Songwriting Help

[La Dispute]

Hey,

I've been trying to write some music to songs lately, and I've encountered a bit of trouble. I'm in a band at the moment (Metalcore or Hardcore, whatever genre comes more naturally) but I have hit some trouble writing music myself (my friends do all the writing). I am trying to create some Alterntive/Indie music for myself and I havent been able to come up with anything interesting or complex. I havent got any issues coming up with lyrics or chord progressions, I just cant fill a song and/or make it interesting enough so it is not extremely easy to play.

Any guitarists have any idea how to fully structure/create an interesting piece of music, you can connect to on a personal level and on a musical level.

Any help would be great, thanks in advance,

JR

 

[mr_cellotape]

Acquire some talent?

Seriously though, it's pretty tough question, so my response will be a bit of a ramble. I write my songs a variety of ways. A lot of the time I come up with a riff/chord sequence just stuffing around on my guitar, and then, if it's in a certain scale, write down the scale and use other chords/notes in the scale to make the other sections of the song. That way, you know it's 'musically correct' (for lack of a better description) and that the sections will sound like they match. If your riff/chord progression consists of 7 notes, you've got a scale to work with and it just makes working out other sections of the song much easier.

When I have writers block I just record myself playing random stuff for fifteen/twenty minutes and then listening back to it, isolating any cool like bits that I've played. Solves two problems; one, it avoids the "okay i'm going to sit down and write a song now" mindset that often doesn't result in coming up with anything cool, and two, it prevents you from instantly forgetting something that you've just played.

In terms of simplicity versus complexity, sometimes I can only come up with something simple, but I record it anyway. Then when listening to it played back, you can sort of hear ways to change it and add to it. It's like you can just hear it in your mind, rather than being able to play it straight up; you're adding to and manipulating what you've already come up with.

Most of the time I write the some song starting with the intro/verse first, and then expanding on that. But sometimes I come up with a chord progression/riff and it just sounds like it's a bridge, or a pre/post-chorus or whatever, and write the song backwards.

For me, it's often about avoiding the mental state of feeling like you're forcing yourself to write something.

Hope this give you an idea or two. You've posed a question that's bloody difficult to answer, and different things work for different people.

 

[La Dispute]

Thanks Mr Cellotape, I have always got a scale diagram in front of my, so i know where I am at, which I find helps out a lot.

I've so far got down a riff (sounds more like a bassline to be honest) and a chord progression for the intro using piano chords.

Its something like E, F#, G#, A, real basic, but it sounds alright.

And yeh, thanks again, I'll try recording some stuff

 

[mr_cellotape]

Just following on from my point about the scales. Quick example of what I mean. Say you come up with a little riff like this (written in drop C tuning just because that's what my guitar is in at the moment):

d|--------------------------------
a|--------------------------------
f|--8-9868--8-9868--6-4346--6-4346
c|66-6----66-6----44-4----44-4----
g|--------------------------------
c|--------------------------------

If you look at that riff, it has 7 notes in it; in terms of tabs, on the C string, the frets 1, 2, 4, 6, 8, 9, 11, 13 form a scale (c#, d, e, f#, g#, a, b, c#, respectively).

So then, you know what notes are included and excluded, and you're working with these notes:

d|-0---2---4---6-7---9----11-12----14-
a|-0---2---4-5---7---9----11-12----14-
f|---1---3-4---6---8-9----11----13----
c|---1-2---4---6---8-9----11----13-14-
g|---1-2---4---6-7---9----11----13-14-
c|---1-2---4---6---8-9----11----13-14-

So, you have a framework within which to find chords that will match your initial riff. Hope that makes sense.

 

[- PC -]

. That way, you know it's 'musically correct' (for lack of a better description) .

Musically correct and metalcore are oxymorons arent they?