darknailblue
10-02-2004, 01:23 PM
I originally wrote this message in response to the thread rock instrumentation, but then before I went to post it thought that everyone should read it. Hence starting a new thread.
I have this book called Melody in Songwriting, which is written by the song writing chairperson of the berklee college of music in boston. It's a good academic book, and has a lot of good ideas in it. Aside from the book though, what I've learned through writing songs with my band is that no matter what kind of music you play there are certain key elements that remain. These are eight things that I constantly think of and think are very important.
1 - continuity (did i spell that right?!?!??!!) make the song flow naturally. That doesn't mean you can't have abrupt key changes or tempo changes. It just means that everything should sound like it leads into whatever comes next.
2 - variation - how many times did you play that? And how did you play that? Do you like metallica? Well I love them, BBUUUUUUUUUUT they repeat riffs and songs parts too frequently, and on quite a few songs I get bored not because they repeat too frequently but because they repeat EXACTLY on verse 2 with they did on verse 1. On the other hand Dream Theater sometimes doesn't repeat riffs or songs parts ENOUGH or changes them up TOO much which will eventually lead me to #3. The key with variation is to change it up. Change the notes keep the rhythm. Vice versa. Sequence it. Create a song part that is based on another part. Keep familarity within the part but spice it up so that the A.D.D. listeners will be happy.
3 - balance - This goes for many things. Dynamics, speed, orchestral arrangement (ie. MAN there is always a guitar, maybe there could be a part without a guitar, or at least one where the guitar isn't the forefront of whats going on), repetition. Balance is a wonderful thing. I usually make reference to women at this point. You can have 2 girls one with a D cup and one with a B cup. You put a D on a tiny girl and it looks ridiculous!!! And vice versa. I like women that are in proportion. And a song (and everything else for that matter) should be the same way. Balance is critical!!!
4 - melody/rhythm - Think melody. Play with rhythm. Even if your just doing power chord riffs, you should always try to play melodically. Now this doesn't mean that you have to sacrifice other musical elements such as rhythm. Many people think you can only play one or the other and not both. However with that said, I am going to contradict my self and say that sometimes its a good idea to play only rhythmiclly, or only melodiclly. Sometimes a lead part sounds good with nothing under it. And sometimes you have a rhythm heavy groove that doesn't need a melody over it because you have the whole crowd jumpin!!! Have several of these concepts in your song. This goes back to balance, and into my next element of writing, which is
5 - mental awareness - Just as the cliche saying goes now adays. "We play for the song" Its sooooo true!!! Be aware of the song at all times. Most people who say this are people who don't know chords beyond diads and triads, and who don't know how to solo, so its kind of biased but even still its true. Don't put a guitar solo in the song just for the hell of it. If the song calls for it then do it. Listen to Satch, he has a solo in almost every song. Why? No. Not because he's a great guitar player, and he can show off, but because the sytle of music he plays neeeeeeeds a solo.
6 - Inspirational acceptance - Inspiration strikes again!!!! Write it down, or record it. But just because you have a great riff, or progression, or melody doesn't mean you have a great song. If nothing else spawns out of that riff don't dwell on it. But don't throw it out. One day while your writing something else, you might be able to plug that riff in and something awesome might happen.
7 - Be open - Don't be afraid to incorporate all your musical tastes into your songs. I like all types of music ranging from jazz, to metal, to prog, to hip - hop, country, blues, classical, techno... whatever. You name it, I love it. When I write my music contains elements of all of these, and therefore is pretty eclectic. Don't limit yourself to just writing metal, or rock, or jazz. Then you'll end up sounding like everyone else (or on MTV).
8 - Form/arranging - or lack of. You don't have to write Pop song format songs like most people do. Like verse, chorus, verse, chorus. bridge. Who says that you have to. Be organized but be intuitive. A band that I admire for writing intuitive songs is soilwork. In their songs they do something like this
intro
verse a
verse b - a,b,c are completely different musically
verse c
Hook
verse a
verse b
verse c
hook
chorus
bridge a
bridge b
intro
chorus
hook
The same elements are there as any song, but its pretty far removed from a pop song. If you want REAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAALLY out there arranging listen to prog metal band dream theater. I won't even get into how they write, but its just simply awesome (unless you want to write a song thats less than 10 minutes in length!!!!)
And also, don't follow one arrangement pattern. Just about every mainstream rock band does that, and its garbage. Just listen to Nickleback. Everynow and then Kroeger's got this slammin riff, but all the songs are written THE SAME WAY!!!!! Its the song writing equivalent of playing the same solo, everytime you have to solo. You'd be a one trick pony, and no one wants that. (A good example of a one trick pony is Yngwie Malmsteen. Check him out on the G3 video with Vai, and Satch, and you'll see what I mean).
