Hello everybody.

Here's the thing. Me and my band, Avatar, is releasing our first album in the beginning of next year and right now I'm into finding a new direction in my songwriting. We're basically a melodic death metal band. The sound is pretty much what you would expect from a band like us, but we're more into looking on the harmonies and stuff and bringing in new kinds of chord progressions and melodies, mixing it with the traditional metal stuff that we love.

For me, songwriting has always been a process containing 80% agony, suffering and frustration, 15% actual productive writing and 5% enjoying what you do. Sadly, it's worth it

Anyways, I'm not interested in you all telling me what I'm supposed to write, but I'd like to hear how you (who write music and lyriks) work. When is the right time? Can you really repeat the same process for a new song? When did it work out the best for you?

People tend to overlook my threads, but this what should be interesting enough for you.

It's also open for everyone doing creative things. How do you work a painter, director or whatever you do?

So tell me about you're art.

Well...how do I write songs? ...in one word, BADLY! But when I manage to get anything done, it's always a kind of "in the zone moment" of course, when I listen back the next day I realise it all sucks and scrap it.

I thin kas far as the writing process...try not to get too much in a set routine for how you write things in case it starts to rub off on what you're writing and all starts to sound the same...but find an environment you are comfortable with (that bits really up to you what works best), with few distractions, with the best people to work with etc etc

In other words, I have no idea, I just wish I was a creative person in some way...be it music, writing, art whatever, I just don't think I have it in me, and it's the biggest pain to me in my life!

My problem with my music is that I simply can't fit riffs together! It's like a disease or something where I try and go for something completely over the top and it all sounds like garbage.

You all think you've got it bad, I've never managed to finish a song EVER
I think one day i'm just gonna go "fuck it" and do a song that's all over the place.

Luckily i'm better at designing things. I was always told to work things around a theme of some sorts. I'm not sure how this applies to music but there you go.

Still better than me I promise! Here's the best I've ever come up with and they all suck!

http://geocities.com/midnight_kitty10/sample

Still better than me I promise! Here's the best I've ever come up with and they all suck!

http://geocities.com/midnight_kitty10/sample

That first one sounds awesome, seriously Arpeggios of doom or something!

You all think you've got it bad, I've never managed to finish a song EVER
I think one day i'm just gonna go "fuck it" and do a song that's all over the place.

I really think you should. It's pretty much where I am at the moment, putting letting any riff, rythm and melody line that comes to my mind be a part of the current project so that I just can clean up after a while and have a song hidden under a pile of garbage. The problem is that I go blind in the process. Creating things have never been the problem. It's the taking controll of it that fails me.

I use Guitar Pro to write down my stuff and I'm able to quickly arrange it for a band and try out different way of playing it way before a show it to the guys in the band. You get use to the midi-sound pretty fast to. How do you work?

Still better than me I promise! Here's the best I've ever come up with and they all suck!

I don't see how that stuff suck at all. It's all in an early phase but there are a couple of cool ideas in there.

A thought to us all: If we know that our own song suck, we should know what exactly it is and thus be able to fix it, right?

I wonder how the Dev works...

Generally I listen to music that I enjoy (which is most music) and get excited enough about it that I just sort of feel ready to create stuff.

Other times I am just feeling owned by a certain mood or feeling and so I just try and describe that in words or sound.

I know that once a song has been started it sort of dictates how the rest of it is written. I think if you can get the first part of a song down it tells you where it has to go... You just listen to it, and let your mind trail off after what you have is finished... and you can hear what goes next.

When it comes to writing lyrics, it probably also depends on what you're trying to write about.
When you're trying to write about your feelings and stuff like that, it seems the most difficult to me (write about the frustration of not being able to write anything?)
But you can also try to write about all the bad things going on in the world, injustice and stuff like that (Metallica - And justive for all for example)
Or you can try to just tell a story, like Opet did in My arms, your hearse and Still Life.
I figure they all require a different approach to it. I think. But I suck when it comes to lyrics.

[Blazingmonga]

People tend to overlook my threads, but this what should be interesting enough for you.

