AboutGabriel Expertise I am able to volunteer my expertise in music composition, music theory, and songwriting. NOTE: I am *not* able to offer expertise in singing; AllExperts.com still hasn't separated "singing" from this category (it does not belong here). I answer a variety of questions. I have multiple music degrees and years of experience in the field.
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Question Hi G.S.,
I have always wanted to write and play songs that are in my head, but have no musical training whatsoever.
I remember a song Billy Preston played on the synthesizer back in the 70s or 80s and would love to eventually compose something similar or possibly compose an instrumental someday. I'm just a mediocre singer.
What would be the easiest way for me to begin to learn how to read, write, and compose music? What instrument would be the easiest to learn on?
Thank you very much.
Mike Eidson
Answer Hi Mike,
There's no quintessential easiest way to learn any of those things, unfortunately, though you can find - through thorough research - many viable resources that will make learning how to read, write, compose music, and how to play an instrument easier.
Here are a few things to look into:
1. Music lessons.
Everything should be covered here, if the instructor is capable of teaching enough, that is. Of course you'll need to have picked an instrument/voice first.
Picking an instrument...
It is true that some instruments tend to be harder than others, yet even that can be debated. For example, one might think learning guitar is harder than bass, yet another person might say the opposite or that they're the same because of the added techniques and extended efforts the bassist has to put into his/her playing in order to play at the same level as another musician of equal calibre.
It's mostly up to personal interest. Perhaps a synthesizer would be right down your field. A keyboard instrument of the sort would be an ideal way to learn reading, writing, and composing. However, other instruments work just as well. I learned to compose on keyboards, guitar/bass, and percussion/drums. I learned other instruments along the way, orchestral ones, which helped in finding a more creative outlet for composing when converting back to my main instruments (guitar/drums).
2. Research sources available.
Online searches, asking local music stores, local musicians, etc. - these can provide possible materials to use for learning (self-instruction) how to read, write, and compose.
Now, by write and compose, perhaps you mean write lyrics and compose the instrumental parts of music? Otherwise, there are basically 2 fundamental topics: reading and composing.
3. Reading.
This is related to "2." but something to help is to make sure that what you go with for learning how to read music should help get you right to the point of your ultimate goal as soon as possible. You probably don't want to waste time learning unnecessary music theory, which brings up "4.".
4. Composing.
This is also related to "2." (finding sources that will help with this) but while you may not want to spend too much theory practice on the reading side of music, you will want to spend more time with music theory if you want to compose.
5. Practice a lot. Read a lot. Compose a lot. Finally, perform a lot.
The more of all of the above, the better. After establishing an instrument, dedicate X-amount of time into practicing it so that you can more readily learn how to read and compose. As you learn to read music notation, continue to read more and more music (at the levels your at at the time) as you progress. Compose a lot: as much music as you can, even if you can't stand most of what you write. You know that the more you write, the better chances you'll have of writing something that you really like. If you can, perform. Also, record your music. Recording gets into another topic but you can do similar things with that as mentioned above (via found resources). There are several excellent books out there. Barnes & Noble and similar bookstores, including the b&n.com site and amazon.com if you prefer online orders, carry highly recommended materials.
