Finding your own sound.

[rifftherapy]

So I've been trying to write some riffs/songs lately and some of them are pretty original but a lot of them accidently come out sounding like Metallica riffs or something which I find quite annoying. I used to be obsessed with Metallica as a kid/teenager but hardly ever listen to them anymore, yet the riffs all sound similar. Can anyone recommend any tips for tapping into my own creativity and coming up with really original stuff rather than just rehashing old riffs? Hope I explained the problem clearly enough, thanks.

[Stackabones]

Just keep writing. Don't criticize what you're doing. Just keep writing. Probably gonna take some serious writing time to weed out the Metallica.

 

Maybe stop trying to write riffs? Write songs without riffs.

[davie]

A good way to get out of imitating another band's style (whether intentional or not) is to widen your listening repertoire. Explore other genres as well, don't be afraid to leave your comfort zone.

 

In regard to songwriting, it's said that writing songs based on riffs alone isn't that effective. Though everyone's method and approach are different there are some fundamental things you want to consider.

 

In my experience (because I can only talk from MY experience), I've tried various approaches and I feel that my method is more refined compared to in the past. You just have to try different approaches in songwriting. Now, most of the time my songs are started off by establishing a chord progression, then afterward I'll come up with a melody, and then lyrics. Depending on how the music flows in that particular piece, I'll use it as guide to set the movement into the other parts (verse/bridge/chorus, etc).

[blue2blue]

I'm lucky... the surest way for me not to sound like somebody is to try to sound like somebody.

 

Ten years ago or so I used to do engineering for a culture beat stringer for German public radio. She was doing this piece on cops and donuts and came up with the idea of using the "When a man loves a woman" line from the Percy Sledge song -- only replace woman with donut. She asked me if I thought I could do it.

 

I said, Are you kidding? Percy Sledge? One of the most soulful singers of a soulful decade?

 

But she said, It's only one word.

 

Somehow she talked me into it and I just listened over and over, moving my tongue and jaw around in different ways to mimic Sledge's distinctive formants... and it was just one word. Although I sang the whole phrase and then just edited them together. I don't think I could have got away with more. But we listened over and over (while reminding ourselves it only had to work once to get the laugh) and we decided it was pretty darn close.

[rifftherapy]

Thanks for the tips, ill just keep at it I guess. I feel like I have a lot of things brewing inside me, expressing them properly is the hard part.

[LeonardScaper]

 

A good way to get out of imitating another band's style (whether intentional or not) is to widen your listening repertoire.

 

 

I don't own an iPod and I never play CD's. My truck radio is programed for NPR, a good singer/songwriter station, an indie/pop station, a country station and a classical station.....I rotate liberally.

 

Folks talk a lot about who their influences are........be your own influence and you'll eventually start sounding like......you.

[junkyard bennie]

 

So I've been trying to write some riffs/songs lately and some of them are pretty original but a lot of them accidently come out sounding like Metallica riffs or something which I find quite annoying. I used to be obsessed with Metallica as a kid/teenager but hardly ever listen to them anymore, yet the riffs all sound similar. Can anyone recommend any tips for tapping into my own creativity and coming up with really original stuff rather than just rehashing old riffs? Hope I explained the problem clearly enough, thanks.

 

 

 

As for riffs, think of your lyrics and write a sound (feeling) that matches your lyrics for the riffs. With that simple method, you discover who you are when it comes to creating your own riffs. Simple, yes. Practice, just do it.

 

 

Songs, well the easiest way to approach your own style may be is to say "this is where my mind is today" then write about it. See you are not copying anyone then. But you may find it easier to think and write about the past if you are just starting our as a songwriter.

[Lee Knight]

So I've been trying to write some riffs/songs lately and some of them are pretty original but a lot of them accidently come out sounding like Metallica riffs or something which I find quite annoying. I used to be obsessed with Metallica as a kid/teenager but hardly ever listen to them anymore, yet the riffs all sound similar. Can anyone recommend any tips for tapping into my own creativity and coming up with really original stuff rather than just rehashing old riffs? Hope I explained the problem clearly enough, thanks.

 

Well... I'll tell ya, I wouldn't abandon what you like about Metalica while you're trying to forge your sound. Try looking for stuff in your list of favorites that you can add to your Metalica-esque stuff to make something new.

 

The key to originality is embracing stuff that you love and combining it. Let's say you were a huge Bob Dylan fan as well...

 

I'm thinking a hybrid Dylan Metalica thing would be potent. But hey, that's me. Whoever floats your boat. Jimi? Clapton? Eddie? Trent? Be brave. Be yourself. Show your influences in a new ways.

 

Be brave. Be yourself.

 

Think of Soundgarden's Black Hole Sun. It's clear that they were copping some late Beatles and yet it wasn't a Beatles cop. Cause they were adding their love of the Beatles into their other passions.

