Hey there everyone and everything! I come from the world of programming,and until a few days ago i lived in my bubble thinking everyone can be expert at one field(when it comes to games,it's usually divided to three sections : programming,graphics and sound). and well, when i heard about the Touhou games series and started playing it,and read about it's creator being one person who did all the programming,graphics and sound kinda blew my bubble. the programming was good,the graphics were also pretty good and the music was fantastic. Touhou's creator is what made me want to expand my knowledge and study a new field,and I've chosen music. You have to admit that in some games,half of the fun comes form listening to the music. Anyway,I am been having a real hard time studying composing. In the programming world when I wanted something, i simply had to think how i am going to make the algorithm work and write it,and then i got it. But in the music world? here it's about being creative and not calculating some algorithm to get my goal,it's almost the opposite of what I've been doing so far! So I've downloaded Fruity loops studio and learned the basics of using the program. now I am trying to compose my first attempt for a music and can't figure the order I need to work by to get my work done. I pretty much smash the keyboard until i get some nice melody, I save the melody,repeat until I have a bunch of melodies,and now I am trying to find a way to smoothly combine those melodies and probably add some beat at the end. But the horror! it's just now working! so i guess my question is : how do i compose a song? what are the orders of actions when composing a song(what do i create first? the beat? the melody?). I'll give you two examples of ZUN's(Touhou's creator) musics : Thank's in advance,Shinobi. edit: Maybe there's a step by step tutorial or video that shows the steps of composing a song?

Composing is hard work! :) But it gets a bit easier the more you do it (like most things). There's an easy and hard answer to your question how to compose a song.

The easy answer: which ever way works for you. Each person has their own style of composition and it can also change per the day/mood/context of that writing session. Being that you're starting off in this new area you may not know what works for you.

The harder answer: For me sometimes it starts with a cool rhythm. Other times it might be a great chord progression that gives me chills. Or it could be a really effective melody. I think one of the most important things to remember when composing is that you're building something up piece by piece, layer by layer. If you're anything like me then you're too hard on yourself. Too quick to say "this is crap!" and trash a piece. Don't. Give it some time. I had an old boss that would always say "live with it for a while, then decide." Also never throw away any piece. Even if I'm not sure if a piece is that great or not, I always save it. Then months or even years later I'll go through all of my old songs and find some real gems!

So what order should you go in to create a song?

I'd go for whatever is moving you at that time. If the rhythm is really getting to you, making you dance in your chair then stick with that and embellish on that. If you're having a day where it feels like you could create 1,000 melodies easily then focus on that. Inspiration is great and can really help. (Note: if you're just wanting to do this for the sake of creating then you can afford to wait for inspiration. If you're wanting to do this professionally then you'll need to learn how to push through the uninspired times and still make great music. We can talk about this more later.)

Another idea: listen to music that really moves you. Also listen to music that you hope to be able to recreate yourself. Not only can this give you harmonic/melodic ideas it can also help you with production elements. An A/B comparison is VERY helpful!

Final thoughts: Music does have a system to it. You're a programmer so you're used to dealing with systems and rules. Music has the same, but it's possible to break the rules (or at least bend them) to create something unique. Music has to move you. Wait let me rephrase that- great music will move people. Mediocre music will follow all of the rules but not have nearly the impact. So study music theory, listen to all kinds of music ALL of the time and experiment to see how you can create certain tunes, pay homage to others and fuse various elements together. Have fun with it!

Those are some of my ideas... jumbled as they may be! :P

Take care,

Nate

Quote: Original post by Doctor Shinobi
I pretty much smash the keyboard until i get some nice melody, I save the melody,repeat until I have a bunch of melodies,and now I am trying to find a way to smoothly combine those melodies and probably add some beat at the end.

That's pretty much how it works for me. I often start with a beat because that's what keeps my songs going (and me working).

Well thank you for both for the answers. i think instead of just smashing the keyboard and hoping to get good melodies i should whistle a bit until i get the right melody,then whistle it more to make sure i won't forget the melody,and then try to translate it into notes.

Thank you :)

Music composition actually has a ton of rules - scales (major, natural minor, etc), degrees, modes (ionian, dorian, phrygian, etc), chords and chord progressions, knowing what key you are playing in, intervals (major 2nd, minor 3rd, perfect 4th, etc), key signatures, various kinds of timing, rules for harmony, expressive techniques for playing (such as slapping on the bass, or hammer-ons on guitar, or similar legato on a piano), etc, etc.

There are actually formulas for what sounds good - if you know them and follow them your stuff will sound like a real pro wrote it (then of course playing, recording and mixing are the "other 100%", just like debugging is the "other 100%" for programming.) The nice thing about music rules is that music existed first, and rules were later written to explain what sounds good - not the other way around. So you can certainly get away with knowing next to nothing and going by ear, but knowing a lot will help tremendously. What you need is to buy a bunch of books on music theory and start educating yourself.

Is there a "the" book on music theory? If not, what are some good recommendations?

Music theory? Is that how it's called? Or is it a general concept like saying "Programming books"? Just to make sure I won't go to the seller and ask "o hai! music theory bookz plz" and get a "wtf?" as a response.

If you asked about programming books *here*, people would give you a "huh?" as a response because you could be talking about anything. And yeah, music theory is a very good term to use for knowledge and understanding of music, the way it works, and why (to our current understanding).

[edit] But just like any types of books (especially for learning things), there are going to be good ones and not-so-good ones. Thus my above question.

I never learnt the "rules" of making music, but I'm still going at it. ;) Whenever I compose I always imagine in my head what I want the song to sound like and then I simply try to project my thoughts onto the computer. A simple beat or a looped sequence of chords may be a good place start to get your mind going.

One advice I would give you is to -learn your tool-. You want to know your tool well, but also what different instruments sound like, how to apply effects to different instruments, etc. to quickly be able to realise your thoughts.

Learning music theory is useful for know what rules are fun to break.