I'm cutting my teeth in songwriting with songs that have vocals and lyrics. I'm used to that.
But I recently decided to focus on instrumentals. It's a whole new way to write for me, because I don't have vocals and lyrics to lean on. It's basically "just me, my guitar, and my melody."
Why Instrumentals?
For one thing, they're a challenge. You're stripping a song down to the bare minimum, and seeing what you've really got. Like when you hear the instrumental version of Lovely Day in a commercial, obviously Bill Withers' legendary voice and the sweet lyrics are missing. But you also find out what the song is truly made of. And it's made of some great stuff!
Another thing is that instrumentals let you play around with the tempo, the rhythm, the melody, and pretty much anything else you want to - without worrying about the vocals and lyrics. It's kind of freeing, honestly.
It also speeds up the songwriting process, since you don't have to spend time on lyrics.
Business-wise, instrumentals can make it easier for a music library or a stock music house to give the song to a client. If a client likes a song's melody, but doesn't want vocals and lyrics, the music library or stock music house can send it to the client right away. 💲💲💲💲
And instrumentals can be used as music beds in commercials for both TV and radio. I used instrumentals that way in radio all the time when I made a commercial, or a station promo. They can be played under station IDs too, which have the station's call letters and city. You can't have vocals and lyrics interfering with the other sounds in these things. It's gotta be a blank slate, essentially. Instrumentals are really the only thing that works then.
A Bold Sound
An instrumental also has a mysterious quality...like you're waiting for vocals and lyrics...but they never come. It keeps you hanging on, even when you finally realize the vocals and lyrics aren't coming.
It's like waiting for a phone call from your latest love object. They don't call, but you keep waiting anyway.
Why Not Try?
If you haven't tried writing one, try it. Nothing wasted but a little time if you don't like it. Or try stripping the vocals and lyrics off a song you've written. You might find out how well the song stands on its own. It might be even better than you think!
This type of song could be "instrumental" in your success.
(Pun completely intended😂)
Haaaa! Pun intended!! Sick Burrrn :).
ReplyDeleteYou got that right!
DeleteYou probably noticed that I compose a lot of instrumental tunes. Although, especially in the past, I can compose a song with lyrics, I’m much better with instrumentals. I find that I can get more dynamics and emotion into an instrumental, plus add more variation as the tune progresses. Instrumentals also leave more room for a listener’s interpretation, since there are no words leading them to a specific conclusion about the meaning of the tune, it’s more open ended. For me, it also allows me to write in more genres, so I have jazz tunes, classical sounding piano pieces, easy listening tunes both orchestrated and piano only.
ReplyDeleteI can’t write new age, muzak or any other kind of background music because I automatically make my music somewhat dramatic. That makes me playing my originals unsuited for background music at an event. I did write one commercial in the 1970’s for a Hi-Fi electronics store chain in Massachusetts.
This is great! Thanks!
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