5 BIG Mistakes people make writing music ......[and how to FIX them!] 

I never had a musical education, but I somehow got to the point where I became a composer on a big TV cartoon. At first, the tasks they put in front of me seemed impossible, but step by step, with your video lessons, I learned how to work quickly and efficiently. We have already made half a season, everyone is happy! Thank you!

I love this guy! He honestly deserves more support

My tips: 1. Get to the point! Start with something that catches the attention. It can be small or big, complex or simple, but something that makes you ears stand up. The intro of Star Wars for instance, instantly with the opening chord you are hooked. The intro of Tristan and Isolde starts with one of the most famous chords in history. The intro of Bohemian Rhapsody starts with a haunting vocal arrangement. This also has the added benefit of clearly defining your musical idea since you already have something interesting and therefor have lots to work with. 2. Write more notes! When you hear most great pieces of music it can be easy to forget just how many different notes you hear. Take any piece by Bach, there is rarely, if ever, a bar that is identical to another. Even a simple piece like Prelude in C there is something different every bar, if a section repeats it will at the very least be transposed. Everything has variations, everything is in motion, every transition is unique. Especially with DAWS it can be so tempting to just copy paste your way through an entire composition. 3. Use dynamics! The power of dynamics can be easily overlooked if you use a DAW because it can be such tedious work. Creative use of dynamics in volume can turn a simple melody into something really interesting. Listen to Beethoven and focus on the way he writes dynamics, it is all over the place.

I came across your videos by mistake a couple of months ago,a guitarist by trade. This was so inspiring i I purchased a computer with cubase artist and spitfire plug ins. At 65 I'm having the time of my life. Thank you for the inspiration and of course fun that music brings. Haven't seen my wife for two weeks.....

I love your videos!! You give a wealth of information, but you are also absolutely hilarious. Keep up the great work!!!

Am in the middle of Guys Learn Music Theory course at the moment. Would recommend it. Starts from the very basics . If you have no knowledge of theory (which I hadn’t really) Its very good.

Great presentation. Great to hear the way you go about improving a tune.

Excellent points all and so well demonstrated. They resonate!

Great stuff Guy - as always!

I’m really new to this although I’ve been involved with music for a long long time, I’m now in my retirement and able to spend more serious time learning about orchestration and composition. I’ve written a few things over the years but never orchestrated them or really gone beyond the guitar chords and basic melody. Given this, I find your videos an invaluable resource and source of ideas, many of which I have sought to employ in my own efforts. Having recently bought BBCSO core along with a few other instruments and freebies, I’m so enjoying my new musical adventures. Thank you Guy for your insight, talent and inspiration. Oh and not forgetting humour of course! 😃

I definitely love your videos Guy, so educational, and hilarious at times!

Thank you for the Great tutorial!

I think this is a great video. I would really love if you could make a longer video on the same idea, making it have that spark that you were talking about at the end. Thanks so much for all your videos, Guy!

I am a number 4, say no more, thanks for the score Guy Michlemore✌😎😉

Brilliant as always - you make me want to go up to the studio and fire up my DAW!

This was just what I needed, clear and actionable examples, thanks!

Coincidentally I was at a gig last night and contemplating the reason why the support act and headline act appeared in that order. There was nothing specifically wrong with the support act, it was just that they weren't as good as the headliner and for many of the reasons mentioned here. The guitar solos (yes, guitar solos; remember them?) were safe. The lyrics were a little stilted and awkward. The songs structures were mostly very predictable. There was nothing specifically wrong with it. It's just that the headliner did it better. Thinking about what I was thinking about as the support act were performing I would add one immediate mistake to Guy's list: doing everything in groups of four. The first instrument plays for four bars and then a second instrument comes in and they play together for four bars and then another one comes in and we have three instruments playing together for four bars, and so on until your brain melts. Bring instruments in when they sound good but NOT for the love of crumb cake every four bars. I know some people think Pachelbel got away with it but if you listen to Canon in D there is more going on that allows him to tie most of the movement to the chord turnaround. And it's a work of genius so it can override the rules. So don't think in fours. Have leading notes. Delay the start by a beat or two. Syncopate. Bring in a lead instrument while the previous lead drops in to a supporting role. Overlap. Throw in a 2:4 from time to time. I am just starting out on my journey into composition but this has helped me improve many of my earlier attempts. Now to apply some more of Guy's ideas.

