How do you go about your song writing process?

[clarbaden]

whats up dudes just wondered how you go about writing new material? I would love to hear your input, weather its making a drum beat and creating a riff to fit or weather you think of things in a more musical way e.g. song phrasing. I personally make a riff that could be a chorus or a verse part and go from there, but now I get halfway through a song and everything sounds stale because I can't figure out a riff to contribute to the song well enough. Let me know

 

[AllanD]

I write breakdowns then I fill in spaces between them.

 

[nialldoran]

i normally just stick a few differant beats on through ssd or something and jam with myself so to speak, ive got limitied theory skills, but what i do know i try to put into effect when making harmonies and basslines for under the guitar,

but these days, except for using drums sometimes to come up with ideas, i try and stay away from my computer or any recording gear etc untill the song is wrote, sitting with just an amp and a guitar is definatly the best way to write IMO

 

[Rhys Llewellyn]

Ohhh good thread...

I'm primarily a guitarist but I'd say I write maybe 30% of my "riffs" on a keyboard. I find writing away from your primary instrument opens up totally new ideas and rhythms.

I find it's much easier to come up with odd time signatures and slightly more original scalar intervals on a piano. Generally they're single notes and usually played in straight 8th or 16th notes and then I apply them to the guitar and tweak them around a bit to make them sound a little more rhythmically engaging and go from there.

Or... I'll just have a chord progression in my head and orchestrate the fuck out of it so it sounds less like a 1-4-5!

Oh and something I've found VERY useful for writing real messed up time signatures... Say a phrase in your head like "I fucking love beer" and take the phrasing of how you say it and apply it rhythmically (ie use the syllables.) So I'd transpose that as a quarter note, and then 4 eighth notes. That was a bad example but it gets interesting if you come up with quite a long phrase that uses more than 2 syllables.

 

[clarbaden]

Yeah Rhys, i wish i had a piano or keyboard because i find even using the piano roll can make you think differently rather than just creating "generic" riffs on a guitar.

 

[Rhys Llewellyn]

And also Guitar Pro, or similar scoring software.

I wrote nearly an entire song just punching in the TAB and wrote the lyrics with the melodies all whilst sitting in bed!

I always TAB out all my songs, most importantly so I can play them myself since I tend to forget a lot of them! But secondly you can really analyse every single note and switch things around and see what magic might accidentally happen by doing so.

 

[xFkx]

the song structure and how it flows from one part to another is the most important thing to me, so I develop riffs/chord seq's/whatever that I need for a certain part

not very spontaneous but does the job

I also think that there are maybe 30 or 40 types of riffs, and all music is a permutation of those with small changes here and there, it's nice to be an observant listener and catch those

 

[LeSedna]

I do 90% of my songs just sitting in from of guitar pro, and here and there I will take my guitar.

I litterally don't know how to play my songs, I really feel like in the pants of a composer more than in those of a musician when I write music. I'll learn them before I record them.

It's definitely all about going out of your confort zone.

None of my songs (in my current project) stay in the same key. Tempo is changing often , signature too, and I try not using the basic harmonies too much, and try using open chords. I sort of "invent" chords just by taking my guitar, randomizing the position of my fingers, or by drawing it on the guitar pro guitarneck.

I also try finding rythmic ideas, bass lines, synth/orchestra harmonies, to approach it from a different perpective.

It has worked well for me.

Another awesome way to work , is to find your musical soulmate, and you just send to each other your song, one adding or changing parts after the other. The rule is that when you get stuck or short of idea, you send it to the other who will find some. I have a friend like that, we wrote a full melodeath album like that and some songs are really fun to play, it's just frozen cause of practival and distance reasons.

The best way for me to get out of a writer's block, is to listen to a shitload of new music. I always end finding inspiration somewhere.

Also, playing randomly and casually your instrument for pleasure, improvising, without intending a processus of creation, can surprise you.

 

[Manifesto]

choose tempo
define structure
choose key
define key changues
choose drum beat
reorganize

write riffs

done.

It sounds mechanical, inhuman and soulless... just the way i like it.

 

[egan.]

I just write parts until they fit and mess with them and add until the song is done. Generally it starts with one or two riffs or even singing something into my phone.

 

[DeclanWhite]

hit record, write in real time

 

[DolphinSplatter]

I come up with a riff, and then come up with a riff that flows.
then i keep doing the same until im done

 

[Melb_shredder]

Generally, I'll write a riff on guitar, or a melody for the keys to play. I'll record it to the tempo, then play guitar over it. Or, I generally come up with a few cool interlocking riffs and start structuring, adding from there

 

[HandsOfDespair]

I write riff after riff when inspiration comes, I really try to not force anything. I think my best song on my upcoming album was the 8 minutes song I wrote in about 1 hour. I just felt really inspired and all the riff came together really easily. I compose everything on guitar, than when I think it is finished ( can take from hours to months), I'll track a shit track and compose the arrangement.

 

[Mutant]

First humming it to myself (often while taking a dump...), then playing it on a keyboard and recording MIDI, then picking up the guitar and actually recording a DI signal.
Then drums and other shit.

 

[jackwood09]

Wait til something bad happens to you then start writing.

Girlfriend of 2 years broke up with me, wrote my bands EP in 2 days.

 

[Torniojaws]

I just play guitar until I get a great riff, then record it, and then record 5-10 riffs to go with it then I tweak the drums and make different drum lines, and mix&match them and add synths. Then I try various structures until I like it. That's about it The rest is just adding details (fills, transitions, and such).

Lately I've also played around with mixing different genres and seeing how they work

 

[ArthurD]

I usually start with some ideas, like cool riffs, or chord progression.
Them I listen to something like Emerson Lake and Palmer, just to give me note intervals ideas.
Phillip Glass and Marty Friedman (old stuff) works also.
Finally I just record some ideas, and put them together.

 

[Sloan]

I like to start with a lyrical idea/phrase, usually a chorus and come up with something that supports that, then work my way out from that idea. I do find it easier to write lyrics on top of music though.