crazypoet

Improvise, of course. But then again I'm a lyricist, so words just fall into my head, and no-one notices any incoherence, because they think the song has hidden, cryptic messages! A slight digression... A friend of mine posted a quote from a song on his Facebook profile, and I thought it was really cool. I commented on it, stating I wished I'd written that. "Uhm.... you DID write that." A bit embarassing, but also kind of cool.

You still only need a cheap microphone for your needs. A low latency usb mic (although I personally dislike those) and free software such as Audacity sounds like what the doc ordered.

I initially thought it was Karen Carpenter singing. Scrolling down and finding "We've only just begun" and "Rainy days and Mondays" was.... uncanny. I'd definitely use you on ballad style stuff. But if you were ever to sing my songs I'd ask you to try to let yourself loose and not try to be so "clever", if you know what I mean. And I'd use a de-esser on the vocal tracks. Would love to hear your original material! Keep up the good work!

That's right. Whatever you choose to call it it's very helpful if you don't have a trained ear (or even if you do). After you've written ten-fifteen-twenty songs you probably won't need this, but in the beginning it's very helpful. I still use it sometimes, even after having written 130 melodies and co-written several more. How to use it: The chords next to each other fit together nicely. The outer circle is the major chords, the inner is the minors. Just choose, say, four chords from the circle of fifths / quint circle, f.i. three major chords and one minor. String them together, and you've got a place to start. Good luck!

http://www.bandnamemaker.com/

Yeah, a really good question, and there's no perfect answer to this. I mostly write the lyrics first, trying to come up with a good hook/title, then a catchy first phrase. If a melody comes to me afterwards I try it out, and if not I pick a composer that I know can capture the feeling of the lyrics and provide melodic hooks.

My advice: 1) Get yourself a decent prog like Magix Music Maker or Garageband and a (midi) keyboard. 2) Learn about the quint circle. All you really need to know is which chords sound good together. 3) Write some simple lyrics with a steady rhythm and flow and a great hook (yup, this is the hard part). 4) Use chosen proggie to put together loops of four chords that fit together. 5) Play around with the chords on your keyboard and use what you've learned from your classical lessons to make melodic hooks. 6) Sing your heart out. 7) Record. Distribute. Make gazillions.