 

So try adding rather than suppressing. Music is about abundance and freedom, not depriving and rules. The only rules are the ones you write to give your music focus.

[WRGKMC]

 

So I've been trying to write some riffs/songs lately and some of them are pretty original but a lot of them accidently come out sounding like Metallica riffs or something which I find quite annoying. I used to be obsessed with Metallica as a kid/teenager but hardly ever listen to them anymore, yet the riffs all sound similar. Can anyone recommend any tips for tapping into my own creativity and coming up with really original stuff rather than just rehashing old riffs? Hope I explained the problem clearly enough, thanks.

 

 

Expand your listening habits to include all types of music, even stuff you may not care for but can appreciate the performance.

 

You are what you experience and how those experiences stick with you. If your listening habits are narrow so will your writing skills may be limited for lack of references you can fall back on. If your listening habits are wide ranged, then all those subtle influences get mixed in even if you're writing is focused on a pure genre or style. The percussion used (if any) can limit possibilities too.

 

When songwiting I often use different drumbeats to achieve different genres. I can then later shift the beats and play the same song to different styles later after its written. I can take a rock song for example and make it sound latin, jazzy, bluesy, rege etc. It requires changing the beat, where the bass is played on the drum beat, vocal timing, rythum and leads used etc.

 

The basic progression, melody, lyrics can basically remain the same though.

 

I wouldnt be able to easily do that though if I didnt spend time writing or playing in those other generes though. I've also found this a good fix if I accidently write a song thats too close to something I've already written or heard by someone else. I just find a different drumbart, change all the other parts to compensate for that beat change, and presto, its a whole different song.

[Matximus]

 

So I've been trying to write some riffs/songs lately and some of them are pretty original but a lot of them accidently come out sounding like Metallica riffs or something which I find quite annoying. I used to be obsessed with Metallica as a kid/teenager but hardly ever listen to them anymore, yet the riffs all sound similar. Can anyone recommend any tips for tapping into my own creativity and coming up with really original stuff rather than just rehashing old riffs? Hope I explained the problem clearly enough, thanks.

 

 

Don't try and be creative. Just write what you like and write a lot. Seriously. You'll eventually do something unique. And if you don't, who gives a {censored}.

And the other thing is to simply LEARN TO PLAY A LOT OF THE MUSIC that interests you.

 

The formula for generating successful material is stupid simple: Learn a lot of music; Write a lot of music.

[rockinrobby]

Now where would he have been if he found his own sound?

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kbJiLp7erLg&feature=related

[Cliftonb]

I was, am and always will be a psychotically obsessed music fan first and foremost and a music maker a distant, distant second. Most of the time I'm too busy listening to stuff to be bothered making any of it.

 

With that said, music is a lot like language. I may want to express some Grand Idea or the product of my innermost ruminations on the meaning of life, but to express them as eloquently as possible I would need the support of a significantly large vocabulary. But that's only part of the equation. First of all, as an artist - as person - I've got to have something to say.

 

The poet can have have at the ready a huge standing army of words, but what command will he give them. A Painter has the entire spectrum of visible color at his disposal. But he first has to have a vision before he can employ his bevy of hues.

 

My suggestion - expose yourself to a ton of different stuff - music that spans time geography and culture. Grab a hold of every style, genre, and idiomatic approach to sound you possibly can. Listen to it. Enjoy it. Absorb it.

 

Oh, and this may go counter to everything you've heard anyone say in regards to making music, but - don't write so much. Take a break. Quit for a while if you feel the need to. Travel, build a robot, or otherwise do something that has absolutely nothing to do with music. You'll be surprised how much it helps.

[ZebraSteve]

So I've been trying to write some riffs/songs lately and some of them are pretty original but a lot of them accidently come out sounding like Metallica riffs or something which I find quite annoying. I used to be obsessed with Metallica as a kid/teenager but hardly ever listen to them anymore, yet the riffs all sound similar. Can anyone recommend any tips for tapping into my own creativity and coming up with really original stuff rather than just rehashing old riffs? Hope I explained the problem clearly enough, thanks.

 

Yes this is a funny thing that we all come across at some point when we write tunes. You really can't not be influenced by the artist that you are influenced by (if that makes any sense) try writing on as many different instruments as I can. It's actually pretty amazing if you come up with a riff on the piano then play it on the guitar, I also found this to be true with chord progressions.

 

I am actually not a very good keyboard player but I have found that often I come up with stuff I would have never came up with by doing this. I also play with a bass guitar in the same way, I have come up with some odd (but interesting) things with this technique.

 

Also another good thing to do is write with another person. Getting his or her influence can be the critical factor to having a decent tune turn into a great one!

