Need Writing Help, Feeling Lost

[TeeWX]

Hey everyone,

I'm looking for some advice when it comes to writing. I've realized that I really just have no clue what I should be doing. I jammed a bit for the first time in a few months the other day with a drummer, and I discovered that unless I was playing riffs from a song I knew I was totally lost. I have a heck of a time coming up with stuff that's in time without thinking way too hard about it. Unless it's really basic. I remember trying to just come up with a simple chug pattern that differed over a couple measures and I just couldn't come up with anything interesting but I could play along to the snare fine. I've learned a bunch of riffs and stuff from metal-core and death-core bands but I'm not sure what I need to do to become a better writer/improviser. I've read a lot of people talking about a "library" of licks or what not. Are you suppose to come up with little phrases and reuse them and make stuff up? Examples? I've tried to study riffs and see if there's anything going on and all that I can really make out is that every band I listen to plays in C minor or C Harmonic minor on literally every song. Or it's purely chromatic and I don't understand why it works. I always imagine my influences getting together in a jam circle and just coming up with awesome riffs one after another. The only things that usually really work (after much trial and error) during jamming is usually something along the lines of... A. Chug eighth notes to the drums, swap in random scale notes; B. Strum random chords; C. Tremolo pick scale notes. When I'm trying to practice writing in my room alone I usually do similar stuff or I try to incorporate some technique into it. I have a heck of a time coming up with chug patterns on my own as I forget what beat I'm on without drum software or a real drummer. Anyways, I hope I'm not the only one struggling with writing catchy stuff to play for metal rhythm. If anyone could give some pointers or any ideas on what to do differently it would be very much appreciated!

Thanks!

 

[Mr. Big Noodles]

Don't write in a box. Forget notes and rhythm for now. Those are important, yes, but there are more important conceptual items that go into writing and improvising. Give yourself some shapes and a direction: do a little rise followed by a little fall. Repeat that a few times, but getting higher and higher each time. Eventually, you will hit the climax. You get to decide where that is, and when you do, hold on to it for a little bit. After the climax, get back down to where you started as fast as you can.

Notice I'm not telling you to play notes, and you don't have to worry about vague ideas such as "heaviness" and "groove". All of those things will come later. Right now, you're creating a discernable shape with the music. The rising/falling thing is a motif. The repetition and transposition of that motif is a sequence. The climax is… well, it's a climax, a peak in the melody. The rapid descent is a cadential figure of sorts. When you've done this a few times, do it with a scale that you feel comfortable with. After you do that a few times, do the same thing with the same scale, but in a different key. For example, if you chose C minor, do it in F minor now. Learn to get away from your crutches.

Your results may be unlistenably bad at the beginning, and probably for a long time after, but if you're playing shapes and gestures, that's much better than piecing things together one note at a time. Learn some harmony, do some ear training, go back to apply those principles with this exercise, and you will have something workable.

musictheory.net

 

[Svava]

I think that really there are an infinite number of people who will be technically incredible both on the fingerboard and in understanding theory.

The real great single factor that seems to make a player great across all genres (to me) is understanding the function of each note and, more importantly, the function of each section of the music.

The guys in Dream Theater have been praising the hell out of Mike Mangini because he has a good feel for the tone of the music and where it's heading - and that's a prime example of what I'm referring to.

So I suppose what I'd recommend you to do is to play very slowly, and listen to each note of what you're doing. It may help you to think of a mood or write a small poem or story and think try to create music to express it.

For example if I write a sad poem I might immediately think "okay minor mode" and then either write a melody or chords first. If you write a chord progression first, jam over it and find some licks/motifs that you like - then keep those. If you write a melody you like first, find a chord progression you like to fit with it. Start with just root position 1+5 chords or 1+3 just so it's easy to move around and figure out what you want.

Then just keep building on it and you have a song - always be aware of where the music wants to go and what each note needs to do to sound its best in the context of what you're playing.

Speed is inevitable
-------------------
Time

but musicality takes focus and intent to hone.

Good luck and may the faces of your listeners be melted mercilessly.

 

[80H]

Think about an important event in your life. Writing in a mediocre/mundane mood is going to put you in a blank or dull emotional state of mind, and music is this odd logical+emotional translation of your state of mind. If you are bored, your music will have an uncanny resemblance to your mood. If the music doesn't, it will usually change your mood.


Thinking about my first dog, girlfriend, memory, the significance of my actions, the butterfly effect...there's lots of things that get me to sort of break the shell of my daily routine and push me into the artistic space. Once you've done it enough times, it's like walking through a door; there's nothing special about it, because you do it all the time. It's that where you go changes each time when you change the quality of your mood through introspection. Music is sort of the outer expression of temporary introversion, or kind of lubricating the barrier between what's going on in your noggin and how you're pushing that out into the world. It's a really awesome feeling when everything in your head is what's going on at your fingertips, and I think that's what everybody's really hoping for when they pick up their guitar.


As for actually writing it down and solidifying it as music, you have to have some way of recording and reproducing it or it will dissolve as the days pass. When it comes to making something enjoyable, look at what you enjoy and then think about what you're going to need to learn to get there. Being "lost" is just one step away from being so sure of all of the things that you want to learn that your new concern is figuring out the smartest place to start.

