What's YOUR creative process?

[AngstRiddenDreams]

As I was playing earlier today I started to put together a little collection of riffs that I had just come up with. As I was playing around with them I came to realize that they fit in perfectly with a riff I really liked, but haven't found use for it in a song context. Then it occurred to me that my songs always come into fruition like this: I come up with a cool sounding riff, but never go anywhere else with it. Then, a day or a week later, I end up writing riffs that unintentionally fit with that one and complete a song.

Seems to me that I'm either just looking for anything to branch songs together with, or my subconscious is better at composing than my conscious self.

What do you guys notice about the way you write songs?

 

[Dayn]

It's always when I'm in the shower or about to fall asleep where I can't do anything about it.

Either that, or I just stare at my computer screen and think of what I want something to sound like. Then I write whatever comes into my head. Yeah... it's not really interesting. I've had enough practice that it's something I can just do on a moment's notice.

Mostly it just starts with an idea. Over a year ago, I came up with a tiny four-chord progression. It was pretty much i-v-iv-v, i-v-iv-i. The chord voicings were tiny and the notes from chord to chord moved stepwise. It was incredibly simple. Then I kept adding to it. Now it's nearly 10 minutes long and my best song yet, constantly changing as the song progresses, but keeping a very strong theme throughout, and ends kind of like the way it began. When I listen to it I lose track of time.


So yeah.

Or I just find something I like, analyse it, and write something similar. That really helps my creativity. It adds to my palette.

 

[acrcmb]

It's always when I'm in the shower or about to fall asleep where I can't do anything about it.

Either that, or I just stare at my computer screen and think of what I want something to sound like. Then I write whatever comes into my head. Yeah... it's not really interesting. I've had enough practice that it's something I can just do on a moment's notice.

Mostly it just starts with an idea. Over a year ago, I came up with a tiny four-chord progression. It was pretty much i-v-iv-v, i-v-iv-i. The chord voicings were tiny and the notes from chord to chord moved stepwise. It was incredibly simple. Then I kept adding to it. Now it's nearly 10 minutes long and my best song yet, constantly changing as the song progresses, but keeping a very strong theme throughout, and ends kind of like the way it began. When I listen to it I lose track of time.


So yeah.

Or I just find something I like, analyse it, and write something similar. That really helps my creativity. It adds to my palette.

Sounds like how i write lyrics which is weird because i'm not even a vocalist or in a band sometimes I just feel like writing usually when I'm really tired I'll just get the urge so i'll write stuff it could be a single line or a whole song it just happens I don't even know if i'll ever use them.

 

[nsimonsen]

Usually it starts with a motif/idea that just comes into my head, whether it be rhythmic or melodic. Especially with odd time ideas, it's just a rhythmic idea that I turn into a riff.

I'll take that concept, try to find a key/position that sounds ideal and work from there. Chord structure, transitions etc fall into place pretty easily once you have the "hook" or in this case the 'big riff"

 

[TheFerryMan]

1: grab guitar
2: open reaper.
3: jam on riffs.
4: open guitarpro to tab ideas out
5: build them further
6: add drums,
7: rearrange
9: quit music
10: listen to music for inspiration
11:start at step 1 again.

repeat into infinity.

 

[brutalwizard]

First i make a visit to DR. Ugz, then see what happens.

 

[JosephAOI]

I just play guitar, sometimes when I'm noodling around, I hear something that catches my ear and I play it again, think of how it should sound. I'll fine tune it to something as sick as I can make it, then tab it out in guitar pro. Add other two guitars, bass, and drums. Then I'll listen to it a few times and think of what should come next. If I'm lucky, an idea will pop up immediately. Oftentimes though, I won't have any idea and I'll close the file and come back to it in a few days or weeks with fresh inspiration.

I guess it works too, cause I've gotten lots of compliments on my songs. They are only Guitar Pro though so they're not totally done yet.

 

[FireInside]

Two ways (kinda similar though:

Method #1
I jam on riffs by myself for a while. When I come up with something cool I immediately record it (my memory is shit). I have a long ass clip with all of my ideas on it (around 45 minutes at the moment). As I use different riffs I delete them from the file. I constantly transfer the updated file to my IPod and listen to it while I fall asleep and when I am driving to work(you wouldn't believe how inspiring this is).

Method #2
I write riffs while jamming with my drummer. We piece togther different parts and try to work out a rough little jam. Once things are somewhat stable I hit record on my DAW and we constantly jam things out. When we are done jamming I "trim the fat" from the file and transfer the file to my IPod again and listen to it while I fall asleep and when I am driving to work.

