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All shapes and colours

Your PC music probably came with a bundle of effects, and virtual instruments, and you may already have some instruments of your own. You can spend some hugely creative time exploring the sounds you have. Let the sounds suggest ideas to you, and then record those ideas with that sound. You can also make copies of the idea and try them out with different sounds. Do not be afraid to use effects to change the character of the sound – sometimes a simple delay effect will spark life into an idea.

Try and find strategies to keep you from doing the same things time after time. If you create music using a keyboard, try taking the chords you have learned, and move those chord shapes around the keyboard. That shape will give you lots of different chords. Try using the chords you have learned with different notes in the left hand. Changing the bass note changes the “gravitational centre” of a chord. Within a chord shape, move one finger one note up or down. While you are trying these things out, have your PC constantly in record, so that later you can go back and review what you have.

Rhythm is a vital part of composing, and is often the thing that can link or relate one part of a tune to another. It is amazing how, if you keep the rhythm of a tune, you can change the notes, but keep the tune sounding familiar as part of the piece.

Next: Write with your ears

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