Make Your Instrumentals Sound More Like “Songs”

And Less Like “Jam Sessions”

Not every songwriter is a singer, and likewise not every song has a vocal part.  Instrumental songs have been around for centuries (probably longer).  Many of the great “classical” songs that everybody knows were written as instrumental pieces

I think that it can be said these days that music is generally more interesting to the average person when it has vocals, but there is still a definite place for instrumental music.  It is generally my goal to write music with lyrical content, but at the same time I don’t want to abandon the idea of writing and recording instrumental pieces all together.  Because of that, if I’m going to constantly work to improve my songwriting in general, I want to step up my abilities to write effective instrumental pieces as well so that when I do record instrumental songs they don’t feel way inferior to my other songs.

So here are some ideas that I’ve come up with, as well as some that I’ve gathered from reading several websites

1. Write melody lines with one of your instruments

Too many times musicians these days, specifically those who are in to modern and mainstream types of music, tend to approach instrumental pieces like big “jam sessions”.  (I am certainly guilty of this sometimes)  They come up with a chord progression or song structure, then just start going to town playing “lead” parts over the top.

Rather than just doing “solos” through out the song, work to create a melody line with an instrument.  Act as if that instrument is the “lead singer” in a song.  Most lead singers wouldn’t improv their way through their melody lines, so don’t always allow your lead instrument to do that in an instrumental, either.

This accomplishes two things for you: First it establishes a certain melody to a song, just the way a singer would, and second, it allows you to still have a guitar solo or something in the arrangement of your song, since it will obviously stand out as an improv solo.

2. Write harmony lines with one or more of your instruments

This actually plays hand in hand into the first idea.  When you write a song with a traditional vocal part, a lead singer will sing most, if not all, of the main vocal lines, and a backup singer might harmonize on certain lines throughout the song (or sometimes, although rarely, throughout the whole song).

If you’re playing the melody of a song with a guitar line, imagine that your piano is the “backup singer”.  Have the piano harmonize on certain lines with the guitar, then stay silent on certain lines.  In the same manor, you can have intertwining backup lines, much line sometimes backup singers will sing intertwining lines rather than a tight word-for-word harmony.

3. Do “Call And Answer” lead parts

If you’re going to stick with the more traditional “solo” style parts for your instrumental, consider doing a call and answer type lead with two or more instruments.  This creates some interest and some flow in songs.

But then again, this technique doesn’t have to be limited to “solo” style parts.  Create a melody for the song, then let your guitar and piano “duet” through the melody.  Be creative.

4. Have different people record different parts of the instrumental

A lot of times my musical ideas are very similar whether I’m playing the piano, the guitar, the bass, or any other instrument I happen to pick up.  My phrasing is distinct, just like accents and pronunciations when people say certain words.

When writing songs with BHP, I can tell  a big difference between me playing a guitar part, then Jim playing the exact same notes on his guitar. Everyone has their own way of doing things, and it becomes just as obvious in music as it does in anything else in life.

So maybe to make your instrumental a little more interesting you can get different people to play the parts.  Perhaps for simple parts you can even show the part to someone who doesn’t know how to play that instrument.   Everyone is going to use slightly different accents and techniques.

5. Use effects that help instruments “sing”

I’m not talking about singing actual specific words, because that would fall more into the category of putting lyrics into songs.  But instead I’m talking about using effects that add almost human characteristics to the sounds that instruments make.

The obvious examples are talkboxes and wah pedals.  Think Aerosmith’s “Sweet Emotion”, Bon Jovi’s “Livin On A Prayer”, or absolutely anything by Peter Frampton.  Those are the obvious effects, but I’m sure there are more.

And don’t limit yourself to using guitar effects on guitars.  What could those effects do on a keyboard playing a string-section sound, or an organ, or a piano…

… or a drum kit?

6. Write a hook with a lead instrument, and repeat it

Usually songs become famous because of a hook.  It’s slightly easier when there is singing involved, because words can be catchy and stick in people’s heads.  But you can write a hook with an instrumental part, too, and then repeat it throughout a chorus or a verse or something, just like you would with the lyrics.

Think of all the famous instrumental intros or parts you’ve heard over the years.  Create something catchy in your instrumental, then make sure to showcase it.

7. I’m sure you all have some ideas

So what do you do to keep your instrumentals interesting?  I’d love to hear your ideas.  Leave a comment!

NOTE: Casey is one of my music writing partners in BHP.   Like Jim, who wrote one of our articles yesterday, Casey has agreed to let me use some stuff he’s written in the past, and he plans on writing some new articles as well.   If you enjoy what I write here, you’ll definitely enjoy what those two have to say as well.

This is one of those posts originally written for a BHP blog..  It was written about a year ago.     – Jason

Anyone who is married can attest that the more you commit to it, the more enjoyment you get out of it. I’ve found this to be true as well.

