[TheMasterplan]

I don't do much of it and for good reason. This reason seems retarded to me, that's why I need some input from other people on here who compose their own music.

I have only written one song in my three years of guitar playing and even that song to me feels like it's missing a hell of a lot. Now, I've written a good many riffs, some decent, some good, some bad. Problem is as I make these riffs no matter how good/bad/technical/catchy/groovy whatever, I get tired of them and as such think they're bad and scrap them. Another problem I run into is I always feel like the things I write sound too much like something I listen to a little too specifically. Like I wrote this one riff the other day that I was going to use as the main riff of another composition but it sounded like the chorus riff from Cephalic Carnage's Endless Cycle of Violence except with a few runs and little extra bells and whistles but I couldn't get "ENDLESS, ENDLESS CYCLE OF VIOLENCE." out of my head when I played it. The third thing I run into is writing a riff that I like a lot and then not being able to write a complementary riff to it to keep it going. I don't mean like theme variation, I mean a different riff that sounds like it belongs being played in succession of the previous one and vice versa.

Am I crazy or does everyone run into these things? I just can't seem to write something that sounds like me that's actually good and non-generic. Thoughts?

[ZeroSignal]

I'm getting that a bit myself...

EDIT: I added you on myspace.

[Trespass]

I wrote a song thats about 3 minutes long, all progressive that builds off a simple Japanese In Sen lick about 4 notes long. After writing it, I listened to Al Di Meola's Flight Over Rio, and the bass line is pretty mcuh the opening riff. Now all I can think of is that song

[ukfswmart]

I get this all the goddamn time

[Durero]

I think these are very common challenges for everyone who composes.

A thing I find helpful is to learn to think of materials (for example riffs) more abstractly and just concentrate on how they sound as opposed to how they feel when you play them. That way it can be easier to manipulate and make variations on your ideas.

For example, say you have a riff that sounds too similar to someone else's riff, if you can hold the riff in your head and imagine playing the same notes but altering the rhythm - say syncopating differently - you'll find that even tiny changes to the rhythm of a riff will make it sound & feel vastly different.

Another tool is to keep the riff the same, but alter the starting point. Also adding or subtracting a beat or pulse and changing the meter between even & odd is very effective. Again it can sound completely different from small changes.

There are also the tried & true traditional tools of variation - inversion & retrograde. Try inverting the melodic contour of the riff, or playing it backwards...


Edit: Oh and another thing, thinking about orchestration can be another effective tool. For example, a riff which reminds you too much of something else can be left unaltered if you alter what one of the other instruments is doing - a different drum part, bass part, or different singing style or voice type. Most guitar riffs are played in a band context, so you can change the feel of a riff by changing what other players are playing with the riff.

[TheMasterplan]

I'm glad it's not just me running into these types of scenarios. Hopefully when I call my bassist today we can get together and bounce ideas off of each other sometime this week. Those are some very good tips and I'll be sure to give them all a try. And I accepted this morning Zero

[kristallin]

I trust the other people in my band's judgments more than my own, because if I were to rely on myself to decide if an idea is good or not I'd never finish a track. Like Leo says two posts up, sometimes the changes another musician makes to the song, be it conscious or subconscious, makes all the difference.

[budda]

in my last band, we would get together and be like "ok, lets come up with a song" (unless we had a gig coming up, in wihch case we learned a cover or tw).

anyway, waht would happen was this. i'd ask what the feel for the song would be, and come up with a simple 3 chord progression for it. the bassist and drummer would join in, and the vocalist would start doing his thing. we'd jam on it for about an hour, see how it goes.

then we'd discuss what we did and didnt like, tweak, and keep workin at it until everybody had their parts memorized. worked really well.

mind you it doesnt work that way for everybody, but we churned out a good 8 songs in about a year as well as our list of covers.

jamming really helps with songwriting. i am aiming to use my ear, not my minor scale knowledge to write these days. I just rock out in the living room, and try to remember the riffs that sound good. I dont have a band, and dont record often enough to write whole songs by myself.

[Zand3]

Having a few people to work with in a band helps, because there you don't just get riffs influenced by the bands you like, but also the bands your band mates like too. People can bring little ideas in and then just take it from there with contribution from everyone. Also I think you have to say quite often, "It's okay that this riff was influenced by this song." Because that song was influenced by some other song before it anyway..so don't be too hard on your stuff.

As far as writing complimentary riffs, what helps me is picturing the drums during the riff I wrote in my head, and then the transition to the next part. Take a walk away from your instrument and just play the riff in your head and eventually your mind will take it to the next part. That's when you come back to your guitar and figure it out and play it. That's just one way to go about it.

[TheMissing]

I've listened to so many classical songs, and things of the like being in school bands from 4th grade until I graduated. So I picked up a good feel for arrangements. I'm quite proud of the work i've done arranging songs actually.

listen to some Souza marches

John Philip Sousa - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia