I haven't posted my musical background on here yet but since I want to share these two compositions I may as well.
I started playing piano when I was about 9/10, learned extremely quickly. Within a few months, I had Fur Elise nailed. According to my parents I had a natural ear for music. I took keyboard lessons for a year then quit because of the slow pace. I also took piano lessons for a month or so but found them boring so quit. At this point in my life I hated most music apart from classical pieces.
Anyway, when I was about 13/14 I lost interest. My parents took me to see on Oasis concert and whilst I didn't really enjoy it, it changed my perception of music. I wanted to become a guitarist from then on. Got my Dad to show me a few chords on the guitar. I remember the first song he ever showed me, the first two chords of Morning Glory. He then retreated to the toilet for about half an hour, I got bored so worked the next few chords out!
Fast forward 3 years and here I am. 17 next month, and with an interest in almost every genre of music. Jazz, metal, classical, ska, punk, country, reggae, rock, blues, even some folk but that may be my Irish roots kicking in...
Anyway, I can still read (and write!) music and do tons of composing. My preference is to come up with a riff on the guitar or piano, put it in to a program called Guitar Pro then try and make a song out of it. Most of the stuff I have are just ideas that will probably never be used. Some are great and could be, but I'm never motivated to finish most of them. I usually compose very early in the morning, think 3/4 O'clock! I'll start listening to music around midnight, get inspired, then spend the rest of the night composing. Bloody typical.
One of my favourite ways to compose is to have a little "film scene" in my head. Whether that's a cavalry charge (I'm a sad history nerd) or a happy scene I find it really helps. Here are two pieces that I composed with them exact scenes in mind... see if you can figure out which is which!
They are MIDI by the way, but quite nice sounding nonetheless.
http://soundcloud.com/ampburner/film-piece-1
http://soundcloud.com/ampburner/film-piece-2
Check out me own stuff if you like
http://soundcloud.com/ampburner