I was wondering what kind of build/line-up you use of the songs you write? Is it the old usual (verse, chorus, verse, chorus, bridge, verse, chorus) with some extras or no particular guidelines just writing riff after riff?
The build of your writings
- Thread starter Tapestry
- Start date
Ermz
¯\(°_o)/¯
Riff after riff, personally. I find it's more exciting that way. If you write as freeform as possible, your imagination becomes the limit and you can take the song to places that no recurring chorus-verse piece can do.
FRUGiHOYi
"Since 1981"
opeth_353
Member
I use a variety of structures. Whatever i feel will suit the song best. I don't think you should restrict yourself to just doing either of them.
Dante's Inferno
Demon Of The Fall
All I can say is that I'm both ambitious and impatient (a bad combination), but at the moment I'm working on something really good.
affinityband
Member
I let whatever would be suited to the song. I dont want to make my songs purposfully long, I let the way the riffs are structured take me in the proper direction. I lhate classical music, but they way it is constructed is very cool. So im writing a song like with that sort of structure. I dont believe in doing it riff after riff for the sake of it. Only a couple of my bands songs are like that.
opeth_353
Member
I am thinking of writing some riffs using Binary, Terenary, Rondo etc.. and combining them to make one larger work .. I want to see how it'd turn out - writing in a progressive style using old fashioned structuring.
The band i drum for is quite often riff after riff, but there are certain songs with verse/chorus structures.
The band i drum for is quite often riff after riff, but there are certain songs with verse/chorus structures.
affinityband
Member
Yea, but then again if you use those all together its pretty much going to be like a sonata. They use very complex structures. I dont quite understand 'sonata' yet, if anyone would care to enlighten me?
Dante's Inferno
Demon Of The Fall
Has anybody else noticed the way Mikael writes riffs? Usually there's 4 bars, whereas 3 the first are more chord-like, while the 4th is like a tailpiece with single strings. It's kinda cool, and I'll definitively try to do something like that myself.
Examples being:
Examples being:
Code:
The Drapery Falls:
|---------------------|-----------------------|
|---------------------|-----------------------|
|---------------------|-4-4-4-4-4-4-4-4-4-4-4-|
|-6-(6)-6-------------|-5-5-5-5-5-5-5-5-5-5-5-|
|-6h=7--7-7-7-6-6-6-6-|-5-5-5-5-5-5-5-5-5-5-5-|
|---------9-9-7-7-6-6-|-3-3-3-3-3-0h3-3-3-3-3-|
|---------------------|-----------------------|
|---------------------|-----------------------|
|---------------------|-----------------------|
|-6-(6)-6-------------|-----------------------|
|-6h=7--7-7-7-6-6-6-6-|-4h5p4---4-----4h5-----|
|---------9-9-7-7-6-6-|-------7---5-7-----7-7-|
Reverie/Harlequin Forest
|------------------------------------------------------------|
|------------------------------------------------------------|
|------------------------------------------------------------|
|------------------------------------------------------------|
|-0-0-0-x-x-0-(0)-x-x-0-0-x-x-0-0-0-x-x-0-(0)-x-x-0-0-x-x----|
|-0-0-0-x-x-0-(0)-x-x-0-0-x-x-0-0-0-x-x-0-(0)-x-x-0-0-x-x----|
|------------------------------------------------------------|
|----0-----------0----------------0-----------0--------------|
|----0-----------0----------------0-----------0--------------|
|-2----x-x-2-(2)---x-x-2-2-x-x-2----x-x-2-(2)---x-x-2-2-x-x--|
|-2----x-x-2-(2)---x-x-2-2-x-x-2----x-x-2-(2)---x-x-2-2-x-x--|
|-2----x-x-2-(2)---x-x-2-2-x-x-2----x-x-2-(2)---x-x-2-2-x-x--|
|------------------------------------------------------------|
|------------------------------------------------------------|
|-2--2-x-x-2-(2)-2-x-x-2-2-x-x-2--2-x-x-2-(2)-2-x-x-2-2-2----|
|-1--1-x-x-1-(1)-1-x-x-1-1-x-x-1--1-x-x-1-(1)-1-x-x-1-1-1----|
|-1--1-x-x-1-(1)-1-x-x-1-1-x-x-1--1-x-x-1-(1)-1-x-x-1-1-1----|
|-1--1-x-x-1-(1)-1-x-x-1-1-x-x-1--1-x-x-1-(1)-1-x-x-1-1-1----|
|------------------------------------------------------------|
|------------------------------------------------------------|
|------------------------------------------------------------|
|---------------------------------------------------------7\-|
|----------------3-5-5---7-(7)b8-5----6-3-0-5-(5)-5-3p0---5\-|
|-0--0-0h3h5-5-5-------0------------0-6-3-0-5-(5)-5-3p0-0----|
Baying Of The Hounds (first riff as well, couldn't find tab).
Moonstruck
The Twilight Is My Robe
- Jan 13, 2004
- 306
- 0
- 16
Usually riff after riff, with maybe a very basic structure in my head. If I try a verse-chorus kind of part in a song and it sounds cool, than so be it. I want my songs to flow on like a kind of journey without too much repetition, but repetition can be good if you keep it limited.
vampyrouss
Vampyrouss Vocalist
- Aug 3, 2005
- 760
- 0
- 16
Our songs are more verse/chorus style now, but all our old stuff was pretty random, in fact I just fitted the lyrics to whatever the musician of the band had written. There wasn't any planning at all, but now we actually try writing the songs instead of thoughtlessly playing and going with whatever comes out, although its a good way to work in some ways as it restricts you, and you can learn to work with what you have. And it seems like a blessing when you then finally write a song in a more standard way!
Jude
Hot nuns 4 lyfe
- Sep 8, 2005
- 522
- 0
- 16
- 37
True, lots of very long songs benefit from having a chorus or some repeated part that crops up 2 or 3 times...such as The Drapery Falls (the acoustic riff at the very beginning comes back a few times), Serenity Painted Death (the "white face haggard grin" part comes back later in the song) or Porcupine Tree's Buying New Soul (the chorus is sung twice early in the song, then pops up again later)Moonstruck said:
affinityband said:
I'm bad at explaining things, but I'll try.
A sonata is divided into separate movements, just like many pieces. It normally has 3 movements, but generally the first movement follows something called sonata form. A piece or movement in sonata form is divided into 3 parts, called the exposition, the development, and the recapitulation. In the first section (the exposition), the theme of the piece is introduced. There may be 2 themes in more complex pieces. In the middle section, the development, the theme or themes are developed (who would have guessed?) This essentially means messing around with the themes, exploring what you can do with variations on them, and such, if that makes any sense. Finally, in the recapitulation, the theme reappears as it originally was played.
I hope this helps.
By the way, I'm new here. I've been lurking around the UM boards for a long time, especially the Opeth board, and I finally decided to register. So hi, everyone.
affinityband
Member
Similar threads
