I’ve been frustrated with trying to write original songs. It seems like every time that I think that I’ve come up with anything even remotely original, I listen back after a little time goes by and hear the same thing that I’ve heard a thousand times in someone else’s song.

When it comes down to it, aren’t ALL songs are made up of the same notes arranged in predictable ways that work together, in phrases that have a certain logic to them? And isn’t there a somewhat limited number of ways to structure a song in a way that makes sense? It seems (to me) almost impossible to arrange any particular idea into a structure that hasn’t already been done over and over.

When I listen to a surf station that plays lots of songs from groups that I’ve never heard before, I can hear a new song and predict with pretty good accuracy exactly where it’s going before I hear it.

It seems like everything that can be done has already been done and coming up with something that sounds different is almost impossible.

But with all of that said, every now and then I’ll hear something that sounds great and wonder how the song writer came up with it.

For you guys who write, how do you go about finding a way to write something that isn’t just a repetition of the thousands of other songs in that particular genre? Is there a process or a certain way of thinking that steers you in a direction that produces positive results?

I haven’t given up but seem to be chasing my tail. Help me if you can.

Thanks, and yes I KNOW that it's possible. I hear stuff from several of the bands here on 101 that is really good. I just don't seem to be able to figure out how to go about coming up with something good myself.

This has nothing to do with surf music, but PBS produced a video called "How to Be Creative" that I think hits the nail on the head (especially the 'Nothing is Original' segment which I immediately thought of after seeing your post).

Hey Rob, I am no expert on songwriting but I totally feel your pain. As a novice guitarist, I feel even more trapped by my limited ability on what is arguably the instrument of choice for writing/playing surf music.

What has worked for me is similar to Jake's advice. I started worrying less about learning chord-shapes, scales, and techniques suitable for surf and focused more on exploring where a melody line might lead. I tend to stumble on these with guitar in-hand, completely by accident, as opposed to composing it out of thin air.

Other times I might come across a simple (and likely very common) chord progression that sounds cool to my ears. Things get even more interesting if a particular rhythm or strumming pattern breathes life into the progression. Whatever I end up with, I'll usually add it to my daily "strumming on the couch" repertoire. It may take a few days or even weeks, but more often than not a melody will start to emerge. It may end up being a verse or chorus or bridge, but the end result is at least a starting point for a complete song.

That's when the "real work" seems to start for me. It takes discipline to flesh out all the parts, come up with a beginning/ending, starts/stops, bass line, counter-melodies, etc. Do the parts work together? Is it interesting? Is it too similar to existing songs? Yes, there are many songs out there that share common elements (either by design or accident). But that's not always a bad thing! Plus we all hear things differently. What might sound unoriginal and cliche to your ears may sound fresh yet familiar to someone else.

I think the important thing is seeing the song through to completion. As you work on it (with guitar in hand, or simply playing it back in your head as you go about your day), imagine how you would like the song to sound. If it is sounding "too predictable" try altering something. Maybe the tweak will take it in a totally different direction or spark a few ideas.

Okay, so I've rambled on for several paragraphs about a process you are likely already following in some shape or form. While the process may be similar, we are all wired differently and I believe that the resulting composition (whether recorded or played live) stands a much greater chance of being unique than a cookie-cutter clone of something that has gone before. There's just too many steps and room for individual creativity/bias to affect the finished product!

So yeah, worry less and write more!

-murph

http://www.reverbnation.com/elmiragesurf
http://www.reverbnation.com/aminorconspiracy

"I knew I was in trouble when the Coco-Loco tasted like water!" -- morphball

To be able to create one has to make mistakes. I just discovered a chord I've never played before today by fingering an A barre chord wrong. The result (e-6/B) caught my ear and led to a new cycle of chords opening a new direction in the piece that's coming together after gestating a very long time.

To make fruitful mistakes you have to play enough and bend your ear to hear the permutating possibilities of the nascent idea as it takes form under your fingers. The fascination of discovery draws you into each piece as an unfolding mystery. I happen to like where my ear takes me - it's a weird place that is somehow nostalgic. I'm hearing the sound of my imagination and obsession, so of course it makes me happy to go there. Like that Christian Death song, Death Wish.

