, lyrics (poem, history) after.

Let´s say you are reading a poem. What makes you cry or laugh? The history, language, the words, the details, and all emotions that are in your head, in your soul.

You don´t have musical stimulus, impulse.

Now imagine your favorite music. Print it and read. Do you feel the same way that when you hear it? Of course not!

So, what´s the most important?

Well guys, i´m Brazilian and most of my favorite songs is written in English.

For a long time i did not understand what was said.

I just danced, or sang.

Many of brazilian people do the same thing with international hits.

Later, when i learned english, i thought about some hits that i used to love: "Well, it's kind of ridiculous." But I have not stopped listening or singing or playing.

Because i love it!

I think the energetics makes a good song. I mean, music, rhythm, melody etc are very important, but I know some bands whose music actually sucks, but they are so full of energy and dedicated to what they are doing that their songs appear to be really cool!
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Hi ChapmanMargaret,

of course the energy of performance, and things like attitude are important components of music.

But i think they´re not the most important. I like to think of these kind of expressions like a turbo to a car.

One day, try to shout and sing a song so out of tune and rhythm. You´ll get attention, but just for a moment.