Help with writing songs

[The_Thrasher]

For the life of me I cannot write a fucking song!

I'm mainly trying to write DM... I have a few half decent riffs but cant seem to put a bloody song together. Any help you guys have will be great.

 

[theoden236]

Just do what comes naturally to you. Listen to some DM records and learn from them how it's done, then do it your way.

 

[Caligulan Blood]

@the_thrasher - Just write the guitar part of the song first and get the melody then write words down that sound like they fit into the melody and then just string them together. They don't have to make sense.
Ex.
Broken glass is the reason she'll remember my face now she is imprisoned in a land not for the weakened heart a land filled with miles of fire and the lamb dine on the priest you can't save her 62 reasons to remember my face this is my idea of beauty laid to rest beneath a blanket of leaves waiting for an angel to come save her from this burning paradise an indelicate display of lacerations across her body this is my idea of beauty you cant' save her

Those are the lyrics to "Two inches from a Main Artery" by Through the Eyes of the Dead. They make no sense but they're brutal. This is deathcore, but it's just to show that it doesn't need to make sense to sound good. It's cooler if it's like actually saying something in your lyrics. But no one except stupid faggots is going to say anything like "Wow I hate that band because it's lyrical element is nonsensical." So just write whatever you want, it's easier than trying to make something sensible.

 

[Krigloch the Furious]

listen to a band you like.
but dont focus on how badass the songs are.
Listen to each part and how it goes into another part, and how they mix pre choruses and all that after a verse or whatever part.
Not about the riffs. It's how you put them together.

 

[SmokeandShadow]

You need to get familiar with melodic tension and resolution. There is a huge line between writing riffs and making a cohesive song that flows...which is why it takes me months to write one...MONTHS.

It also doesn't help that it has to be perfect to my ears. Like no hint of being contrived, familiar or a novelty. Everything I write is painfully picked out and every melodic possibility is explored.

My writers block always comes when I back myself into a corner and the only resolution that fits leaves me feeling a lack of contentment. Then frustration sets in because I have to go back and rewrite the previous phrase to lead elsewhere.

What helps me is audibly visualizing the song. I play the passage in my head and imagine myself playing it with a full band. What do you hear come after the riff and where is it heading? If you can play what you hear in you're head, congratulations, you have made great progress!