Such great advice and I know I'm guilty of at least three of these at some point. Thanks once again Guy for helping us amateurs out 👍

Yep, I'm definitely a candidate for 1 and 4, and 5 goes without saying! It's not that my melodies fight with the chord progression so much as I can never remember what the chord progression actually is and I tend to wander off, so the marker track with the chords noted is a good idea. With 4, it can be hard to let go of a part you really like even though you know it's fighting everything else or might be sitting in the someone else's seat. It's your baby and difficult to move, amend or throw out entirely, but you know you're going to have to eventually. 5? My music's mediocre at best but there's so much satisfaction in learning and improving each time - something this channel has helped me with enormously, so thank you for that.

Taking notes !

I love your piano technique at 5:35 :-D

Great advice, especially the last part. It's easier to simplify a great arrangement into a simple tune like twinkle little star without losing quality. But it's harder to transform a bad tune into something impressive. The early stages are crucial, as the foundation determines the overall outcome. I like the idea of taking great music, delete layers of arrangements and fat and look at the bare bone notes. A lot might be learned from doing that.

Thanks a lot, Guy, for this very useful and simultaniously very entertaining video. You presented this tips so generic that I can imagine them to be applicable as well to orchestral music as well to pop or rock. In their song "With or without you" U2 obviously applied your tips. Bono most likely subscribed to your channel. Especially "do the basics extremely well" and "don't bring in everything at once" make this song a great example for a successful use of your tips.

It's funny you keep mentioning a crematorium when the project I'm currently working on is about a sci-fi crematorium spaceship. If you have any more tips on writing crematorium music I'd love to hear them! XD

You’re so funny, as usual. On a serious note 🎶 I learned a lot and got ideas I can develop further, thx for sharing!

Really helpful tips, particularly about bringing in everything at once, guilty? Cheers Dave

Gotta luv it!

Your composition sounds like the music in SPYRO love it!!

appreciate all the tips, the fighting ideas thing is my biggest problem , i have pretty strong adhd so it probably makes it even worse for having too many cluttering ideas. I watch a composer who streams that has adhd tho and he is really really good at it. so i know i can do this once i figure out a method that works for me. , i play metal guitar and drums mainly and learning all this is taking long. I know my theory now pretty good at least and learned some advanced orchestration techniques from watching LSO videos, just need to actually do more music now lol, learning art and game dev now leaves me having to make time slots for everything i do

Thanks

Great tips Guy, thanks! Also that Autoharp sounds great! What library is that?

I would be happy if any crematorium were playing just one of my compositions ;) Oh, Guy. You made me laugh again. :)

8:45 It has an identity alright... It's a variation of "the final countdown", hahaha. great video as always.

There are two types of melodies that I hear a lot. The type that begins with one note repeated a number of times in a rhythm, and the type that plays a simple broken chord pattern to start off. Usually a note, a note below it, and then a note above. The rhythm, and how the melody answers this opening phrase is what makes it unique but I've heard the exact same start in melodies over and over and over

Another element of adding space for your fourth example would be panning -- e.g., you could pan the autoharp hard left, and the guitar hard right, leaving "apparent" space in the middle for e.g. the choir or piano.

At the moment I am at the start of my musical journey, so everything I write is bad. However every new piece I write is better than the last becuase I learn something new with every project.

@14:54 Gregory House had an epiphany

Shout out to Great Uncle Jehoshaphat!

nice

Could we have zombies next time perhaps? Dracula rising out of his coffin maybe. I couldn't figure out what you meant by what sounded like "peck room". Maybe a church yard setting with crows in the trees ..... Some good points anyway.

