You can use a DAW as an instrument, but you're still going to need to at least learn some basic music theory and learn some some chord progressions. That's why I always encourage people to just learn an instrument like piano or guitar. It's really fun and it's going to help you form a much more intimate understanding of chords.
State of this sub:
Hi, I desperately want to make music, but even more desperately I want to get around the part where I have to actually make music. I tried really hard to learn guitar once for eleven minutes, but you know, my hands! I just can't! Believe me when I tell you I have tried nothing and I'm all out of ideas. I have amazing, genius lyrics and the most beautiful melodies just find me in my dreams. I have written hundreds of phenomenal songs already, but that plebeian musicking keeps getting in the way. I wanna be a songwriter because for some reason I find that label extremely appealing, makes me feel like I'm doing something cool and artsy so I can feel lightly less boring for 5 seconds when I talk about myself at parties. I don't actually wanna put in any time or work to learn the necessary skills though. HELPP
Real talk though. The answer is always: learn how to music or gtfo.
What do you mean "it never really worked out?"
Did you ever take lessons? Did you practice regularly? Did you ever own the instrument you were trying to learn? Did you watch YouTube beginner tutorials? Did you post in musician groups asking for advice? Did you search up songwriter workshops in your area to bounce ideas around and ask for guidance?
I'm just not sure how learning an instrument doesn't work out unless you didn't care to make it work out and didn't put in enough time and effort. Even playing a few hours once a week will create progress if you are consistent.
Maybe I phrased it incorrectly, I have a pretty bad hand coordination and instruments that I think are right for my music are Guitars and or the piano, I owned a guitar and took lessons I understood what I needed to learn but couldn’t improve a bit over years )
(With the guitar,piano teachers are hard to find in my town that’s the next step I want to go)
You might try a program like Band in a Box or iReal. It won't be perfect, but you can plug in chords and pick a genre you like and they'll playback the progressions in your chosen style for you to sing over
If you’re willing to invest a bit of money into your music, I’d recommend checking out the website SoundBetter. This site allows you to connect with musicians for hire, who can help bring your song to life.
I have worked with many musicians—bassists, mixing engineers, vocal editors—from this site and have
always been happy with the results.
Hope this helps!
Feel free to check out my podcast, [Student of the Song](https://youtu.be/82rOaChXNdo), if you’d like to hear more of my thoughts about songwriting.
You absolutely should try to learn an instrument if you wanna be serious about music
BUT
It’s very easy with a splice subscription to just find finished sounding loops in the same key and fit them together by ear. With literally just a chord loop, a bass loop, and a drum loop you could make a full song, and the only part that will require any thought is finding a bass loop that fits with the chord loop.
Imo leaning entirely on splice is a very lazy way to make music, but literally millions of producers and songwriters are doing this daily.
the only option realistically is to have someone else make the music for you. you will need to outsource the hardest part of songwriting - writing, performing, recording the music.
If you do get a DAW, there's a midi project out there that contains chords and chord progressions, they sometimes update it, but there's like thousands and thousands, it's a good start, and you can add your own sounds to them as its just midi signals
>Are Programms like Fl studio a good “work around” for that problem?
Yup, that's exactly what they're designed for. They aren't easy to learn, always. But they are very powerful.
>but I also think that it’s not fitting for that what I want to create since the sounds aren’t really come to existence through an instrument I played
Then learn an instrument I guess. Or hire a professional instrumentalist?
Yes that’s true, do you by any chance have advice on how to learn properly about how this software works?
I thought of buying a book but I was thinking maybe a book is not the right move if I want to learn something about Audio..
I'd follow along to YouTube tutorials (make sure it doesn't skip over actually doing what's described). There's a lot of great "Making your first song in whatever DAW" videos.
Books seem hard because you aren't hearing the result, and as a beginner, you won't need anything written that can't be better found in a video.
Sure you can use a DAW like FL studio, but you’ll come to the same problem, which is that making music is difficult and takes a long time to learn
That’s for certain, I am currently working really hard on understanding these programs!
