How do you guys write songs?

[Ze4th0x]

I'm just curious what techniques you guys use to write songs by themselves or with a band.

For example: I used to use guitar pro to write tabs for every instrument I could envision, but it ended up taking to long, and I would get used to my song, and it won't sound as good to me as it did when I first made it. So I bought FL studio to do most of my songwriting. I would in cubase, but I find my songwriting techniques flow better with the FL Studio daw personally, especially for programming drums.

I also try to envision what the song will sound like when it is finished so I make patches for the guitars and bass and such to each song I write in the pre-production stage. I also take 10-15 minute breaks every 1 to 2 hours to clear my head, drink water, and give my ears a break.

 

[roy22341]

I wish I had a systematic song-writing technique. Instead I usually end up with a bunch of half done but still good ideas floating around. By the time I get back to them I've lost the "feel" and the song ends up getting scrapped.

 

[AD Chaos]

http://www.ultimatemetal.com/forum/production-tips/620839-how-do-you-write-metal-song-s.html

 

[MarcusGHedwig]

Open up a Reaper project, come up with some kinda riff (usually in the style of a particular song that I'm into at the time, but only similar in terms of tempo and "feel"), and record it, even if I don't think it sounds that unique or amazing - by the time I add drums and layer another guitar part on it, though, it usually becomes cooler, and the rest sorta flows!

 

[Keregioz]

Open up a Reaper project, come up with some kinda riff (usually in the style of a particular song that I'm into at the time, but only similar in terms of tempo and "feel"), and record it, even if I don't think it sounds that unique or amazing - by the time I add drums and layer another guitar part on it, though, it usually becomes cooler, and the rest sorta flows!

This...but in cubase .
For me the most important part is experiment with layering guitars and melodies and quite often synths/strings and of course adding drums. I rarely come up with a cool riff that sounds great only by itself.

 

[Ronixis]

I watch movies, get drunk, enjoy enormous amounts of the amazing music the wolrd already has to offer ...and then sit down with my guitar and try to come up something I'd want to hear that's not been done yet. My writing has nothing to do with what program I use, it's just a way to make a note of the idea so I can remember it later. I also record, but it's usually written down as a gp-file. Gotta do the tab or it takes ages for the other guys to learn the riffs before we can try out the ideas at the rehearsals

90 % of the time I have a complete song written down before I've recorded a single riff from it. We make the final decions about the instrumentation and arrangement when we record the proper studio version. Vocals and lyrics are mostly written after I have a high quality recording with all the instruments. For me, it's the best way to connect with the song and write the lyrics and melodies based on my pure emotions about the song.

Some random tips, probably too obvious, but still worth of saying:

1) Write a shitty version first. No room for self-criticism here. Just get the thing done. Then rewrite all the shitty parts. Repeat until the whole thing sounds amazing. This is the way probably all of the great books, scripts etc. were written. Writing music is no exception.

2) Apply the same technique to writing lyrics. Just let the stuff flow out of you, get all of the ideas out. Usually you'll end up with dozens of sheets with lots of usable ideas and themes just needed to be constructred and rewritten into a song.

3) Don't try to write only in cronological order. Sometimes the outro riff is the first idea you'll come up with. When you have a hole in the song, listening to the section before and after it usually makes it obvious what you'll want to put in the middle.

4) Don't be afraid of being directly inspired by a band or a song. If you got the feeling that "this song screams for a outro just like in that one Slayer song", just check out the song and try to hear what makes it awesome. Even though you are aiming for the same feel, you'll end up writing something very different and sounding like yourself.

5) Learn your favourite songs. You'll get tons of usable ideas which will eventually mutate into your own riffs. Also, when you know your favourite material thoroughly, it's easier to avoid making direct rip-offs by mistake

 

[AD Chaos]

^ well said.

 

[LeSedna]

I spend 95% of the time searching a cool idea that is 5% of a song. It can take months, or... a year (my last song was written 1year+1month after the previous one, and was done in 2 days)
I spend the last 5% of time writing the rest, those 95%, of the song, cause it then all flows by itself piece after piece, and I almost write chronologically, excepted when a part is cool but is not in the same key and I save it for later, etc.

I write exclusively on guitar pro, though I could do it in a DAW or with my guitar. But with guitar pro, as I don't care about if I am able to play the riff, or don't loose time learning it, I write more complicated/interesting stuff, and they don't stick just around guitar playing. It helps getting inspiration from everything else.

For added groove, I sometimes take my guitar.

Usually I write in guitar pro imagining every sound in real, and completely forget the midi sound. But I try to make it sound good already in midi. In the end, I only tweak a few % of the riffs when I record (usually just a last minute idea here and there). Then I add the synth/ambiant stuff I couldn't get done in guitar pro, which are almost the only thing that "appear" after guitar pro.

Then I have to learn/record all the stuff which is where it's very hard because I haven't even taken a guitar to learn my songs usually !

Often, I like a riff from a new album, and in my heads it changes into something different but similar, and then I imagine the different groove, and it becomes something different enough to give me the idea of a song. I can relate each of my songs to a band or an album ! 1 is inspired by between the buried and me "ants of the sky", 2 is more 100% original though it's in the same flow as 1, 3 is a bit like devin townsend's "Funeral", 4 is a bit inspired from tesseract's last album.

 

[LeSedna]

+1 to everything Ronixis said, I can totally relate to everything he said (even the part from getting inspiration from some specific songs, it's exactly what I have written in the end of my previous post)

 

[Cacoph0ny]

i pretty much write a 'main riff' which ends up being either the intro or the second riff of the song. then i essentially let the song write itself.

i've started recording and writing at the same time instead of writing everything and then recording, and that helps. I listen back and subconciously hear in my head where i want it to go from there. recording as i write also allows me to hear how it will sound in a full mix, so if it sounds like shit I can trash it and move on instead of having a full song written, then going to record and realizing how shit it sounds so i rewrite it.

i find when I have a preconceived idea of what I want to occur in a song, it always feels unnatural and sounds forced. so basically I have a concrete idea of how a song starts but what happens in the middle and how it ends i won't find out until I finish the song.

another thing, ive found that the amount of times a riff/section repeats is incredibly important. even if it feels like you are playing a riff for way too long, when you play it back it feels much shorter, especially after you add vocals. ive had songs that sounded super sloppy simply because no part let itself settle in the song before moving onto another part.

if youre stuck, look at the song from another instruments perspective. im a guitarist so I usually think in terms of guitars first, but it can really help to think as a bassist or drummer if youre having writers block.

 

[schwinginbatman]

I typically get struck with inspiration for an idea, then I'll write it, then record each part afterwards. I'm considering using TuxGuitar now since I have it down to use it know.

 

[guitarplaya18]

I rarely ever write music by playing my guitar. I just have riff or drum ideas pop into my head and from there I will usually try and come up with large portions of a song and play it over in my mind. From there I pick up my guitar and try to transcribe my song as if I'm trying to play another artist's song by ear. Sounds dumb I'm sure, but it works for me