Okay thats it about for now. Good luck with everything.
~dnb
I have this book called Melody in Songwriting, which is written by the song writing chairperson of the berklee college of music in boston. It's a good academic book, and has a lot of good ideas in it. Aside from the book though, what I've learned through writing songs with my band is that no matter what kind of music you play there are certain key elements that remain. These are eight things that I constantly think of and think are very important.
1 - continuity (did i spell that right?!?!??!!) make the song flow naturally. That doesn't mean you can't have abrupt key changes or tempo changes. It just means that everything should sound like it leads into whatever comes next.
2 - variation - how many times did you play that? And how did you play that? Do you like metallica? Well I love them, BBUUUUUUUUUUT they repeat riffs and songs parts too frequently, and on quite a few songs I get bored not because they repeat too frequently but because they repeat EXACTLY on verse 2 with they did on verse 1. On the other hand Dream Theater sometimes doesn't repeat riffs or songs parts ENOUGH or changes them up TOO much which will eventually lead me to #3. The key with variation is to change it up. Change the notes keep the rhythm. Vice versa. Sequence it. Create a song part that is based on another part. Keep familarity within the part but spice it up so that the A.D.D. listeners will be happy.
3 - balance - This goes for many things. Dynamics, speed, orchestral arrangement (ie. MAN there is always a guitar, maybe there could be a part without a guitar, or at least one where the guitar isn't the forefront of whats going on), repetition. Balance is a wonderful thing. I usually make reference to women at this point. You can have 2 girls one with a D cup and one with a B cup. You put a D on a tiny girl and it looks ridiculous!!! And vice versa. I like women that are in proportion. And a song (and everything else for that matter) should be the same way. Balance is critical!!!
4 - melody/rhythm - Think melody. Play with rhythm. Even if your just doing power chord riffs, you should always try to play melodically. Now this doesn't mean that you have to sacrifice other musical elements such as rhythm. Many people think you can only play one or the other and not both. However with that said, I am going to contradict my self and say that sometimes its a good idea to play only rhythmiclly, or only melodiclly. Sometimes a lead part sounds good with nothing under it. And sometimes you have a rhythm heavy groove that doesn't need a melody over it because you have the whole crowd jumpin!!! Have several of these concepts in your song. This goes back to balance, and into my next element of writing, which is
5 - mental awareness - Just as the cliche saying goes now adays. "We play for the song" Its sooooo true!!! Be aware of the song at all times. Most people who say this are people who don't know chords beyond diads and triads, and who don't know how to solo, so its kind of biased but even still its true. Don't put a guitar solo in the song just for the hell of it. If the song calls for it then do it. Listen to Satch, he has a solo in almost every song. Why? No. Not because he's a great guitar player, and he can show off, but because the sytle of music he plays neeeeeeeds a solo.
6 - Inspirational acceptance - Inspiration strikes again!!!! Write it down, or record it. But just because you have a great riff, or progression, or melody doesn't mean you have a great song. If nothing else spawns out of that riff don't dwell on it. But don't throw it out. One day while your writing something else, you might be able to plug that riff in and something awesome might happen.
7 - Be open - Don't be afraid to incorporate all your musical tastes into your songs. I like all types of music ranging from jazz, to metal, to prog, to hip - hop, country, blues, classical, techno... whatever. You name it, I love it. When I write my music contains elements of all of these, and therefore is pretty eclectic. Don't limit yourself to just writing metal, or rock, or jazz. Then you'll end up sounding like everyone else (or on MTV).
8 - Form/arranging - or lack of. You don't have to write Pop song format songs like most people do. Like verse, chorus, verse, chorus. bridge. Who says that you have to. Be organized but be intuitive. A band that I admire for writing intuitive songs is soilwork. In their songs they do something like this
intro
verse a
verse b - a,b,c are completely different musically
verse c
Hook
verse a
verse b
verse c
hook
chorus
bridge a
bridge b
intro
chorus
hook
The same elements are there as any song, but its pretty far removed from a pop song. If you want REAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAALLY out there arranging listen to prog metal band dream theater. I won't even get into how they write, but its just simply awesome (unless you want to write a song thats less than 10 minutes in length!!!!)
And also, don't follow one arrangement pattern. Just about every mainstream rock band does that, and its garbage. Just listen to Nickleback. Everynow and then Kroeger's got this slammin riff, but all the songs are written THE SAME WAY!!!!! Its the song writing equivalent of playing the same solo, everytime you have to solo. You'd be a one trick pony, and no one wants that. (A good example of a one trick pony is Yngwie Malmsteen. Check him out on the G3 video with Vai, and Satch, and you'll see what I mean).
Okay thats it about for now. Good luck with everything.
~dnb