Developing Our Songwriting Skills, what was the last song you learned? Options

[Ivan Milenkovic]

If we want to progress as songwriters we need to learn at least the basics of chords, harmony, even if it means that we have to come up with some of the rules that exist in formal theory on our own.

When writings songs, it's always good to see how great songs were written. What type of songs do we want to create, what is the structure of such a song, how many choruses, how many verses, do we have a bridge, how is energy distributed throughout the song etc. All these things, if analyzed from other famous songs, can help us boost some of our own ideas as well.

What do you think about this topic?

What was the last song you learned to play from beginning to an end?

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[Daniel Realpe]

I'm currently learning Bastards of the machine by Symphony X, it's been a while since I learned a new song but this one is just too good for my taste,

and you are right, when I learn a song now I realise of the amazing songwriting skills of these musicians, every detail, arrangement is carefully chosen so that the listener enjoys the most out of the tune,

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[Ben Higgins]

I'm currently learning Bastards of the machine by Symphony X

That's not a sentence you hear everyday !

For me, a lot of my attention goes to arrangement and mood setting. Without realising it, I pay a lot of attention to how songs are structured and find myself analysing new albums by my fave bands.

Mood setting - what I mean by this is if you're subject matter is serious and dark, then adding innapropriate sounding chords or melodies may detract from the effect of the song. When people do things badly out of context I can't take their song message seriously if they haven't.

I feel that way about Run To The Hills and Number Of The Beast by Maiden. You have these supposedly 'scary, wicked or bad' events in the lyrics but the music sounds too happy to me. So the tone doesn't match the lyrics and as a result I've never been able to take those songs seriously and get into them. People say they're meant to be light hearted and 'tounge in cheek' but it just doesn't work for me.

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