Post by Metal-X on Dec 2, 2011 17:04:35 GMT -5
Hey guys,
Just starting this as I am merely curious as to the process that other bands go through when they write songs. We all know that there are a vast majority of ways that great and even successful bands have written their material through the years, such as:
- Eddie Van Halen used to ride around in limos with a bag of fine green and start writing songs for Van Halen that way.
- Other bands such as Tool and the like, hole themselves up in an room/ house/ volcano and write and write and write so that their creative process is largely undisturbed and purely what the band wants.
- And on the other hand you have people that hire songwriters to do it for them. (No shame in that game.)
Anyways, just an inside look at how we do it. Pretty much each and every day we jam together, we smoke out our practice space, drinking 2... maybe 20 too many beers, and just jamming to what feels natural. Once we get something down solid (generally we write the hook first), then we will start building other riffs and transitions around it to support that riff until we have a song. Then we spend til the end of time trying to perfect it to the way it needs to be (that also give us the freedom to change it up live if we feel like it). Lyrics usually come and go during the writing process as our fearless leader ad libs while we create it, (helps gives us more ideas to play with) and then solidifies it all at the end.
In general, we find the one thing that really works, mold a song around it, and keep hammering it out until it can get no better, which is never. Now I know everyone writes things differently, and I'm just curious enough to explore some different songwriting techniques, that way if one day any of us have writers block, then we have another way we could eventually finish the song.
And remember, songwriting is like a muscle. The more you do it and practice it... the easier it will become to write better songs!!
So guys, how do you accomplish all the great songwriting that you do?
Just starting this as I am merely curious as to the process that other bands go through when they write songs. We all know that there are a vast majority of ways that great and even successful bands have written their material through the years, such as:
- Eddie Van Halen used to ride around in limos with a bag of fine green and start writing songs for Van Halen that way.
- Other bands such as Tool and the like, hole themselves up in an room/ house/ volcano and write and write and write so that their creative process is largely undisturbed and purely what the band wants.
- And on the other hand you have people that hire songwriters to do it for them. (No shame in that game.)
Anyways, just an inside look at how we do it. Pretty much each and every day we jam together, we smoke out our practice space, drinking 2... maybe 20 too many beers, and just jamming to what feels natural. Once we get something down solid (generally we write the hook first), then we will start building other riffs and transitions around it to support that riff until we have a song. Then we spend til the end of time trying to perfect it to the way it needs to be (that also give us the freedom to change it up live if we feel like it). Lyrics usually come and go during the writing process as our fearless leader ad libs while we create it, (helps gives us more ideas to play with) and then solidifies it all at the end.
In general, we find the one thing that really works, mold a song around it, and keep hammering it out until it can get no better, which is never. Now I know everyone writes things differently, and I'm just curious enough to explore some different songwriting techniques, that way if one day any of us have writers block, then we have another way we could eventually finish the song.
And remember, songwriting is like a muscle. The more you do it and practice it... the easier it will become to write better songs!!
So guys, how do you accomplish all the great songwriting that you do?
