• Music GCSE Tips and Tricks
    17 replies, posted
Hey I'm starting my GCSE year 11 music performing module soon and I need to create a song, but i have no idea where to start and if any of you guys could help me out by giving my tips and tricks for writing a quick, simple and passable song that would be awesome. I have ideas of just using muted bar chords in the intro & verse then going into a big chorus using ride and open strumming however i have no idea how to go from say. G - C - D palm muted to some other chord sequence but open and more meaty (?) and not sounding weird. My last song attempt failed miserably and i got a C-B grade, so this time I think i should talk to some experienced people about it It doesn't have to be fantastic... just passable. I guess the idea in my head is KINDA rocky in a way. Thanks alot in advance!
Its not advisable but..... You could pick a song from some band you dont think your teacher will have heard of. I didnt do music at school I did wood work instead (2 hours of chilling a week) but the guys who I knew all picked songs off a CKY album and all passed.
I just finished mine this year, and let me tell you, do not make it too complicated. It doesn't have to be amazing, it just has to work. Pick some chords and write a melody using a scale that fits. Don't play too many fancy things, because it you'll just make it harder for yourself. Its not going to be a million selling record at all, so it's fine if it's not completely perfect at the end
[QUOTE=Godline;30727178]Its not advisable but..... You could pick a song from some band you dont think your teacher will have heard of. I didnt do music at school I did wood work instead (2 hours of chilling a week) but the guys who I knew all picked songs off a CKY album and all passed.[/QUOTE] Don't even risk it.
Ok, I can give you some guidelines for your typical rock song... Structure: [B]Intro - Verse - Chorus - Verse - Chorus - Bridge/Solo/whatev - Chorus - (Outro)[/B] Ok, I know people are gonna bitch about this, but just stick to this simple formula. There's a reason why it's so overused. It's perfect. It's basically A-A-B-A form but more extended. Ok. So keep things simple. That means stick to one key, one tempo, and one beat the entire song. [B] The intro:[/B] Find a simple chord line for the chorus. A typical approach for the intro is to have the exact same arrangement for the chorus, but you could for example play lead guitar where the vocals would normally go. [B]The verse:[/B] Find another chord sequence in the same key as your chorus/intro one. Palm mute! Use simple drums, save the ride/open hat/overuse of crashes for the bridge/chorus where you need them. Write lyrics about driving a car in a desert or whatever. [B]Chorus:[/B] Remember your intro? Use the same chords! Play them open. Let them ring or just repeat them! Add something to the drums, like an open hihat. Add vocals. Preferably layered/harmonized as opposed to the verse. This way people will really get that this is the chorus. You can blast away, but remember to keep things tight! As soon as you overdo it, it will not sound like rock, but more like indie punk. You don't want this. OK now do another verse and another chorus. If you want to, you can add some variation to the second verse. New lyrics is a must. But you can add more, like a guitar playing arpeggios or a cool synth pad. But keep your second chorus identical to your first - you don't want to vary them. [B]Bridge:[/B] Try to find another chord sequence, preferably in the same key as the others, but if you want, now is the time to change keys - or build up to a key change for the last chorus. Basically this part should sound like anything else in the song. This is here to keep the audience interested and to add flavour and life to your song. It's common to keep bridges extra simple. For example, you can remove the drums and take it easy on the guitar and bass. Or you could follow the same formula as the chorus - ie just blasting away. Just don't have it the same as the verse. That'll be weird. Have some new lyrics or/and add a guitar solo. The solo should be playing the Pentatonic Minor scale. [B]Last chorus + outro:[/B] One approach is to change keys here. Like raising it 1-2 semitones. It can be a bit controversial. I personally like it, and it adds life-length to your song, but it can be considered gay, so it's up to you. Play this chorus twice as many times as the other ones and immediately follow it with an outro. The outro should be just like the intro, but with the same arrangement as the chorus (blasting away with open, unmuted chords). Remember to have alot of drum and guitar fills and shit between everything and mix things up if you want to. These are guidelines and are not written in stone. Does the transition between the chorus and the verse feel to hard? Add a 2 bar guitar fill! The transition from verse to chorus is too boring? Add pre-choruses! The song is too short/long? Add/remove a verse or change the tempo by a couple of bpms! Lastly: LISTEN and LISTEN MORE to the style of music you want to make. If you don't know how the music sounds, then you cannot make it yourself. Do you have any rock song which you think "wow, this is really good, I wanna make something like this" ? [B]Copy its formula![/B] It's not a tabuu or anything, it's how people do it. You will find that even if you keep the exact same formula and structure, but add your own chords, melodies, arrangements, fills, etc, then you will end up with brand new song which sounds nothing like the "original". If don't like this, then atleast [I]start[/I] this way. Once you get going writing that song, adding your own stuff to it will be a cakewalk. --- OK this is extremely rough and there are no rules in music writing. But this approach is extremely common and I bet your music teacher will appreciate your understanding for this formula. Try it out! (Sorry for the wall of text and the shitty formating)
For my gcse, we had to take styles and mix the together. mine were baroque and tango, that was fun. Anyway, keep it simple, and make sure you don't go too heavy, overdoing distortion and things like that can kill it because it becomes rather messy. What else is the brief other than write a song?
oh cool, thanks for all the help.
