A couple songwriting questions

[DeathMetal4tw]

Hey, I have a couple questions about writing death metal. As for the background, I'm around 19 and because I'm a perfectionist, I've literally never written a song. My riffs blatantly sucked for the first few years, but recently I've been able to slowly but surely come up with cool shit and even some leads, so I'm writing my first song and looking for a band.

The first question: I ran into a problem: I found a couple riffs that sound pretty and can be used in a heavy way but they sound a little like darkest hour and trivium kind of riffs. They're heavy and catchy, but they don't have that brutal death metal sound I like so they stick out. Because I don't have much experience with bands, can a catchy but not so evil riff be made to sound good with blast beats over them? Or should riffs like this be thrown out

Second question: Does ear training lead to better songwriting?

 

[Ator]

I think a lot of people suffer form perfectionism
I saw an interview with Gojira lately where one of the dudes gave this advice, which really resonated with me. Basically, if something you wrote sounds good to you the first time you play it, don't second guess yourself-there was something about it that worked and you should stick to your guns. I often fall out of love with cool riffs I've written because they don't sound like the style of metal I'm currently into or trying to replicate. This is dangerous-just throw them in a song an move on-that's how you get better.

 

[waif]

First off, if it sounds good to you then don't worry what it sounds like.

Anyhow, yes, the drumming has a huge impact on the feel of the riffs. What I often do is when I write a riff I immediately record it and throw some drums over it to see how it feels.

 

[wandering_taco]

I have a songwriting related question. Any suggestions on transitioning between riffs? This is something that has bothered me even when playing around with very simple riffs.

 

[waif]

Often you can just start playing the next riff and it sounds okay. If that doesn't work, you can often cheat by having the guitars stop and there's a drum fill or bass fill. Or, one thing I occasionally do is throw in a chromatic hammer-on bit really quick or a hammer-on/pull-off thing or something - basically, something quick and flashy. Together with a drum fill it can work wonders.
It's a lot easier if there's no tempo change.

Also, riff changes are 90% contextual. Sometimes you can just stop playing, then do the next riff. But if you do that too much you start to sound like Opeth (in a bad way).

One thing is maybe you could try to bridge the gap. So if you were playing a chuggy riff that did that sorta chug-chug-power chord - chug chug chug - power chord and then wanted to go into a trem-picked riff you could end the last repetition of the chug riff by trem-picking the chords.

This isn't a huge problem for me because a lot of my riffs build off each-other, which is to say I regurgitate the same combination of 3 or 4 notes into five or six variations and throw together a song. Sometimes lame, sometimes cohesive. When you write a riff, though, it's always worth screwing around with the pattern to try to write other riffs. Sometimes you come up with a better riff.

 

[Episteme]

I suffer from perfectionism as well, which is why I choose to write music with my band. Fortunately, my band has enough chemistry to tell each other if what we came up with is shit or decent enough. Never, ever throw riffs out just because it doesn't sound good from the first listen, in fact experiment with different intervals, harmonies, different chord structures. Sometimes the most simple thing can be the most coherent riff in the song.

Music theory isn't important but it does help alot, as does ear training.

 

[mrbean667]

I agree wholeheartedly. I get sooooo pissed off when I sit and get a good rythm riff, but then can't get a lead part to go with it.
Gojira is right, when something sounds good the first time, build on it.
Back to Guitar Pro...

 

[Element_man]

Second question: Does ear training lead to better songwriting?

Absolutely, provided you've got a creative mind on you. If you've ever heard a cool melody in your head but could never figure out how to play it on your instrument, ear training will be of great use to you. The ability to hear things and know how to play them before you touch your instrument is pretty wicked, I think. Ear Training is also handy for other things beyond the songwriting world.