Ok, here we are, we've had this phrase running around in our heads for days now, and we finally get it down on paper to where we are happy with it. The thing is, it seems to be missing something. It needs to be sung, not just read. In my last article, I discussed putting words to music and explained that we need to be able to get a feel for the music. Now we have ourselves another dilemma. We have words, and we know what we are trying to convey with them. Now we have to translate those feelings to music.

A lot of composers will use a piano, and this is very effective if you know how to play one. You can write the bass line and the main rhythm line all at the same time. However, if you are "piano challenged", as I am, then it's time to get out the trusty guitar. When I'm jotting down poems that are destined to be songs, I have a melody line stuck in my head. The first thing I have to do is find that melody line on the guitar. While tricky, this isn't overly complicated unless the words went down in one sitting. For me, while this does happen, it's rare, and I'll find myself humming the lyrics and air guitaring what I think the melody chord form should be.

I can hear it now, "But Rob, this is the same process we used to put words to music", and that is basically correct. The process isn't much different, it's just the starting point that changes. Where before we had a piece that was crying out for lyrics, we now have a piece that is crying out for music. The feelings are there, the emotion we want to convey - we now have to find the best score to best convey them. There are several important factors here, and I'll try to touch on them the best I can.

The first factor to consider is Key. If we want the piece to seem bright, then we want to stay away from minor keys. They tend to produce a more bluesy feel. Some of my "bright" work is in the key of D, which is, to me, a happy little key. If my lyrics are bright and happy, I'll work that key first, trying to find a chord progression that fits. If nothing seems to fit, I'll move on and explore other options. There is no set rule to what must be used, however. Some pretty work can come out of transposing the music to the lyrics by making the music somewhat darker. I wouldn't suggest going to extremes, however. The most important thing is that you are left feeling what you intended the song to leave you feeling.

The next most important factor is timbre. Is it upbeat or slow. Are we working on a blues riff or a piece that would be more classical in nature. Once again, we come back to is it a driving song or a drinking song. Are we trying to make the people dance? If so, is it the traditional head banger's dance or the cuddly power ballad? Is it a simple ballad? Are we working on a rap song? Note that while I have separated these first two; they are essentially the same step. I have done this for clarity. In my mind, these are not steps that are performed independently of each other but simultaneously. Once again, I want to stress that the most important thing is that you feel what you intend the song to convey when you are performing it.

Now we get to the tricky part. We have our basic song written. If we did it on piano we even have our bass line figured out. Now we have to go back and find the holes. I've used that word to define places in a song where there are no lyrics or where we need to change from one progression to another. A better term is bridge. After all, a bridge is how we get from one side to the other. The things we have to consider here are: do we need an intro, do we need a line to bridge a gap between the verses and the chorus. Are we going to have a guitar solo, and if so, where does it go, and over what part or parts.

I think I've just written myself into another article as this concept applies to all of the forms of music I listed in my other articles. Stay tuned for next time!