Writing Music - Inspiration Key!

Hey there friends,

I have been writing music since I was really young. At that time I didn't have any helpful equipments or gadgets like the ones found today, so many melodies and ideas were lost.

today with the kind of technology we have, things became much easier, and you can really keep your ideas some where safe until you find the right time and turn those ideas to something complete and beautiful.

I will be writing some articles in this blog about the things I learned through my life regarding music writing.

so bookmark this page if you are interested in this topic and I'm sure you will find many things useful and cool.

I'd like to talk today about the inspiration key.

you will have a very good feeling when you get inspired and start to have some cool melody or motif in your mind. to make this feeling last longer and turn it to something that you can keep and share with others, first thing you need is to record it quickly before you get distracted.

the easiest way that I always do when I have a new riff or melody playing in my head is to play it with my mouth and record it on my mobile. Now, my mobile has more than 100 ideas that can be utilized to produce many songs. It's also a good practice to always store those files where you can reach easily.

next thing you can do is to start playing this riff or motif on your instrument. and since I'm a guitarist mainly, I'm gonna refer to the main instrument to be a guitar by default from now on.

the main purpose of this post is to emphasize on the inspiration key. 
For example, you had an inspiration of a cool melody, you recorded it then later you started to play it on your guitar. it could be in the key of C for example, this method main focus is to try to play the rest of your melody in the same key without shifting or transposing to a different key.

I don't know if this technique is recognized by others, or professional musicians, but I have always done this with all my instrumentals. when it comes to songs with lyrics it's different because the key of the song has to match with the singer's vocal range. so the original melody could be in C for example but then during the production and recording of the song it could be transposed lower or higher to a different key to be easy for the singer to master and sing with full capability and expression.

The main reason this has became one of my best practices is that sticking to the original key allowed me to play in almost every key. for example, many guitarists know how to play well in A minor or E minor...etc but less guitarists are able to play skillfully in other keys. so the first thing you will gain by applying this method is to expand your knowledge of the fretboard, then it will help you a lot in memorizing all the notes on the guitar neck.

one other reason why I found this method really useful is that when you keep your song in the original key, it makes it has a different taste and quality. if you listen to many pop artists and singers you will notice that most of their albums are played in the same key. as I said this has much to do with the vocal range of the lead singer. Also it has some to do with the playing skills of pop songs session musicians. most of them are well trained to play in pop keys, but less can play in other keys.

I believe that the original key makes your music original, authentic and unique.

You know that everything is energy in this universe, this has been proven by science.
Sound also is an energy, and the quality of this energy varies from the vibrations and waves generated by your instrument. so, when you play in any key or scale, you produce a different kind of energy. This energy is responsible of the impact you leave with your audience or listeners. there is many factors that can affect your listeners positively or negatively. and one of these factors is the key of your song.

other important factors will be discussed in future posts.

but this is all about it, I hope you find this tip useful. let me know your comments or questions if you have any.

see you later in a new episode.