The audacity to write songs (the very lazy way)

A friend has recommended the February Album Writing Month challenge to me, I think it's a great idea. So now the non-musically-inclined, no talent, no training, musical novice me, is going to write songs!

In order to warm up to the event, I have tried writing a song last night. It worked surprisingly well. So I'm going to share my method with other non-musically-trained musician/songwriter wannabees like myself.

How I do this is very simple, I start by chosing some chords that I like (Eg, C Am Dm G), and play it on the guitar until a melody comes into my head. Then I record the guitar part to my computer using this very cool free open source software, Audacity. After I have recorded the chords, I record the melody as well by humming it so I won't forget.

With Audacity you can record multiple tracks to the same project and have the different recordings/tracks play in the same timeline. So I can get my humming to synchronise with the chords. And the best thing is that you can hear the other existing tracks on your earphones while singing into the microphone and recording into a new track. It's much easier than trying to play the guitar and sing at the same time at one go, hoping you won't make any mistake, and restarting if you do. I can also edit the tracks, adjust them, apply effects, time-shift them etc. And of course, export into mp3 or ogg.

Next, I find some old rejected poems to salvage as lyrics and record the singing again and again until I get it more or less right. And tada! That's my new song. Without having to painfully note it down as musical scores or guitar tabs even! How lazy!

The multiple tracks also enable you to create many layers of vocals and sound effects like an amateur version of Imogen Heap. It's great for people making music by themselves without the luxury of a band.

It will be fun to make a game out of this. I can record some basic chords, put the Audacity project file on a forum, then have someone download it, record over it, and put it back. So people can essentially play in a band without meeting in real life. It's like a musical version of 'continue the story'. How fun!

Anyway I'm all ready for February now. I'll perhaps even post up my new songs here if I ever feel so bold enough.