heartofglasses

I start with droning chords or notes on organ or piano, so for me it is definitely a mood thing. Sometimes I have no idea what scale I'm even using. It is all very freestyle. See my topic here on this tricky subject: I build the melody by singing nonsense over the droning, and then I turn that into lyrics. Then I add percussion. Then I go back and re-record everything in the proper tempo. Then my keyboard player makes my droning into actual notes and melody, luckily for me (I am a terrible piano player, I just get songs stuck in my head that I need to get out, and the band appreciates that I take the initial steps in the process).

I tend to just mess around and play things by ear a lot when I'm writing, rather than thinking about music theory (which I have trouble with, not being very mathematical), and sometimes I end up using exotic scales. And then sometimes I have no idea what scale I'm using at all, but the way something sounds fits my mood at the time. Here's a progression of drawn-out notes (harmony?), played on an organ, that I can't really figure out. Do I need to know what scale I'm using? I suppose I do, for the sake of my band, right? This has a sort of melancholy sound. I use each note to figure out how to sing each short line of lyrics, as a guide. The lyrics are more of a melody. The actual keyboard player in the band embellishes what I write, so that it's not so droney, but I like to start out with a sort of background drone as a guide. Would this drive you crazy if you were a musician?? She's been very patient so far... A---C#---G---B I'm probably doing this backwards, right?? It's just that when I write a song using the vague rules I've learned about chord progressions, I end up being bored with it, or it sounds exactly like something else...

I seem to be having a problem branching out of the unfortunate "freak folk" genre I've been labeled with. I'd really like to write some glam songs on keyoard a la "Here Come the Warm Jets" era Brian Eno, or Aladdin Sane era David Bowie. Or even better, any era Sparks. But everything I write ends up sounding too...twee? And a little bit too emo? I'd also like to use my vocal range more, but I'm having trouble writing songs that challenge me. I have pretty much the same range as Bowie. Could my problem be the scales I'm using? I tend to use somewhat exotic scales, just because I always have the urge to break out of minor or major scale. Sometimes I use whole scales, sometimes Spanish gypsy, sometimes melodic minor, etc. But I haven't been able to find a glammy sort of sound. And is there a particular key I should be writing in to get a nice glam sound? Or maybe there's a special way to approach the rhythm? I'm completely new to writing this genre, but it's my favorite genre to sing to. I should mention that we're a stringless band, but some of my favorite glam songs are the theatrical, piano-based ones. I appreciate any help!!