I often record fragmentary passages, just a few chords in series and much later find these disparate crumbs relate musically in tenuous ways that invite further work to bring them together into cohesion as a tune.

This is what creative improvisation is about - allowing musical fancy to unfold and listening to the color of that weirdness, responding to it with all the intellectual and intuitive tools you have to bring it back within the zone of rational comprehension. Hopefully this expands the area of your musical grasp.

Without continual learning there is no creativity. I think they are the same thing actually: when you are Learning, you are creating.

Squink Out!

Last edited: Jun 22, 2016 18:56:36

All good stuff, guys. I enjoyed the YT video about "how to be creative". Actually, being creative is not a problem for me. I've been an artist both in fine arts and graphic arts as well as a photographer for the last 40+ years. (Longer than that, really. Just don't like admitting my advanced age). Being creative is not foreign to me. It's just that songwriting is a new form of expression for me and proving to be quite a challenge. I have already recorded a few things and have several songs in the works. I just know they could be better. I appreciate all of the encouraging words and will definitely stick with it.

"I have been working on a song and deliberately nixed part of it because I thought it was just too much like something else that was already written. That's just the way it goes sometimes". Boy does that sound familiar.

Last edited: Jun 22, 2016 19:26:39

Rob, be assured that most of us songwriters are sitting on many hours of rejected musical ideas. There's no short cuts to raising your ratio of good stuff to bad, you just have to put in the time. I find that even if I have my doubts, it's a good exercise and sometimes fruitful to work on a song to completion. Again, pay attention to the rhythm section, play with how it interacts with the melody. In surf that's very important too.

Danny Snyder

"With great reverb comes great responsibility" - Uncle Leo

Playing keys and guitar with Combo Tezeta

Formerly a guitarist in The TomorrowMen and Meshugga Beach Party

Latest surf project - Now That's What I Call SURF

Create! Create! Create! Originality is but one aspect of creation, and pure originality is more theory these days anyways. Direct thievery gather's no respect but do not allow fear to stunt your efforts. Your own children are made of the stuff that came before... but then they evolve into something unique... despite our yelling, bribery, and threats.

Treat your songs somewhat the same, but make sure you wear gloves when it's time to change things.

mj
bent playing for benter results
Do not attempt to adjust your TV set.
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This.

DannySnyder wrote:

A lot of good advice here. I've written a lot about this in the past so I won't get too into it now, but here's one thing that often gets overlooked which can make a difference. Less experienced songwriters often put their effort into finding the notes in a melody. However, melody consists of notes and rhythm, and the rhythmic aspects to the melody can really be what makes it stand out. Sometimes you have to think like a drummer and listen to the time values of the notes, not the pitch.

Good luck!

SSIV

I shouldn't but I can never resist this topic.

Short version: I've written songs ever since I learned my first 2 chords. I mean, that's just what you do. Much easier writing your own stuff rather than go through the pain of learning how to play someone else's stuff. You can't go wrong cause it's yours.

Original? Well there's a ton of advise on all that and a lot of it makes sense. I think of myself more as a lab rat than a musician. Locked in a school bus for 8-10 years for 1 1/2 hours a day with top 40 being pumped into my skull and all I wanted was to read my book.

It changed me. You can't expose a 6 year old kid to that kind of input and not have it affect them. I could give other details on my predisposition to outside stimuli but that would get tedious. BTW there are no other 'musicians' in my family; it was not something that was encouraged, quite the opposite.

2+ years into the surf/instro genre I currently put out a new song every 2 weeks. I have a couple hundred in my demo archive (an old MRS ZOOM studio)
and that is where I store ideas for future songs. Some of them go back a decade or more.

And I'm about 50/50 original to cover songs. Of course if I cover something I want to warp it in my own fashion (again, easier than playing it correctly. We ain't in a bar band right?)

I find major scales very productive places to find melodies but I inevitably fall back into the blues scales of my youth. And that pretty much covers my musical knowledge.

We all get the same 12 notes- you can arrange them any way you want.
Rok on.

Da Vinci Flinglestein,
The quest for the Tone, the tone of the Quest

The Syndicate of Surf on YouTube

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