So...

jbal

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Man is this board ever dead! Threads on the first page nearly four months old.

So...
What instrument do you write on? For me it's almost exclusively guitar. In the past I've written a few on piano and even bass. Nowadays, software is probably my most accurate reply, where you can cut and paste easily. What about you?
 

Scarlett_156

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Lately I've been writing some songs for the band in my NaNoWriMo novel. I have been composing the songs on my bass and then adding keyboards. I was going to make a new post about it but I got sidetracked.

I'm not a good lyricist but TOGM is not a good band.

When I have a good set of lyrics for my fictional band I intend to post it.

I was also going to start a post on this board about songs heard in dreams.

Sometimes I write songs on guitar. If I hear a song in my head the guitar is usually the instrument that's right there, so I try to get the melody on it. After that, the flute.
 

jbal

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I have a flute and a trombone in my closet, completely unused. Eventually I will try to find C on the things and sample it so I can just "play" them from my sampler.
I wrote the most brilliantly idiotic song in a dream once, and recording the vocals involved placing the mic in a soap dish, filling the bathtub with water and screaming from across the bathroom. Later I found out there was this thing called reverb...
 

Scarlett_156

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A book I read once said that the flute and piccolo were the "most versatile" instruments. I'm still wondering what that means. *has played alto sax for 30+ years*

P.S., don't try to get those instruments all in tune. You will just drive yourself nuts. Be like Chopin, and hear the real notes through the warped wood and dead strings.
 

jbal

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The most versatile in reality: the electronic keyboard which can convincingly produce the timbre of thousands of instruments. Maybe they meant that you can melt down a flute and cast it into just about anything.
 

Scarlett_156

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Synth has been a great experience for me. I can make my cheap-azzed kb sound like a Leslie organ or a choir of angels if I want to.

But: Being able to play a real time instrument is always going to be a good skill to have! I mean, think: After "teh disaster" all electronic gadgets will be dead. Most pianos will become firewood. But a flute, trompet, or other brass instrument will still be playable.
 

jbal

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Here I am in a music store as I write this. Every time the power goes out, which seems to be every time a squirrel farts on the transformer, those acoustic guitars and drums start seeming a lot cooler.
 

DreamWorks

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I feel like one of the reasons noone posts here that much is the fear of copyright webthievery etc... am I right? This is what keeps me from posting what I feel is my best work. I mean how easy is it for a good composer to take good lyrics and make something out of it? Pretty darn easy...

I only know piano and KB. Does anyone use computer only? Is Qbase consodered the best music program in the states as it is here where I'm at?
 
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I write on guitar but I would like to learn some basic piano soon to change it up a bit.
 

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I Write with a Guitar, and occasionally Bass. My 12 string is my favorite to write with, but I can't play it for any extended period of time without my left wrist giving me a ton of grief. I've a Martin Acoustic Bass.. so much nicer than any of the new fangled electric junk :)
 

jbal

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DreamWorks said:
I feel like one of the reasons noone posts here that much is the fear of copyright webthievery etc... am I right? This is what keeps me from posting what I feel is my best work. I mean how easy is it for a good composer to take good lyrics and make something out of it? Pretty darn easy...

I only know piano and KB. Does anyone use computer only? Is Qbase consodered the best music program in the states as it is here where I'm at?
Where is that? A bubble? so bubble people like Cubase. I use Cakewalk's Sonar myself, but I think Digidesign Pro Tools is widely recognized as the industry standard here in the States, due to the Mac platform's stability and the fact that it uses hardware for most of the tasks that would ordinarily tax CPU. I hate writing on a computer, but I've been doing it a lot lately.
 

DreamWorks

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What is the program where least amount of training/ knowledge is required? I've heard it said that Qbase is like a profession it is so complex you have to study it like you would train to know anything else.
 

jbal

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Cubase is a bit strange to me, but mainly because I use something else, so there's an adjustment. There are a couple of things on there that are pretty counterintuitive though, at least to me. I think there will be a learning curve on anything, especially software. The competition in this arena has increased the power of these softwares so that there are a million things you can do, but as a result it takes some practice to be able to do them all.
I've been using Cakewalk for about four years, and I'm sure there's plenty I don't know about it still. Big help, huh?
 

rhymegirl

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I write songs in my head. No instrument.
 

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Electric guitar or piano. Then I interface with a Zoom PS04 into Audacity. Audacity is a free shareware multitrack recorder. It's not unusual for me to have my amp rattling the windows at 3 am. The wife and kids are so used to it that they sleep right through.

Crankin' it to 11,
Rick
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