 

[Leveebreaks]

Plucking riffs from the air is a very strange thing and only comes with practise, but knowing technical theory and shapes is not going to help you a whole lot unless you are feeling the rhythm and you have some idea of how you want the riffs to sound. Are you writing a specific style of song? I start with a vague idea of a theme, whether that be a doomy vibe or a tech piece, and just try stuff out. It really helps me to have a beat looped that I can jam along to, as it makes syncopated notes fall into place easier.
Just keep grinding at it, as the more you do it, the more you can narrow down exactly what you are looking for in your songs, what you are trying to put across, and what feel you give them....Just record everything! I mean that, it's the best tool you have, as listening back to stuff will show you what needs changing or developing.

 

[innovine]

If you want to work on chug patterns the following might help. It's an adaptation of some drum practice stuff, ask your drummer about 'stick control' book and rudiment patterns for more..

Take 8th notes, and start accenting the first, and palm muting the rest. I'll notate this as:
X x x x x x x x
Play that along with a metronome or drumloop. Now shift the accent:
x X x x x x x x
Then x x X x x x x x and so on.
Now add other accents and place them anywhere (even one following the other) and chug to that
If you look at it as two groups of four 8 notes, each group has 16 possible combinations of accented and muted notes. Learn all of these, and then play one group of four followed by another group of four. The stickecontrol book prints all of these combinations for sticking patterns for drumming but its the same combos for mutes and accents.
So now you should have no problem playing XXxx XxxX or xXXx Xxx and XxxXxxXx (really common)
Now to go even further, add rests, add quarter notes, add a few notes from a scale..
The whole point of this is to train your hands, ears and inner groove to be able to chug and syncopate without losing track of where you are in the bar. By writing a bunch of grooves down you force yourself to practice patterns you might not come up with if just playing. And as it gets drilled into you you'll find it easier to play more complex patterns while just listening and feeling the beat, you'll instinctively know where the start of the bar is even after long sequences.
Hope this helps, it works for me anyway, I am more of a maths and patterns type and this appeals to that side of my brain

 

[TeeWX]

Thanks everyone who's posted in here so far. All great information! I really appreciate all of the help. Can't wait to put it to use.

If you want to work on chug patterns the following might help. It's an adaptation of some drum practice stuff, ask your drummer about 'stick control' book and rudiment patterns for more..

Take 8th notes, and start accenting the first, and palm muting the rest. I'll notate this as:
X x x x x x x x
Play that along with a metronome or drumloop. Now shift the accent:
x X x x x x x x
Then x x X x x x x x and so on.
Now add other accents and place them anywhere (even one following the other) and chug to that
If you look at it as two groups of four 8 notes, each group has 16 possible combinations of accented and muted notes. Learn all of these, and then play one group of four followed by another group of four. The stickecontrol book prints all of these combinations for sticking patterns for drumming but its the same combos for mutes and accents.
So now you should have no problem playing XXxx XxxX or xXXx Xxx and XxxXxxXx (really common)
Now to go even further, add rests, add quarter notes, add a few notes from a scale..
The whole point of this is to train your hands, ears and inner groove to be able to chug and syncopate without losing track of where you are in the bar. By writing a bunch of grooves down you force yourself to practice patterns you might not come up with if just playing. And as it gets drilled into you you'll find it easier to play more complex patterns while just listening and feeling the beat, you'll instinctively know where the start of the bar is even after long sequences.
Hope this helps, it works for me anyway, I am more of a maths and patterns type and this appeals to that side of my brain

Just a simple question here.. When you say accent do you mean just like play it as an open note or power chord? Because I hear that a lot.

 

[DarksomeOrigin]

Try to find inspiration in music outside of metal. Some of my best ideas have come from my prog rock influences that I translate through my metal writing.

 

[innovine]

Thanks everyone who's posted in here so far. All great information! I really appreciate all of the help. Can't wait to put it to use.



Just a simple question here.. When you say accent do you mean just like play it as an open note or power chord? Because I hear that a lot.

I mean lift your picking hand off the strings, so the accented note is not palm muted, but the rest are.
Accenting just means making the note stand out.

You could also play a power chord for the accent, and return to a muted Em for the unaccented chugs. Or for the sake of it, play nothing where the accents are notated.

My recommendation is to not worry too much about how musical the phrase is at first. Just drilling accents, chugs and rest (not playing anything) and mixes of quarter and eight notes in different combos will help you get used to chugging in time, and then you will start to notice which of the patterns sound good to you

 

[innovine]

Another interesting thing to note here.. XxxXxxXx sounds like a group of 3, a group of 3 and a group of two, like this: Xxx Xxx Xx
But playing that along with a straight drum beat is tricky. If you think of it as XxxX xxXx you'll keep in time with the drums a lot easier. Of course, it should sound the same but changing how you think of it internally can make it easier to know where you are in relation to the drums.

 

[Solodini]

Take the things you know how to play, chop them into phrases and rearrange them. A phrase doesn't necessarily start and end within the confines of a measure. Beat 4 might be the lead into the phrase so may be better included as part of the following bar's phrase, rather than as the end of the bar it is in.

You may be able to chop those phrases into further smaller phrases. Try rearranging them a bit.

Once you have a core idea formed from that, develop on it. You have a line which goes ADGC? Try making it ADAC or ADGD or ADBC or ADGE and see where your ear tells you it should go from there, if somewhere different from before.
Instead, you could continue on to make it ADGCFB to extend the sequence and then vary that. There's lots you can do by messing about with a reversal or inversion (turning upside down) of a chunk of someone else's music!