Use a typical chord progression and improvise a melodies over it until you find one that works really well. Write it down. Come up with other phrases as well and maybe a secondary melody. Spend most of the time in the song experimenting with the melody. If you are going to have a verse and a chorus, come up with different progressions and melodies for both. You really don't need a different progression, but more something that makes the chorus stand out from the verse. Below is a good example of a song based on an couple of melodies. [media]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9IrWyZ0KZuk[/media] It's also good to have an idea about what you want the song to convey and how the song would work best at conveying the message. For example, if you want the chorus to be really strong you'd probably want to go with a I-V or I-IV-V progression. If you wanted something a bit inspirational a I-IV-vi-V progression.
I wish I was able to pick music, the teacher we had was going blind and was too drugged out on hospital meds to teach us anything, we never learned a thing after the 3 years. :smith:
no No NO [B]NO[/B] Dude, it's 11th year music. DUDE and all you can come up with is G - C - D NO. There are so many guitarists today that it's incredibly hard to come out as a guitarist. I'm sure you could figure something better and a bit more advanced out than G C and D Even just using a 7th chord progression or something. Those are my tips. Basically make something unique. Slap on the guitar, make percussion noises. Do something that they've probably never heard before. That's the rush of playing guitar. Making people awestruck.
Don't bother doing anything unique if you want to just get a good grade, also check out the marking criteria the examiners use and just use all the things in the A* boundary and you'll be fine. Be prepared to put the work in and learn a little theory and you'll do well.
Tune your guitar to a different tuning, just do it, you can [B]always[/B] go back to E A D G B E . It'll get you out of the pattern of playing what you already know, just experiment. No one will boo at you if you pick a wrong note in your own room, [I]just play.[/I] [editline]27th June 2011[/editline] Or just try to emulate a artist that you like, should work too cause it'll be close to you.
[QUOTE=Nonikai;30747989]no No NO [B]NO[/B] Dude, it's 11th year music. DUDE and all you can come up with is G - C - D NO. There are so many guitarists today that it's incredibly hard to come out as a guitarist. I'm sure you could figure something better and a bit more advanced out than G C and D Even just using a 7th chord progression or something. Those are my tips. Basically make something unique. Slap on the guitar, make percussion noises. Do something that they've probably never heard before. That's the rush of playing guitar. Making people awestruck.[/QUOTE] Its 11th year music, he doesn't need anything better than G-C-D. The examiner's don't want to hear the next Eric Johnson, they just want a piece that sounds good with few pieces that don't fit. Being too advanced will only make things harder
[QUOTE=ThunderGod;30748234]Don't bother doing anything unique if you want to just get a good grade, also check out the marking criteria the examiners use and just use all the things in the A* boundary and you'll be fine. Be prepared to put the work in and learn a little theory and you'll do well.[/QUOTE] That's the silliest thing I've read all day If you just want to pass and do something simple so be it, but the joy of stunning people will always stay with you and things travel. Your examiners might start to talk about you and you'll become sort of known as "that guy who plays the guitar good". [editline]27th June 2011[/editline] [QUOTE=hugarh;30748620]Its 11th year music, he doesn't need anything better than G-C-D. The examiner's don't want to hear the next Eric Johnson, they just want a piece that sounds good with few pieces that don't fit. Being too advanced will only make things harder[/QUOTE] this is negative thinking
[QUOTE=Nonikai;30748627]this is negative thinking[/QUOTE] Its not negative thinking, its the truth. He wants to get a good grade, and the examiners are the only people who will ever hear the piece. There's no point playing something really complicated, when simply playing something that fits the task specification will be just as good. Examiners don't care how technical the playing is, just whether it ticks the boxes in marking criteria, as ThunderGod said
[QUOTE=Nonikai;30748627]That's the silliest thing I've read all day If you just want to pass and do something simple so be it, but the joy of stunning people will always stay with you and things travel. Your examiners might start to talk about you and you'll become sort of known as "that guy who plays the guitar good". [editline]27th June 2011[/editline] this is negative thinking[/QUOTE] Listen we've actually both completed this course, this thread is about how an average composer can acheive a good grade. I'm all for artistic expression, experimentation and individuality in compositions. If you could stop being condescending towards people who have finished the course you're pretending to know about it would be appreciated.
This is a qualification not a talent contest.
[QUOTE=Nonikai;30748627]That's the silliest thing I've read all day If you just want to pass and do something simple so be it, but the joy of stunning people will always stay with you and things travel. Your examiners might start to talk about you and you'll become sort of known as "that guy who plays the guitar good". [editline]27th June 2011[/editline] this is negative thinking[/QUOTE] The English examination system is terrible, they get paid very little, and will not care whether it impresses them, just whether it ticks the boxes so they can move onto the next one until they finish. It's best to play it just above safe.
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