 

[skisgaar]

Personally I find I don't have any particular patern for writing riffs or songs, just a bunch of repeating paterns. I find I'll come up with riffs in the most inapropriate of places, like in class, listening to a lecture, whilst revising, at a house or social situation where I'm not relatively involved.

I think that my best writing phases come when I'm bored or when I have nothing to do. From there, I try to get to a guitar as quickly as I can and just play what I thought of.

Sometimes the riffs may not gel well with the tuning I'm using though, so I go to my next go to tuning, and work from there. Sometimes that results as something entirely different, but still fits the original thing I wrote.

Here's something cool:
In an hour and a half lecture last week, I wrote 3 songs in my head, and tabbed them all out on paper. Completely spontaneous. Completely different. That's how uninvolved I was.

 

[Ocara-Jacob]

Generally I just sit down with a guitar and start screwing around until I come up with something I like, at which point I just expand on that idea and maybe throw in a couple of other concepts I came up with earlier.

 

[Wings of Obsidian]

Masturbation

 

[JLP2005]

1.) Try and write
2.) Get frustrated as hell
3.) Call friends over to have them hear it
4.) Friends have the shittiest input ever.
5.) Feel like total shit and get even more frustrated
6.) Get really down about it.
6a.) Go back to the studio thinking that this 'negative energy' will soon turn creative
7.) More negative feelings
8.) Get super fucking angry and withdrawn
9.) Bouts of inferiority, shame, anger, dread
10.) Come to grips with it over a 3 week period
11.) Come back to the studio and just fucking slay that bitch like you're exercising every demon you've ever had
12.) Metal superhero
13.) Rinse/repeat ad nauseum

 

[RevDrucifer]

Depends on what situation I'm in, if I HAVE to write something or if I'm just fucking around.

The past 2 bands I've played in, I've had to write lyrics/vocal melodies to songs that were already written (most with vocals already that I was completely re-writing). And I had to do it in a short amount of time.

I'll listen to the recordings first, then listen to the band play the songs live and that's when the creative part starts kicking in. It's just easier to get a good understanding of a songs structure in it's recorded form before you go into a room with cranked Marshall's and Mesa's....and stupidly loud drummers.

Once I get see how the songs feel live is where all the initials ideas come from, then I get home and start working those ideas out in GarageBand. Recording in itself is a big creative influence. It definitely gets me going in different directions when I hear something back I didn't do on purpose.

Melodies always start first and then I'll write lyrics to fit the melody. Same way I write guitar parts, a melody first that I'll regurgitate over and over until something comes out of it.

And one or two hits generally aids in the process.

 

[fps]

I tend to get an idea I really like stuck in my head for a coupla weeks, and try to write around that and play with it, see where in a song it would come and whether I can write anything else that would complement it, and go from there. If I can't find two parts that organically flow into each other, I don't have a song idea, I have a riff, and it goes on the back burner. The riff or idea could be from any band member, but I'm the arranger of all our songs.

I then try and work out what the central feel of the song is, what the centre of it is in terms of drums or vocal lines, and write from that, deciding what kind of parts would work well and then writing and rewriting those. At that point I'll send it to the other guys in the band to get some feedback and thoughts. I'll let it roll around in my head for another couple of weeks then come back to it and see if anything else comes from that (this process can be repeated several times), then when I have some parts from the start of the song through I make a little demo of it with drums and guitars, get my singer over and see if we can work out a good approach between us for vocals, as we both sing. I might have some ideas for hooks anyway, he might have something else, we record different versions and ideas and A/B them all to see what's best. Once we have some vocals we're on the way to a song, and this usually helps with any parts I'm having trouble with because we have the vocals driving the direction of the song now.

I'll continue to add to the demo as I go, sending it to other band members for feedback, suggestions and additional ideas, as well as seeing if they're comfortable playing what's being written, soloing over it, playing certain beats etc. If I have a new great riff idea that blows everything else out of the water then drastic rewrites can happen, but once we have a good vocal approach on a section it tends not to change much. We'll try and identify a central lyric or few words that define the song and write from there, but mostly work out our melodies first then put words to them later that work for the feel of the song.

Once we have a full demo we'll take it to the whole band with tabs, our drummer has the basic idea of half-time or lots of fills or busy straight beat etc. and can play with it to get something he's happy with that puts his own stamp on it, our bassist can jam away from the riffs to find complementary parts, our other guitarist can work out harmonies and things he likes or suggest variations within the riffs. From there we work out whether something feels right when played live, rather than just on Logic, and if it doesn't we'll discuss what to do about that then go away and think about it, maybe put some parts in a different order, add a stop, bring in something new to replace a section that doesn't work (usually something a lot simpler and less fussy than what was there before).