Fear not, this is a very interesting thread! And believe me, no thread goes overlooked....even if nobody replies to it, I know that I read every single thread in this place.

It's also open for everyone doing creative things. How do you work a painter, director or whatever you do?

So tell me about you're art.

Although I am in no way a musician, I think I can still contribute to this thread. My 'art' (if you can call it that) is drawings, mainly ink. I feel that I can compare what I do to something musical because I class each drawing as a 'project', in the same way a musician would record an 'album'.

In the same way that a musician will record demos, I make a demo of my final piece before I make any final decision on what I want to do. That demo is the result of many, many sketches and doodles. Very many! Sometimes it takes me weeks or months before I come to the stage where I am ready to finally produce the finished product.

The first part in the process for me is a very simple idea. Sometimes I have a dream. Sometimes I read something, or hear something in a song. Sometimes even a sound or a texture can give me a bit of inspiration. At that point I start sketching, just getting each and every idea down on paper.

The flow of ideas works best when it isnt forced. I agree with Greg when he says:

I know that once a song has been started it sort of dictates how the rest of it is written. I think if you can get the first part of a song down it tells you where it has to go...

For me, even if that solution isn't apparent...it will come to me. The less you think about it the easier it is. I also make a point of carrying a sketch pad around with me so that I can jot down ideas when they come to me (in shops, at work, in the middle of the night, etc heh). It is definately an evolving process. Another good thing is to NEVER throw away an idea. I keep stacks upon stacks of (crappy) doodles because they always come in handy. Even though the final project is a drawing, the ideas and sketches can take the form of words or phrases that describe something to me. I imagine the same is possible with music. In the same way, I would recommend that you record as much stuff as you can and keep an 'archive' of ideas, because you never know when they will come in handy.

For instance, for the project I am working on now I have been struggling with some parts. When I was tidying my room I ended up looking through some of my doodles, and I found a few sketches that I did at least 2 years ago...but one of them contained a doodle that was the perfect solution for me.

As far as the ideal situation for general idea production, I find I get the most ideas by sitting and listening to my favourite music and just doodling. Perhaps you can do the same...though maybe other media could inspire you...watching TV even! I think it is most inspirational to absorb other peoples ideas and use them as a seed for your own. Art creating art!

Anyhoo...thats probably enough spam for now. Sorry for the long read...I am in a very verbal mood. Too much coffee I think!

I think that stuff is definately applicable, very interesting!

I think my last resort is tro try and find someone to collaborate with that might inspire me...other than that, I have no solution

I write much better when I'm alone. I rarely can write anything when I'm jamming with a band, just not as open to a Muse. I kinda view music like Tori Amos does, we just channel whatever energy is out there and it comes out as music. Whatever your view, every good peice of art needs a Muse, some sort of influence from the world or life or emotion.

All my writting is done alone at home, and most of the good stuff comes from deep depression spells or times when I'm so frustrated I just rake the strings until I find melody. Generally I just allow my fingers to go where they please, I don't really know what guides them but they just seem to go to certain chords and then I adjust it slightly so that it feels like me. I sometimes have a hard time putting riffs together and sometimes songs can take years because of it, but then I'll write something that fits like a glove. I write a lot of chaos so the riffs I put together don't flow in the normal sense, but I make sure they carry the emotion not the mind. So sometimes the songs are kinda like...a collage of complimentary peices that aren't entirely seemless in some peoples opinions. But that's how i like it, hehe.

Writting poetry and song lyrics are similar, I just 'puke on paper' and rearrange to fit to the song. That way I don't lose much of the raw emotion.

As for when I write midi's it's a bit different. I usually start with an acoustic guitar riff I wrote and then plug it into Guitar Pro (heh, great program hey Joch?) and then put the additional layers on as a trial and error process. Usually try experimenting a little with timing and chords and sounds. But ya, the midi's turn out a lot different than the normal songs I write, sound like RPG music, heh.

LINK REMOVED: See the rules!!!its aw inspiring

LINK REMOVED: See the rules!!!
its aw inspiring

Dude you have serious issues!!!!!