Is anyone else a musician who doesn't know what music they want to write?

[cwhitey2]

I struggle with this sometimes, any time I write a song it's a complete 180 from the last one I wrote. I've learned to embrace it, my band's set often goes from super soft clean songs to pop punk to hardcore and heavier, and people always come up to me afterwards saying how they love that we don't really sound like anyone else.

I think it's great because we never write the same song twice and as different as they may sound they all have our distinct fingerprint on them, just don't ask me to try and put our band in a genre because I'll be here all day

Just write whatever you're feeling in the moment, forget about genre conventions. No one ever got big by staying within the confines of a predetermined sound

This 100%



Your band basically sound like my band

We don't really have a set genre other then 'metal'

 

[Zalbu]

Lots of good advice in here! I've owned a DAW, interface, drum sampler and amp modeler for a long time and I've ordered studio monitors that will arrive this week, I've just never gotten around to the whole process of recording, mixing and mastering a song other than that one metal song I've written that I mentioned previously. The only thing I don't own right now is a bass but that can be added to songs later.

Zalbu, I have a small question: when you talk about writing "songs," are you talking about an actual song, or an instrumental piece? When I use the word "song," I mean something which originated with lyrics, although there can be an instrumental cover of a song. Brubeck's "Take 5" is an instrumental piece.

Instrumental pieces, I guess. I do enjoy writing lyrics and song melodies but I'm not a singer. I would love to find a band to play with that can sing the lyrics but I usually gravitate towards female vocalists and finding women who are into metal and not in 5 bands already is a bit tricky

I think I'll start out with recording those Devin Townsend covers, since some of his most popular songs like Hyperdrive, Bastard and Deadhead don't have any solos in them and are just straight up riffing, and his style of production is close to what I want to achieve.

I'll begin to just sit down and record what I come up with, and I'll try limiting it to just "metal" songs and some synth based electronic music/synthwave since that's what I've been nuts about for a while now and synthwave is easier to create than jazz influenced trip hop like Bonobo, and lots of synthwave have guitar riffage in them that I can incorporate too. I've downloaded some VST synths that I can just jam around with and find some inspiration from.

I think the biggest question I have for you is, why did you start playing music to begin with?

I started playing because I enjoy music and I enjoy playing guitar, it's just that I've never been as serious with practice as I should've been and it wasn't until a few years ago that I actually started visualizing what my goals were and started doing more drills and learning scales and jazz chords and all that stuff, but I'm still very far from being able to play the things I want to be able to play like advanced jazz improv and technical metal and so on. Being better at improv is also something I need to focus on and would help me figure out what genres I'll steer towards.

 

[MrYakob]

This 100%



Your band basically sound like my band

We don't really have a set genre other then 'metal'

Someone once described us as "if U2 were a hardcore band" so now when people ask what we sound like I just use that

 

[cwhitey2]

I started playing because I enjoy music and I enjoy playing guitar, it's just that I've never been as serious with practice as I should've been and it wasn't until a few years ago that I actually started visualizing what my goals were and started doing more drills and learning scales and jazz chords and all that stuff, but I'm still very far from being able to play the things I want to be able to play like advanced jazz improv and technical metal and so on. Being better at improv is also something I need to focus on and would help me figure out what genres I'll steer towards.

This right here is more important 'then' writing. How are you supposed to play along to something when you have no actual time to 'write' for it? Almost all of my writing is how it feels. I'm not saying you need to know everything about music (I know absolutely nothing about theory FYI), but being able to feel out the drums and immediately coming up with something more important and special then pure talent...take it from me...I have been playing for 11 years and can't sweep pick and anything fancy like that

 

[zerofocus]

Wait, there are musician's who KNOW what they want to write? lol

On a more serious note, just go off impulse

If you like playing a clean tone, jam something and record it, you like a heavy tone jam and record that

don't focus on how tight it is or technically great

people focus so much on what they're music SHOULD be and then lose focus and lose that impulse/spark

just set up a recording project or record on your phone and just leave it rolling and play,

get that initial idea and then refine it over time

you'll naturally go for certain movements/keys/grooves etc, that'll be what defines you as a player, what you actually release will be what others think of you as a player

so write anything and enjoy jamming

hope this helps

 

[Spicypickles]

My issue is, I know what I want to write, but what ends up coming out is lame radio hard rock nonsense. I just tend to riff that way, unless I'm playing someone else's song specifically.