It’s the same way with music. The allegory of being married to one’s band mates notwithstanding, I’ve found that the more I am committed to the process of writing, the more productive I’ll be and the more enjoyment I get out of it. And let’s be honest, it’s crucial to be able to enjoy the music you are involved with. Otherwise it’s a sad and colossal waste of life to be in a band with any other end result.

Although BHP is not a band in the strictest sense, as we do not rehearse or gig, we do need to commit time and energy toward crafting our tunes. Otherwise they don’t get written and it becomes the whole sad and colossal waste… Sometimes pushing oneself even to do things one enjoys (songwriting, for example) is necessary. It’s not drudgery as it would seem at first. Always be mindful to push through the times where you may not be as inspired or when ideas don’t come as easy. It works. Giving yourself that extra push once in a while keeps you afloat and in the game. I’ve learned this with lyric writing in the past couple of months. I’ve written more lyrically in 2 months than ever.

Of course, knowing that you’ve got committed band mates helps too. As a musician, you may have been (may be) in a band where you are pulling most of the weight somehow. First, do not panic. Realize that most musicians are flakes (there, I’ve said it). But realize too that if you’ve got the fire to write and perform your own stuff, then you deserve to be with other musicians who have the fire to commit as well. Otherwise, you guessed it, sad and colossal waste of time!

I’ve been lucky the past ten years. I’ve been privileged enough to be in two bands that are committed and it’s made all the difference for me as a musician. It’s encouraged me to be committed and helped me enjoy the music so much more. Even today with my BHP group, I have that.

Commit to your music. You deserve the satisfaction of enjoying an end result. Your music deserves the commitment as well.

-Casey

Learn from the music business pros

Today I’m going to go a different direction and do a little book review.

The book is called “Behind The Glass”.  It’s a collection of interviews with music producers that have produced some amazing albums over the years.  Technically the book  isn’t exactly about creating music in the truest sense, but it definitely includes some talk about the song writing process.  I think it’s relevant to this blog, though, because I’m assuming many of you that come here are your own songwriter, band, engineer, and producer wrapped up into one.

The book is literally just a transcription of the interviews themselves.  Reading it will give you an interesting look on how the “professionals” do things.

Those of us who are searching for new creative ways to make music walk kind of a fine line… on one hand, learning from people who have done it before is essential, but on the other hand we’re trying to pave our own road.  I still think reading books like this can be helpful… you’ll walk away with a ton of ideas.

Here is a link to the book on Amazon.com.  Just so I don’t come across as sneaky or something, I’ll tell you up front that if you order the book from this link, Creative-Music.org will get a portion of the profit.  You can do with that info what you want!    If you’d like to help support this blog, then maybe you want to order from the link.  If not, no big deal.  I do recommend, though, whether you buy the book through this link or through your other favorite source that you do check it out.  I think you’ll be glad you did.

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When creating that link from Amazon, I just noticed that you can get used versions of the book for pretty cheap.  Gotta love Amazon used stuff!

I wanted to quote what one of the reviewers on Amazon had to say about the book as well.

Great resource, but how does it rate for up-and-comings…?, January 5, 2001

By	Scott Woods (Columbus, Ohio United States) -

The other really good reviews tell you what you want to know about the logistics of the book. I want to talk about whether or not an up-and-coming musician/producer/composer can use the book in their daily work and professional lives to any useful extent.My quick answer is absolutely. It’s chockful of great interviews with unquestionable legends in the field. We always hear about the artists and get these clunky, chopped up interviews in magazines with them about what it took to make the record (“I had a dream”, “My contract was about up”, “It’s an homage to field mice”, etc.), but we rarely get such an in-depth look at who REALLY makes these artists SOUND they way they do. There’s a ton of stuff about the gear they use, how they use it and why they use it.

The slant of the book is a little high-end, which is understandable, considering the professional level of the producers we’re talking about here, so the average joe in their bedroom or basement studio may find the discussions about $10,000 microphones a bit overwhelming and useless, but the theories about how they’re used and what environments (an aspect of recording SADLY bypassed by big and small name studios alike) they’re striving to create are invaluable, and can be applied everywhere.

If you’re an aspiring artist, get it because it will tell you where the lines are in your working relationships with these people, and help you help yourself instead of looking at the studio clock with 6 more tracks you’d like to lay. If you’re a session musician, you’ll probably find it useful when the discussions turn to getting good sounds out of your instruments in various environments. And if you’re an aspiring producer, you HAVE to get it. It’s your guide through ego, business and the nature of what you wish to do.

As you can see, it’s an old review, because the book has been out for a while  (There is a part 2, but I haven’t read it, though), but the information in the book is still relevant and useful.

Check out the book and let me know what you think.  Or if you’ve read it already, leave a comment (positive or negative).  I’d love to know your thoughts.

Make sure you have a keyboard available!

This is probably something that I’ll keep going back to often, because I think keyboards offer a wide range of uses to songwriters… especially those who are trying to stretch their musical creativity a bit.

