I have written several songs on different arrangers.
It's a lot of fun for me.
Some instrumentals, some with lyrics.
Eric

Hi Donnie:

I write songs utilizing the Yamaha PSR-S910 and before that, the PSR-2000. It makes collaborations easy (not my favorite method of writing songs) and when all the juices are flowing, I can knock out a song very quickly. These machines are a God-send for song-writers and I usually vocalize my own.

Years ago, Don Mason advised me to use Vocal Harmony sparingly and he really hit the nail on the head. I've written more than 1,000 original songs now and have found limited success. With today's over-crowded market, most songwriters need to approach this combination of art and craft to a great pastime.

Lately, I've been paying for demos and now have a complete album ready for pitching. I won't be quitting my day job, though.

Regards, ----Dave Rice

I hear ya Dave it's all who you know and $$$$$$$$$........but in any case someone has to write the songs in some way.

I have written original songs using my arranger but most of the time I have used the inbuilt sequencer .

I have created hundreds of original styles to capture grooves or to remix other people's songs .

The latest one I did was of the song " Human " by rag n bone . I had literally 1 day to come up with an arrangement for my works choir this Easter . That's where an arranger shines when time is limited .

Although an arranger keyboard when in arranger mode can be used to flesh out original musical ideas quickly ,I tend to customise pretty much everything in the finished song .

The power of an arranger in writing original songs over pretty much anything else is that :

1. You can capture musical ideas , chord progressions instantly
2. You can experiment with those ideas with different genres of music instantly
3. You can remix songs very quickly

And there are tonnes more I could say but time is limited .

Can you tell I am a big fan of arranger keyboards yet ?

I did a local TV series YEARS ago on using arrangers for composing. ("Perspectives" in Philly) It's kind of ironic, because I hardly EVER write! I know too many songs, and every time I think I have a great, new idea ... it turns out to be someone else's poetry or melody. Sigh ... cost of doing business. The show was kind of cool though, for it's time. It was in the infancy of "good" arrangers ... when competition really raised the bar from the cheesy Casio stuff of old. The biggest advantage, that I showcased was the ability to change rhythms and styles with the same basic chords and melody. Kind of a "fresh" idea machine.

Does anyone ever feel guilty about performing other peoples work....? I think about all the hours spent by others creating songs and how happy they must have been to be published.....

Not really . The fact that people like the songs to the extent that we are playing them is a testament to how much the song has brought joy to others . You can't feel guilty about that .

If the establishment you are in is not paying the appropriate licensing fees then you might feel a bit guilty about that . However the flip side is that more often than not, more sales of the original writers song are generated because people are hearing it and that can stimulate demand . It's like advertising for the original song !
That's a bit tongue in cheek by the way . .