 

[Jano]

Nice topic

As I understood, it seems to me that you know what kind of music you want to write, and the actual problem is that you dont know how to write them. Unfortunately, when you are bad at something, there's nothing better to do than practice.

People has told you that already, It's boring but It's the best you can do, you will hardly write the most amazing song ever at your first try, you have to walk the path of music by just writing what comes to your mind, dont worfy Too much if it doesnt make sense at first glance... you will get there eventually.

And dont be so hard with yourself, you need to be critic, but It's really important for it to be constructive criticism.

I wouldn't suggest you to go jam with people, as you still struggle to have ideas that satisfy you, imagine trying to have ideas that will satisfy you and the people you play with.

If you cant play the things you want to write, learn to write midi (guitar pro, finale, etc) and GETGOOD

 

[broj15]

I was caught in this rut about 4 or 5 years ago and lost all motivation to play guitar and actually did for about a year. What got me out of it, was I just kept exposing myself to new music i'd never heard before, whether it be going to shows or just randomly listening to artists I found on last fm, RYM, bandcamp, etc.. Eventually you'll hear a band that will make something click in your brain (If it's a live show then it can almost feel like a "religious experience". at least that's what it felt like for me) and you'll say "now THAT'S what I need to be doing". Other than that, bouncing ideas off other like minded musicians can be a big help too, whether it's someone you have a desire to start a project with them or not.

 

[Chewy5150]

I constantly get stuck in situations where I really wanna write or play a different style of music than what I'm currently doing. My best approach to either try incorporating those other musical ideas to what band I have (although sometimes thats a stretch, especially with conflicting ideas or where each member sees the band/style/writing going) or just create side recording projects where I can explore those other genres I want to try and tackle.

At the moment I play for a tech death band and while I'd love to add crazy funk ideas or straight up 80's hair riffs to a song sometimes its impossible to get those ideas across to the other band members or they just don't gel in context so I just started shelving those ideas by recording them and work them into little recording projects of my own and maybe I'll release/play it in a project later.

 

[crankyrayhanky]

For years all I've done when picking up my guitar is to learn other peoples songs .... me only knowing how to play intros and snippets of other peoples songs.

Writing songs is a skill to develop. That's all I do when I play guitar. For every decent tune i write there's probably 10-20 tunes/riffs that are generic trash. Once every few years I join a cover band and- even when the band is over- it takes me a few months to get back into being original and creative. Playing covers usually makes your original riffs bad versions of the covers you play.

So I say if you want to be a songwriter, stop learning cover riffs and spend all of your time writing riffs and arranging into cohesive tunes. Record everything, even if it is on an iphone video. I also TAB stuff out because months and years later I don't like trying to pick off my own riffs, lol.

 

[xwestonx]

Great thread with some awesome advice.

Personally I've been grappling with some similar issues after choosing to put my band on the back-burner due to some issues with one of the other members. Our last album was album kind of marked a big transition for me where the riffs were becoming even faster thrash than what I had originally written thanks to the new guitar player, but my lead work had really gone in a non-thrash direction which coincided with my expanding interest in Jazz...

Fast forward about a year and I am now working on a solo project experimenting with different elements, learning additional insturments, and pushing myself to write in unfamiliar genres. Also, I'm trying to approach writing with a theme / story in mind and doing my best to convey that. I still don't know where it'll take me, but it has been a rewarding challenge thus far.

 

[sawtoothscream]

Anymore I just fiddle around on the guitar And drums. I write better when I had a band.

So whatever I'm feeling when I grab the guitar is the style.

 

[fps]

I know what I want to write, but I'm not prepared to settle for less than something I'm completely happy with. This is tricky.

 

[Winspear]

I know what I want to write, but I'm not prepared to settle for less than something I'm completely happy with. This is tricky.

It can be hard to remember these days - not everything has to be released or go into some folder of work you are happy with when finished. You don't need to be showcasing yourself as soon as you are old enough to have a social media account. It's ok to hone your craft in private. Write without purpose, just to write. It's fine to finish a piece and not be happy with it or need to release it. You can only get to your best by starting somewhere

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[Jano]

I know what I want to write, but I'm not prepared to settle for less than something I'm completely happy with. This is tricky.

but can you write what you want to write?