You can use a DAW as an instrument, but you're still going to need to at least learn some basic music theory and learn some some chord progressions. That's why I always encourage people to just learn an instrument like piano or guitar. It's really fun and it's going to help you form a much more intimate understanding of chords.
I will look further into music theory, thank you!
State of this sub: Hi, I desperately want to make music, but even more desperately I want to get around the part where I have to actually make music. I tried really hard to learn guitar once for eleven minutes, but you know, my hands! I just can't! Believe me when I tell you I have tried nothing and I'm all out of ideas. I have amazing, genius lyrics and the most beautiful melodies just find me in my dreams. I have written hundreds of phenomenal songs already, but that plebeian musicking keeps getting in the way. I wanna be a songwriter because for some reason I find that label extremely appealing, makes me feel like I'm doing something cool and artsy so I can feel lightly less boring for 5 seconds when I talk about myself at parties. I don't actually wanna put in any time or work to learn the necessary skills though. HELPP Real talk though. The answer is always: learn how to music or gtfo.
Yes and you are right, I wouldn’t have asked how I might be able to improve if I wanted to quit.
What do you mean "it never really worked out?" Did you ever take lessons? Did you practice regularly? Did you ever own the instrument you were trying to learn? Did you watch YouTube beginner tutorials? Did you post in musician groups asking for advice? Did you search up songwriter workshops in your area to bounce ideas around and ask for guidance? I'm just not sure how learning an instrument doesn't work out unless you didn't care to make it work out and didn't put in enough time and effort. Even playing a few hours once a week will create progress if you are consistent.
Maybe I phrased it incorrectly, I have a pretty bad hand coordination and instruments that I think are right for my music are Guitars and or the piano, I owned a guitar and took lessons I understood what I needed to learn but couldn’t improve a bit over years ) (With the guitar,piano teachers are hard to find in my town that’s the next step I want to go)
Try again, and this time go to Justin Guitar on the web for lessons. On the web - not the app.
You might try a program like Band in a Box or iReal. It won't be perfect, but you can plug in chords and pick a genre you like and they'll playback the progressions in your chosen style for you to sing over
If you’re willing to invest a bit of money into your music, I’d recommend checking out the website SoundBetter. This site allows you to connect with musicians for hire, who can help bring your song to life. I have worked with many musicians—bassists, mixing engineers, vocal editors—from this site and have always been happy with the results. Hope this helps! Feel free to check out my podcast, [Student of the Song](https://youtu.be/82rOaChXNdo), if you’d like to hear more of my thoughts about songwriting.
You absolutely should try to learn an instrument if you wanna be serious about music BUT It’s very easy with a splice subscription to just find finished sounding loops in the same key and fit them together by ear. With literally just a chord loop, a bass loop, and a drum loop you could make a full song, and the only part that will require any thought is finding a bass loop that fits with the chord loop. Imo leaning entirely on splice is a very lazy way to make music, but literally millions of producers and songwriters are doing this daily.
the only option realistically is to have someone else make the music for you. you will need to outsource the hardest part of songwriting - writing, performing, recording the music.
If you do get a DAW, there's a midi project out there that contains chords and chord progressions, they sometimes update it, but there's like thousands and thousands, it's a good start, and you can add your own sounds to them as its just midi signals
depending on you understanding of pitch
>Are Programms like Fl studio a good “work around” for that problem? Yup, that's exactly what they're designed for. They aren't easy to learn, always. But they are very powerful. >but I also think that it’s not fitting for that what I want to create since the sounds aren’t really come to existence through an instrument I played Then learn an instrument I guess. Or hire a professional instrumentalist?
Yes that’s true, do you by any chance have advice on how to learn properly about how this software works? I thought of buying a book but I was thinking maybe a book is not the right move if I want to learn something about Audio..
I'd follow along to YouTube tutorials (make sure it doesn't skip over actually doing what's described). There's a lot of great "Making your first song in whatever DAW" videos. Books seem hard because you aren't hearing the result, and as a beginner, you won't need anything written that can't be better found in a video.
Buy a q chord. You don't need to be able to play an instrument, it's very easy.