First, I must admit I am extremely reticent about commenting but this is a very helpful video. I also admit that I tend to WAY TOO MANY NOTE every song I write (should I admit I want to make every instrument be important so no feelings get hurt? 😜) so I truly appreciate your clarification on how to simplify arrangements. Thank you. (And I must also admit that one of the first songs I wrote a million years ago is so crematory...and I thought it just sounded Medieval 😂).

i knew i’d like some of the stuff you put up as being bad. ha ha. great video tho. a reminder, if nothing else, to stop adding. the other thing that came to mind was the question ‘do orchestral string players deride and balk at vst strings as much as i do at the very word ‘guitar’ being associated with that abomination you called the indie guitar?’.. horrific. cheers for another great personable video.

I write a lot in a homorhythmic-esque style which is fine but I know there is a lot more that I can be doing but I just struggle at doing it. Damn getting melodies to fit with different parts

Could you do a review of SWAM String Sections? How does it compare with a good string sample library?

Did you say "Steve Wright, put your hand down"? As in Steve of Brookside/Grange Hill/Jimmy McGovern stuff?

Thanks Guy, this confirmes that I do right by feeling when arranging covers for our little band. Looks also to me that the song "blood like lemonade" by Morcheeba that our singer would like ro sing is another example that needs sunglasses. But how comes it got over 10 mio views? I'd welcome your comment on this. Thanks

Do you use the chord track in Cubase to mark out chords instead of marker track?

You were playing many of my musical efforts for sure. From the get go, it has no genre, except for some old church hymn. Still not so bad Id say if only a smidge of musical history and a particular aesthetic is injected, it can go a long way . All the math and music theory will not help, It has to be referential and contemporary in some way, I figure. It absolutely eludes me at my late age

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Guy writes only for the crème de la crematorium

Crematorium music : thanks for the chuckles.

Guy...are you going for the S88 Mark III?

Small thing I noticed: The PEACE sign on the backdoor?

Back to the NI S88 mkII ?

Next Career goal. Get into the Crematorium Music industry 😁😁😁

Is it ok to hear melodies as a conversation structured with rhythm? Always love your videos and lessons! 👍

To quote Roger Rabbit- “thankth, I needed that”

crematorium music omg i lost it 🤣😂 Guy always cheers me up when i'm down, and upper when i'm up

Am thinking that the melody would work better in swing time with triplets. Of course it would be better suited to a New Orleans Jazz funeral.

I heard the crematorium composer had to knock it on the head as he was suffering from artistic burn out .........

Me: This song is fire! Guy: Did somebody say fire??? 🔥

Hello ^^

Their name is Clemence. Clem Atorium.

First one feels like most chinese folk songs :D

All that gear and we start with a pair of the worst '80s General MIDI patches! 😲

PS. Hope you haven’t given up on Cubase

Crematory is a bit depressing... I'll propose myself to write music for bakery oven, 🤔😂

Genre: Spyro the Dragon 🐉👍

After watching this I'm going to pioneer the genre of crematorium house.

Thank you Guy! I suspect a lot of these mistakes come from software that does looping? That gets you thinking: "Aaah, I could add another instrument and then another..." I've noticed you don't use Ableton... Maybe for that reason?

All My music is bad but I still do it for my own pleasure.

I was writing bad pieces before you were born!

It never hurts to rip-off something from JS Bach for an initial motif ...he did it all the time.

I'm a fulltime composer for Krematorium waiting room music and I feel very offended by this video!

Anyone else get Spyro The Dragon vibes from this?

I don't want to brag, but my music is really big in crematoriums

Try to avoid repetition. Hallelujah, hallelujah. That's twice in 5 seconds. Please make way longer musical lines. Whiter shade of pale starts with 16 measures. Not bad...!

crematorium funny moments

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