Song Construction

samson · Post by **samson** » Mon Sep 26, 2005 7:29 am

hey fellas

just want to talk about putting songs together

i have many many riffs which seem to get the head banging, but am having hard time trying to put them into songs in terms of structure, you know, whats a verse riff and whats a chours riff

listening to songs, it seems they always have atleast three different riffs or parts but fuck this shit is hard

anyone got any ideas or non smart arse comments???

cheers \m/

scrotal_tug · Post by **scrotal_tug** » Mon Sep 26, 2005 9:00 am

Hmm, I find getting a group of riffs together with roughly the same tempo is a good starting point to structuring a section of a song.

Timing & key of the differant riffs is also something to consider.

It makes a life lot easier if these differant riffs your piecing together are in keys that work together & are all in the same timing i.e 4/4.

Pantera420 · Post by **Pantera420** » Mon Sep 26, 2005 11:26 am

i'm where you're at right now and i've been there for quite a while. but lately things just started coming together so i guess you should just give it some time. trying piecing together some riffs that sound similar like they have something in common but they are different riffs.

dead forever · Post by **dead forever** » Mon Sep 26, 2005 1:04 pm

To be honest , i'd find maybe one riff and build on it . If you have loads of riffs and just join them together the song will sound disjointed and weird. I tend to find one riff i really like and try and add more to it, develop it. Like a story. Stuff like tempo changes, clean intros instead of distorted or vice verca, etc all help me. The only time i ever really join together random riffs is if i want a complete change of tempo at the end, like a song which is mid paced then towards the end turns into a kind of speed metal fest.

I guess its just whatever works best for you

Pantera420 · Post by **Pantera420** » Mon Sep 26, 2005 4:00 pm

dead forever wrote: I guess its just whatever works best for you

yeah that too. we watched a video on songwriting in my music business class and everybody had their own way of writing songs. i guess it just comes with time or experience

Dimejandro · Post by **Dimejandro** » Mon Sep 26, 2005 5:11 pm

a reason the riffs might not work together is that they might be in different keys.

Acid Flashbakc · Post by **Acid Flashbakc** » Mon Sep 26, 2005 5:16 pm

dead forever hit the nail on the head, atleast thats the way i do it.

croninburg · Post by **croninburg** » Mon Sep 26, 2005 6:48 pm

It might help if you write with someone else, it doesn't really matter what they play but having someone else's input might help you decide what would sound good with what. Also if you happen to try something shit they will (hopefully) tell you straight up.