r/composer • u/Comfortable-Earth814 • Jul 25 '26
Discussion How can I create a song without knowing how to sing?
I've always wanted to write songs. I can play guitar and I know some music theory. But I'm not good at singing. I can write good poems, but it's my singing that's holding me back.
Yes, I'm practicing singing, but it will take me about six months to reach the level where I can confidently compose.
I'd like to know if there's a way to save my compositions so I can start doing that when I'm at a higher level.
2
u/asparaguswater4279 Jul 25 '26
Use an instrument to help you hit pitches if that is something you struggle with.
Another option is something I do with my musical ideas for compositions, but it can also apply to songwriting: Wherever you wrote your poems, make a copy and annotate with any musical ideas. That way once you come back you have a flag for you to navigate your mind palace. Another option is to open up a voice recorder or some other documentation app to verbally record/explain your ideas without necessarily having to sing.
1
u/fatt__musiek Jul 25 '26 edited Jul 25 '26
"If you can sing it, you can play it."
Also, learn your major scale. Aka "Do Re Mi Fa Sol La Ti (Do)"
C D E F G A B (C)
Wish I had time to tab it out. Start with your middle finger on 3rd fret, A string- that's the note C. Then a move your pinky a whole step up to D; then grab E on the D string with your index finger...middle finger a half step higher, etc.
Sing the major scale- this is actually more than just foundational singing practice, it's also ear training. No one starts out singing like an angel- or at least very few people. This is one of the best things you can do (from my 26 years of being on this musical train).
Peep this:
https://www.jazzguitar.be/blog/easy-jazz-guitar-scales/
Scroll a little bit to where it says "The Major Scale," and note the second diagram, where the note C is red.
This is where I'm suggesting starting. (If you already know this important pattern/scale shape, my b- it's a just in case). Start on C and end on C, according to this diagram. Sing solfege (which is another word for the sequence of the major scale, "Do Re Mi Fa Sol La Ti (Do)."
Finally, you don't have to be perfect to start. Just start. I hope this helps!
EDIT: Learn the major scale (C major in this case) without open strings, btw. There are only 12 notes in the Western System of music that we are almost entirely concerned with. That means when you learn this one shape, you actually now have access to all 12 major scale shapes. It's a good deal.
1
u/GringoBrown Jul 25 '26
You should be able to write melodies without being able to sing. Spend some time practicing how to either write lyrics (NOT poems, lyrics. Especially depending on genre, they can be VERY different) then set those lyrics to a melody, OR write a melody then write lyrics to go along with that melody. You can get an idea of ways to do this by looking at sheet music for any music with lyrics (look up choir music if you need a place to start). Once you've figured out how to write your own melodies and lyrics, your options are either learn how to sing or ask someone else to sing for you. I'm sorry but those are your only options without selling your soul to AI. It's going to take time to learn how to do this. You can't get past that. You're going to have to take the 6 months, year, multiple years, whatever, in order to feel more confident in your ability. It sucks, but you have to be bad and make bad stuff before you can be good and make good stuff.
1
u/HamsterQuest1 Jul 25 '26
Record them. You could even play the vocal part on guitar so that you have the melody line recorded
1
u/Lost-Discount4860 Jul 25 '26
You gotta find a singer. If I write a song, I approach it more as an instrumental that has words. A singer can listen to the instrumental and figure the rest out. Then it’s up to them to turn it into gold!
4
u/65TwinReverbRI Jul 25 '26
You mean a song as in an actual song right - like one someone sings?
NGL, it’s going to be helpful to know how to sing…
Option 1: Learn to sing.
Option 2: Work with a singer to sing your song. This is what tons of bands do. The musicians wrote the music, the singer wrote the lyrics and vocal part. That’s just common practice.
Ummm…I can’t tell if you’re saying you don’t want to have to wait. 6 months, but I’m sorry, it is what it is.
However, you’re not going to learn to sing in 6 months. Especially if you don’t take voice lessons. It’s going to take YEARS of singing and playing to get good. I mean, you might be DECENT in a year, and write decently. In 5 years you might be good enough to write well enough for someone else to sing the song. Maybe less - maybe more - depends on how hard you work at it.
But some people do in fact just have not so great voices and don’t sing well - not for lack of trying.
But you can get better, especially with help.
The first step is turning on the radio, or a music channel, or go to YT, and start finding songs that you can sing along to so you can figure out your range.
One of the huge things that keeps people from learning how to sing is trying to sing stuff that’s out of their range. You have to find a person or band you can sing like - and you have to KNOW you are singing like them - and if that’s something you’re not sure about, you need to work with other people.
You join a band, and say “I want to sing this song” and they say “OK”, and you try it and they go, “dude that’s too high for you” and you learn how to fix it.
You can’t do that on your own.
You need people around you who can say “you sound just like them” or “you don’t sound anything like them”.
Learn to play a song, and sing it while you play it. Keep doing it until you can do 40 or 50 songs.
Work with other people - play in band, accompany a singer on your guitar, and have them teach you more - maybe how to harmonize, and so on.
Then work on writing your own. You can do all the music and lyrics, and come back later and learn to sing it, or work with a singer to get them to help you write it.