Once we're happy we have it, my singer and me will get together at mine and work out lyrics, finalise harmonies, and finish the demo of the song. Then that goes out to everyone to approve and then learn, and we're done. The process can take several months for any given song. One of our songs came together in a week, but only one. We take a lot of care and pride in our music, which is why a song can go through a lot of rewrites. It's rock music rather than metal, so it's a fine line between sounding good and sounding cliche, which we try and straddle as best we can.

 

[poopyalligator]

As I was playing earlier today I started to put together a little collection of riffs that I had just come up with. As I was playing around with them I came to realize that they fit in perfectly with a riff I really liked, but haven't found use for it in a song context. Then it occurred to me that my songs always come into fruition like this: I come up with a cool sounding riff, but never go anywhere else with it. Then, a day or a week later, I end up writing riffs that unintentionally fit with that one and complete a song.

Seems to me that I'm either just looking for anything to branch songs together with, or my subconscious is better at composing than my conscious self.

What do you guys notice about the way you write songs?

Pretty much exactly this, or sometimes I get lucky and manage to write a song super quick, but that is rare

 

[JLP2005]

(Deleted by user)

 

[AngstRiddenDreams]

Pretty much exactly this, or sometimes I get lucky and manage to write a song super quick, but that is rare

I tend to be the same way as well. It's really cool when the songs come together all at once, sometimes it feels like they gel together. But most of the time quickly composed songs sound like they were quickly composed.

 

[Rev2010]

Here's my opinion reposted here from 2 years ago:

Here are my suggestions, because I had many bouts of writers block around mid point in my music writing life:

1. KNOW WHAT YOU ARE INTENDING TO WRITE FIRST! Sorry for the all caps but I can't stress this enough. Of course, not everyone needs to do this, but in my personal experience the best songs come when you know what the fuck it is you are writing about first! Just throwing together a dozen "cool" riffs doesn't cut it for me. If you sit down and hash out what the song is going to be about and plot it out in your head first it can work wonders. I now sit and figure out what a new song is going to be about. Then I think of my feelings toward said topic. Then I figure out (again all in my head and take notes) how it's going to start and where it's going to go from there. This way your music will match what you're expressing. Not just, "Well I was sitting down waiting for a download and came up with this cool riff so now I'm gonna throw it together with a bunch of other spontaneously written cool riffs and make a song about XXX". See where I'm going with this?

2. Don't be so damned hard on yourself. I need to take my own advice here lol. I push myself too hard and get depressed when I waste a whole day with nothing solid written. Then suddenly the next day something unexpectedly awesome comes out. Take a breather when you can and relax about the whole process.

3. Experiment. Maybe you should try adding other shit to your music like Keyboards, effects, loops, etc. Sometimes just plain 'ol guitar can get a little tiring. There's never anything wrong with adding other sounds to your stuff. Don't limit yourself cause doing so is lame and causes stagnation.

4. As others have mentioned already, getting some music theory knowledge helps a ton as well. While songs can vary dramatically and limitlessly in sound and arrangement fact is most songs (well the successful one's anyway) have some form of structure that is commonly recognized. You may have some great riffs that reflect a songs purpose but you'll have to have some basic knowledge on how to best arrange them.

Anyhow, those are my opinions with #1 being the absolute most important - for me it was at least. Best of luck!


Rev.

 

[KarlMagnusRobin]

I pick my guitar up, plug it in and start improvising!

When I come up with something cool I tab it down in GP and save it,
sometimes it takes weeks until I come up with other riffs that fit in..
sometimes it just flows right out of me and I end up with 4 songs in and afternoon!

My riffs/songs usually mirrors the kind of music I listen to at that moment!

Right now everything that I improvise and write sounds a lot like Opeth's latest album, Graveyard and other 70's proggy music etc.

To expand my writing I usually learn band's songs wich I find interesting, just to learn what type of chords and scales they typically use.. and what type of structure their songs got, I analyze it completely!

 

[ghost2II2]

I tend to draw from both pools. It can start with a riff I stumble upon while playing at home and next thing I know the outline of an entire song is born. Or, a song can grow out of a jam at rehearsal. We are always recording, and cataloging stuff. It doesn't always end there, either. Just about every member of my band has at one point or another wanted to kill be because I'm notorious for coming in with a complete restructure, change, or addition just as we're ready to hit the button to start tracking. That pretty much goes over like a fart in church. But I figure that if they didn't agree that it was an improvement, then we wouldn't be doing it.