How do I Compose Music? Choose an instrument to play: piano guitar piano/voice guitar/voice Improvise a few lines to create a motif (melody or chord progression) that catches my attention and emotions Tempo is not necessarily critical in the beginning because you can only improvise at a max speed which is based on your ability to mentally process musical ideas Determine the time signature of the motif Select drum patterns and drum kits if so desired Key signature and scales used, comes later, during chord track analysis I turn on the recorder and I start playing, allowing my subconscious to control everything. My conscious mind is primarily concerned with keeping the improvised music in sync with the metronome beat in the music software. While you can create music using varying tempos, it is much easier to edit the music later if it's maintained in a fairly strict tempo environment. I normally improvise for anywhere from 60 seconds up to three or 4 minutes as the motif develops wi