Ever wonder how to compose or do a song arrangement from scratch?? You’ve come to the right place. In this series of posts, I will show you:
1) How to compose a song, the melody and chords
2) How to do a complete song arrangement from scratch

I’ve just received a nice lyric without any melody or chords to go with it yet. And I will show you step by step how I compose a song base on this lyric. On top of that, I will show you how I arrange the song, including basic structuring, assigning instrument parts, etc.

Let’s start off by composing and arranging an intro for this song.

Before writing this post, I’ve already a rough idea of how this song should sound. Thus giving me some quidelines and basic idea for my song intro:
1) Not too fast. Its a sentimental pop song, and its a sad song. So basically I wouldn’t want something too uptempo
2) Drums? To create some layer in the music, I want to leave the drum out way until the second verse.
3) Start the intro Soft. Start off with some light piano playing in the high register, to contrast the later part of the intro.
4) Build up intro in middle. Build up with a sudden change in key,piano playing lower register, increase note density, and strenghten with some strings in the background.
5) End intro “mystically”. End the intro with another change in key, a #11 chord to add that “mystic” feel, strings quiet down to just one long note in the high register, and chimes to help create that “dreamy” ending.

This is what I came up with.

 

Would be glad to hear your comments. Any questions would be very welcome too.

Stay tune for part 2. Have fun and Enjoy……

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