Keeping things interesting!
Okay so given my physical limitations I'm not gonna be able to play fast, which to the uneducated one track metalhead, that would be devestating. I, however, see it is a creative opportunity to do something different. Fortunately for me, I do enjoy bands like Candlemass, old Anathema, My Dying Bride, Autopsy, Obituary and Asphyx, but as we all know, let's face it, these bands can get droning and repetetive. Good music captures a feeling, but it should also be able to hold ones attention. My quandry to you is this. What methods, chord shapes, scales, ideas, ANYTHING could I do to make extreme music in this vein, yet keep it interesting? Thanks for your help and advice guys!
# 1
Oooof....A lot to answer there.
Are you recording your tunes?
One thing to experiment with is layers. Especially with slower and/or simple riffs, layering can be a big key to bringing a song to life. Think in terms of an orchestra...if you just sat & listened to just an Oboe play it's part of a huge arrangement you'd be thinking wah?!?!? But put it in context with all the other instruments around it and it makes sense.
A lot of times guitarists...especially Rock/Metal guitarists...get caught up in thinking that THE RIFF is THE ONLY thing that's important. A guitar's range covers a lot of sonic territory, so why should we have to settle for just chugging away in the low registers for rhythm and soloing up high on the neck. Mix it up and layer it up.
A dude called the Ulnarian over at Guitar War/Musician War explained it the best....he used the choir comparison....you listen to one member of the choir & they suck, add in 50 more so-so singers and you'ge got a choir...and it sounds great. LOL
Now I'm not at all saying that you suck (LOL)....just that adding in layers can lend substantial interest to a section that might otherwise get too repetitive sounding. Write a simple, heavy riff and just start messing with additional riffs/lines that play off of it and compliment it. Then, the funniest thing is, you can take away all those layers and go back to just the underlying riff and it will sound almost new again. Eventually, you'll learn to strike a balance between using heavily layered and sparse textures as you build your style.
Of course beyond that even, tones & effects can also bring things together. Using bright, clean tones to offset the heavy dark ones...etc...etc.
Hope this was somewhat helpful...cause I type very slow & this took forever! LOL ;)
best of luck,
Don
Are you recording your tunes?
One thing to experiment with is layers. Especially with slower and/or simple riffs, layering can be a big key to bringing a song to life. Think in terms of an orchestra...if you just sat & listened to just an Oboe play it's part of a huge arrangement you'd be thinking wah?!?!? But put it in context with all the other instruments around it and it makes sense.
A lot of times guitarists...especially Rock/Metal guitarists...get caught up in thinking that THE RIFF is THE ONLY thing that's important. A guitar's range covers a lot of sonic territory, so why should we have to settle for just chugging away in the low registers for rhythm and soloing up high on the neck. Mix it up and layer it up.
A dude called the Ulnarian over at Guitar War/Musician War explained it the best....he used the choir comparison....you listen to one member of the choir & they suck, add in 50 more so-so singers and you'ge got a choir...and it sounds great. LOL
Now I'm not at all saying that you suck (LOL)....just that adding in layers can lend substantial interest to a section that might otherwise get too repetitive sounding. Write a simple, heavy riff and just start messing with additional riffs/lines that play off of it and compliment it. Then, the funniest thing is, you can take away all those layers and go back to just the underlying riff and it will sound almost new again. Eventually, you'll learn to strike a balance between using heavily layered and sparse textures as you build your style.
Of course beyond that even, tones & effects can also bring things together. Using bright, clean tones to offset the heavy dark ones...etc...etc.
Hope this was somewhat helpful...cause I type very slow & this took forever! LOL ;)
best of luck,
Don
# 2
Originally Posted by: HjorvardOkay so given my physical limitations I'm not gonna be able to play fast, which to the uneducated one track metalhead, that would be devestating. I, however, see it is a creative opportunity to do something different. Fortunately for me, I do enjoy bands like Candlemass, old Anathema, My Dying Bride, Autopsy, Obituary and Asphyx, but as we all know, let's face it, these bands can get droning and repetetive. Good music captures a feeling, but it should also be able to hold ones attention. My quandry to you is this. What methods, chord shapes, scales, ideas, ANYTHING could I do to make extreme music in this vein, yet keep it interesting? Thanks for your help and advice guys!
I,d get a melody line out then build your harmony remembering your scale will be your final resolving note. The melody you start with each note and make it common to a chord and the chord progression with a note common to each chord and tweak it as you go remembering the bass note of each chord is the foundation and has complete freedom of movement but the
other note components of the chord have to move either with the bass or against the bass to good effect in the whole scheme of things there are rules for these movements in general but trust your ear.
# 3
Try using verses,chorus and also a bridge. The 3 changes between them(simple or not) should keep things interesting. Also. Back up/harmony vocals helps immensely
# 4
I've actually been playing around with all of these suggestions and it's been a mega help.
# 5
Cool! Glad that it wasn't a page & a half of pointless babbling! ;)
Serisously though...Gald to help in any way man!
Best of luck to ya!
Don
Serisously though...Gald to help in any way man!
Best of luck to ya!
Don
# 6
I just kinda skimmed through the responses here but I wanted to add my 2 cents on lyric and song writing.
Definitely invest a couple of hundred bucks and get yourself a program called MasterWriter.
I've been using it for awhile now and it's invaluable for things like rhymes, thesaurus info, Dictionary, Phrases, Rhymed Phrases, Aliterations, Pop-Culture references etc..
Not to mention a convenient layout to organize your songwriting, sketches, audio and lyrics.
I'm not associated with them in any way but I've been using the program for awhile now and it's invaluable in organizing your ideas and coming up with interesting subjects and tangents to go off on.
Definitely invest a couple of hundred bucks and get yourself a program called MasterWriter.
I've been using it for awhile now and it's invaluable for things like rhymes, thesaurus info, Dictionary, Phrases, Rhymed Phrases, Aliterations, Pop-Culture references etc..
Not to mention a convenient layout to organize your songwriting, sketches, audio and lyrics.
I'm not associated with them in any way but I've been using the program for awhile now and it's invaluable in organizing your ideas and coming up with interesting subjects and tangents to go off on.
# 7
