I chanced upon this insightful songwriting article recently: Comfort Zone: Enter at Your Own Risk
To quote from the article:
Be honest. You know what I’m talking about. Every songwriter has struggled with it. You know four chords well on the guitar, so you write every melody over those same four chords. Your fingers just naturally gravitate to them…that same progression…that same sequence. And in case you are still in denial, there are only so many melodic notes that can connect those same harmonic dots, so pretty soon your melodies start sounding the same. But it’s not just guitar players who are guilty here. Keyboardists…time to ‘fess up. We do the same thing.
Basically it was describing the songwriting situation whereby a songwriter’s songs start to all sound the same. This is a problem which most songwriters may have encountered at some point in time or other.
I shared this article with my fellow friends in the Songcraft circle, and Lingfeng asked a very interesting question - Isn’t that what is known as a songwriters “personal style”?
That really got me thinking.
Where do we draw a line between developing a unique personal style, and having our songs always sounding the same (in other words, being boring)?
When is it good to be consistent in one’s songwriting style, thus developing a unique identity (e.g. Burt Bacharach, Richard Rodgers, Paul Simon, etc)…and when does it reach the point whereby people start to get bored with your similar-sounding songs?
How do we draw the line?
oh dear, I only know 3 chords well on the guitar…
I think it’s a bit tough to tell on your own, especially at the point of creation.
You’ll need:
1) listen to it along with your other songs objectively or a little time away from the creation date
2) definitely someone else to give comments.
I don’t know think…maybe it becomes “sounding the same” when all your melodies sound the same.
A personal style is something defining, say, there is a kind of tweek somewhere in a piece…
Actually, many times, the composer would have a variety of music, but there’s something…
aiyah, tough lah…think there’s an overlap. It just means if it “sounds the same” in a good way or bad way.
I think one can put a stamp down stating, “Hey, THIS is my music,” when it is Unique, Original and totally his/her Character.
*thinks of ALL Classical music composers n Dick Lee, David Tao etc.*
And perhaps, what he/she is Good at.
Then, from there, start to VARY it or inject a few surprises here n there to weat the listeners’ appetite.
*WHET the listeners’ appetite
I basically write in 3 or 4 keys and capo on fret 1 or 2, so those 4 (or 5) chords can get a workout.
I dunno, I think some amazing melodies can still be (and are,) written over the old I, IV, V.
And as to keeping a fresh sound, consciously vary your melodic rhythm as well as harmonic rhythm and you can really mix it all up.
Write on.
Jannie
Hmm.. i think that if you’re doing acoustic as compared to a fully accompanied and arranged piece, there really isn’t much variety left. Esp for non-professionals like us. Cause, theres only so much to tweak with our limited knowledge and skill. If it comes with the accompaniment, each instrument comes with it’s own “tweakability”… what do you all think?
I truly believe that a guy or a gal standing solo with a guitar (solo piano, etc,) who sees the world in a way that nobody else does, (and we’re all on our individuals paths, so we all qualify for this,) will give us original stuff. A distinctive melody. A bunch of words strung together as no one has strung them before. A phrase. A unique way of saying something old. Something new.
If anything, all the dressing of a “fully accompanied and arranged” piece, to me, means nothing for a song if a spark of originality isn’t there in the song to begin with. The song has to be its own thing, if you know what I mean.
Remember they were going to close the patent office in 1896 because they thought that everything that could be invented already had?
Musicians offer a potential explosion of originality. They just have to be open to it.
: )
(Hey, I didn’t know I could get so deep on this. My songwriting passion is showing, I guess.)
“Unique Style vs. Always Sounding The Same”
They are not congruent to me. Having a unique style doesn’t mean sounding the same. And sounding the same doesn’t mean boring to me either.
I have a habit of writing songs that sound the same for a period of time. But all the songs I wrote are not unconsciously constructed. That is I write them based on a fix pattern sometimes. Sound boring to some but that is what I wanted to do. The fix pattern will change when I am influenced by new things or teachings & the cycle will continue. The intention is to write as many songs as possible from a pattern (or formula) so that when I look back over the years, I can classify my songs accordingly.
To me, it is healthy to write songs that sound the same coz I don’t think people (and/or their music style) will stay stagnant in this everchanging world. That’s no need to deliberately change a songwriting style unless absolutely necessary.