My advice to you, if you don’t already have one, go buy a keyboard. I’m not talking about the high end Roland or Korg synths that cost hundreds of dollars. I’m talking about the kind of Keyboard you can pick up from your local Target or Best Buy for somewhere around $100 or so. Something that may look like this…

There are lots of reasons that I am very much a fan of having something like this around, but we’ll just go through one at a time.

Reason #1 – Easy Instrumentation

One of the biggest hurdles to songwriting creativity in my mind is not being able to express your ideas (which is why I’m such a big fan of Recording Everything) Having this style of keyboard around helps with that tremendously. Let’s say that you are writing a song, and you envision a horn section…. but you don’t play any horns. If you have a keyboard like this, you can dial up several horn sounds, and lay down a respectable part… it’s true that it won’t sound completely like a real horn section, but it’s better than trying to just imagine it’s there as you go on. With a keyboard like this, you can get down ideas for dozens of instruments… horns, pianos, organs, stringed instruments, percussion, synths, pads, etc, etc, etc.

The great thing about it is you don’t really need to know how to play the piano to make it work. In fact, you’re probably not going to play a horn section part anything like you’d play a piano anyway, since horns don’t really play chords… or even two notes at once.

And besides, didn’t we talk about how valuable instruments could be, even if you don’t know how to play them “correctly”?

Not only that, I’m sure many of you could say this same thing: There have been many occasions where I’ve been inspired for a new idea by a sound or tone that an instrument makes. Having access to dozens of sounds with one machine is going to spark some creativity in you at some point. Sometimes just sitting down in front of a keyboard like this and cycling through it’s sounds is going to inspire you to something new.

It’s definitely worth having it available to you.

Always record.

That is my motto…  I’ll say it again…

Always Record.

A lot of you might already live by this motto, but for those of you who don’t, recording is the greatest tool available for people wanting to explore creative music.  The great thing is, these days if you have a computer, you have the tools necessary to begin recording… and I’m going to guess that most of you reading this blog have access to a computer.

There are a couple reasons why recording is important when it comes to writing creative music:

-Creative inspiration is often a sudden thing.

How often have you been fiddling with music in some way, and you come across a great idea… a guitar riff, a piano chord progression, a drum beat, a great lyrical hook… but by the time you get around to trying to write down your idea, it’s gone.  It’s happened to all of us, and the sad thing about it is trying to recreate the idea later rarely leads to an idea as great as the original.

If you get used to the idea of recording your ideas rather than just finished songs, you’ll be more likely to get your ideas down when inspiration hits the first time.

I have my computer set up so that recording is an easy task.   My instruments are plugged into my computer at all times, so if I’m playing and I come up with a good idea, I just have to open my recording software, and I’m ready to go.  Convenience is the key.  The reason that I always have my gear set up… if I had to put down my guitar or get up from behind my keyboard, just so I could take the time to hook up some stuff to put down an idea that I might not ever use again…. I probably wouldn’t do it.  But since everything is hooked up all the time, it takes hardly any effort at all to hit record and lay down my ideas.

-You never know when you’ll come back to an idea

Just recently I’ve finished a song that I started over 8 years ago.

The main riff of a song was… well… it was weird.  I was messing around with my guitar, and kinda came up with a technique that was out of the ordinary.  I didn’t really know how to use it in any song that I was already working on, so I recorded it as a stand alone riff.  I put a simple chord progression after it to serve as a second part, had some canned drums from my keyboard behind it, and set it aside.

It sat there for 8 years, because as I was trying to write songs with bands, my bandmates and I always agreed… it’s just too odd.

Several months ago I decided I was in the mood to mess around with some “outside the box” (that’s my new favorite musical term) ideas,  and I started looking through old ideas of mine.  I ended up finishing the song, even though I hadn’t touched it for almost a decade.

If I wouldn’t have recorded that idea, I would’ve forgotten about it a long time ago.

-Sometimes it takes musical layers to get that creative sound you’re looking for

Sometimes a guitar chord progressions seems very ordinary…. until it has a harpsichord melody and a pan flute harmony over top of it.

If you’re a musician who writes by yourself, it’s hard to pull that off all at once.

But if you record the guitar part, it’s easy to play the other parts over the top of it later.

It’s that kind of creative layering and building that isn’t possible for solo song writers without the option of recording parts.

Okay, so I’m interested, but I’ve never recorded before

For those of you who haven’t messed with computer recording before, you should give it a try.

I’d start by going to http://www.reaper.fm.  Download Reaper.  It’s a GREAT recording tool… in my opinion it does everything that the big boys (like Pro Tools) does.  When you download it, it’s fully functional.  Try it out, play with it, and if you like it, it’s very cheap to register it.  I think it’s $60 (instead of hundreds of dollars like other software packages).

Then poke around the website.  Read the documentation, then head to the forums.  There is lots of easy to understand information that will get you started.

And honestly, if you have a computer and any kind of instrument and/or mic, you’re on your way.

It’s definitely worth it.