When and how do you tend to write and come up with stuff?

7 Dying Trees

Bastard Albino Elf
Apr 18, 2002
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The woodland fern
www.nemecyst.net
When and how do you tend to write and come up with stuff?

I seem to come up with riffs periodically and then go an a riffing binge, fueled by caffeine, and sometimes a little drink (spirits and coke(not the powder...)) and then jam away untill i have something, problem is that creativity is uaually at it's best in the early hours of the morn and late evening...

Usually it is all sparked off by one little melody, and then riffs behind it, after which sometimes nothing is left of the original idea, all the time drums get programmed and keys etc added for atmosphere if needed or to flesh out an empty sounding riff and then changed again and again untill something just "works" in terms of feel :)

What about everyone else?
 
Best thing for me is to just fuck around with a drummer. They play something, then just come up with some really simple pattern and take it from there. I've written more stuff like that than I ever would just by sitting down and trying to come up with something. Much easier when you're just jamming because you aren't concentrating on making something up so much.
 
7 Dying Trees said:
When and how do you tend to write and come up with stuff?

I seem to come up with riffs periodically and then go an a riffing binge, fueled by caffeine, and sometimes a little drink (spirits and coke(not the powder...)) and then jam away untill i have something, problem is that creativity is uaually at it's best in the early hours of the morn and late evening...

Usually it is all sparked off by one little melody, and then riffs behind it, after which sometimes nothing is left of the original idea, all the time drums get programmed and keys etc added for atmosphere if needed or to flesh out an empty sounding riff and then changed again and again untill something just "works" in terms of feel :)

What about everyone else?
I'll tell you something that's worked for me: to take a phrase or a sentence from somewhere and make an interesting riff to sit behind it. It can be anything. I wrote one about a month ago based on the phrase "The Beatles - White Album - 1968" off a poster in a friend's bedroom, another on the phrase "Man Vs Alien In A Desperate Battle" off a box of Warhammer 40,000 stuff. It really helps with getting good phrasing.
 
I don't have a method as if I try to write something, I end up playing the same stuff over and over. I switch from electric guitar to bass to acoustic to keyboard to get different "feels" for my writing.

Bryant
 
For lyrics, I find inspiration to write whenever I'm feeling an mood to an extream. Or something I've always thought about. As for riffs...

I just play around. Mess with chords, experiment by taking little elements of different bands.