What is the best songwriting software for beginners?

[mojobone]

I like a nice pencil, preferably one with an eraser.

[AndyKotz]

Gina...

This is a great starting off point for you. It has everything you need including pre-arranged music style in song formats plus it is completely editable.
Band-In-A-Box for either Windows or Mac. It is completely expandable too. Check it out. The website is pretty involved so be sure to navigate to all the pages to really get a feel for what you could get.

http://www.pgmusic.com/

Here's a link for a sample of the song paks they sell for lyricists and such:

http://www.pgmusic.com/bbwin.realtracks.htm#1

[mojobone]

Yes, BIAB is a great way to try out arrangement ideas while plugging chords and notation into some basic instruments, and is relatively inexpensive. I didn't mean to seem flippant in my prior post, but the basics are classics for a reason, heh. I'd recommend a guitar or piano to go with that pencil, because they leave your mouth free for singing.

[AndyKotz]

Hey Gina...

I just found this on the TAXI website:

http://www.taxi.com/members/links-software.html

[GinaMarie]

Thank you all for your advice and recommendations. Casey, I do not sing or sing well I should say, lol... I do not play any instuments either I simply write the words. I know in my head how I want the song to sound but thats as far as I have gotten. I have sampled masterwriter and love it! I just recently joined Taxi but feel stuck as I don't know where to go from here as just a lyricist. Thanks again!
GinaMarie

[burpo]

First off, welcome!!

Maybe you should start off with some trial runs,
collaborating with a someone or two. You supply the lyric
and they bang out a demo, supplying the melody/chords.
You split ownership of the song 50/50.

(And you really should just get some basic vocal and guitar/piano tricks under your belt.)

Hope that helps!

[Len911]

Gina, it sounds like you are at the crossroads. Do you wish to be just a lyricist, or must you also compose and arrange the songs yourself. Collaboration is an option, however if you already know in your head how the songs should sound, there's really not much of a payoff for a composer or arranger, unless they're being paid handsomely, and need a job.

I'm with Burpo, if you don't play an instrument, I would at least start off getting a cheap daw and at least a piano vst, maybe a cheap piano controller. You can step enter, or do a measure at a time, draw in the notes, tweak the velocities, etc. until you get the melody down, and even if you know nothing of harmony or chords, you can keep trying out notes to make chords until it sounds right.

If you're an exceptional lyricist, singer, composer, arranger, you shouldn't have any problem finding someone who wants to collaborate with you. If you're mediocre, or haven't yet perfected your craft, like me, you need to learn and move forward on your own.

I don't play an instrument either. I have a very small Yamaha mini controller. I have tape on the keys with the letter names of the notes. I use mounting putty, the kind you use to hang pictures on the wall, I roll in little balls and stick them on the keys for specific scales and hack out a melody. I choose a scale, move the blue balls around and never hit a sour note,lol!

[guitarhacker]

In her first post she said she only writes lyric. So obviously she doesn't play an instrument.

For someone with no musical ability but a desire to create music..... I have to agree that PG Music's Band in A Box is a viable way to go.

There are all levels of "buy in" to get started. The basic levels will get her going with the ability to instantly have music for her lyric. The basic BB also has a built in audio recorder so she can easily add vocals to it and have it play back.

The higher up the food chain she goes, adds sampled instruments and more....Plus a basic DAW.

With the easy to use grid for entering chords, and with thousands of styles this would be the way to go. The basic BB sounds very midi (fake instruments) but it is a life saver for songwriters who do not play an instrument.

[Casey H]

Thank you all for your advice and recommendations. Casey, I do not sing or sing well I should say, lol... I do not play any instuments either I simply write the words. I know in my head how I want the song to sound but thats as far as I have gotten. I have sampled masterwriter and love it! I just recently joined Taxi but feel stuck as I don't know where to go from here as just a lyricist. Thanks again!
GinaMarie

Hi Gina
In addition to what's been discussed, collaboration is highly recommended for someone who writes primarily lyrics. You'll find many potential collaborators right here on this forum.

Best,
Casey

[CabDriver]

You might want to take a look at the Rhyme Genie & TuneSmith. It's a software bundle that has more features than MasterWriter and is a lot more affordable: http://www.rhymegenie.com

For 25 bucks you get the largest and most advanced rhyming dictionary to find very close slant rhymes. Rhyme Genie also offers an extensive thesaurus that is able to find syllable matching synonyms.

TuneSmith offers an advanced lyrics editor with rhyme clipboards. If you are a guitarist you can also look up chords and create lyrics sheets with chord symbols and chord charts. You can also manage your song splits and copyright info once you have a large song catalog.