[Marshal]

"When a man loves a donut,. . . ,"

 

 

 

 

:lol: :lol:

 

 

(That was worth the price of admission).

[paulz]

Seems like some good advice here.

 

I esp agree with the thing about not judging yourself too harshly

 

JS Bach was considered crusty by some in his time...even sometimes by his sons

he said something about this once, I believe in a journal entry (I'll try to get as close to translated verbatim as I can, bu it's from memory)

"Some usher in a new age while other complete a previous one

 

So give yourself a break that you find yourself writing in a particular idiom, if that's what you were exposed to.

 

One thing I find helpful in, well, a bunch of activities is to do things as exercises as opposed to "workpieces". What I mean by that is try stuff just to try it, not to compose some piece that is intended to be performed.

It does a couple of things

1) it takes the burden of expectation off the piece. It's an exercise! it's OK for it to be trite or to sort of fall apart, or just not to like the results or whatever b/c it's only function was to try it...and as long as you tried it, you didn't fail

 

2) you can impose constraints on it that you wouldn't otherwise normally impose on a composition. This is really common in Music theory class (and it gets misunderstood sometimes) -- you get marked off, not because a particular point of composition is not "artistic" but b/c the assignment was to do this, or execute these composition rules. It's like writing a great report on locksmithing, when the subject was the revolutionary war.

-- A little more on that constraints thing.

As an exercise at least, the constraints can help focus you a little and force your creative hand b/c default habits are removed as options - so it can force you to walk new ground and maybe point to some learning opportunities.

for instance, take some music you know well - and do it in a different musical style, reggae or a chorded jazz solo piece or bluegrass or whatever.

So there you don't have to worry about just pulling something out of a vacuum (the piece already exists)

but you DO have to worry about the translation...maybe you run into "I don't know what makes a reggae song sound like reggae" -- BOOM, instant learning opportunity, now you have something to learn about.

OR if you are used to starting with a chord progression and soloing over that, try harmonizing a solo melody like they do in classical choral compositions.

EVEN just "I'm not going to base stuff off arpeggios" or "no parallel voices" or "I'm going to stay away from my favorite keys" can help with that kind of thing.

[blue2blue]

"When a man loves a donut,. . . ," :lol: :lol: (That was worth the price of admission).

Maybe I can find that clip. I have all her stuff on a DAT around here somewhere. (She's back in Germany, now.)

 

 

It was pretty fun. Not sure that quite qualifies me as the male Marni Nixon yet, though.

 

(For our younger members, Nixon supplied the screen singing voices for a wide range of female stars, including, perhaps most famously, Audrey Hepburn in the musical, My Fair Lady, and Natalie Wood in Westside Story. And, of course, Percy would have probably been able to pull off the job quite well -- but we didn't want to bother him. )

[blue2blue]

Now where would he have been if he found his own sound? http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kbJiLp7erLg&feature=related

In a better movie?

[JimSF76]

Try writing with friends who also like to write music. It's amazing the doors that opens. And don't be too critical of sounding like Metallica, you probably don't sound as much like them as you have convinced yourself you do (we're always our own worst critics). They've written hundreds of songs and made millions of dollars, so they must be doing something right. Embrace the influences and your own sound will follow. If you find that you have rewritten 'Enter Sandman', change up that riff or just move on. We all sound a little like someone at one time or another. Who knows, maybe you'll be the next metalli-mega-slay-thrax-tera. Don't be discouraged, keep writing.

[PINKUSFLOYDUS]

Experiment with sound.

When you are inspired by a certain sound, you will be able to grow it.

That's the way it works.

 

Think about it... there is no way that "Stairway to Heaven" would have made it if Page used a banjo to do the leads!

[blue2blue]

I have heard the song played on a banjo, though.

[www777]

Consider creating a song that you really love. Maybe you really like Metallica. You can create an original Song even if rehashing into an older genre. Hope this inspires you.

[Temple of Light]

I find it much easier to write and play off my own internal rythym. I.E. : Find your own beat and get it out into the world, via the drumset or drum machine, and the rest of it will fall out like a monkey from a tree...

[Jersey Jack]

I've always felt that there is far too much concern and angst about being original, finding one's own sound, etc. Unless you really sit down to imitate a specific song--as in a tribute band, or in a more original satire, like the Ruttles, Spinal Tap, etc.--you'll find that sounding like someone else is a lot less likely than you might imagine. There is little danger of sounding too derivative becaused you're not, after all, that person.

 

I'd go further: Try to imitate your favorite songwriters--think of it as an exercise, as Paulz mentioned. I'll wager that you'll find your writing more liberated, precisely because you're not so focused on being different. And I'll wager that you'll find the work more original!

 

Imitation is good. The trick is to imitate a number of different writers.

[rockinrobby]

Jackson Browne and Don Henley stole my sound, bastards...

[TeeDupree]

 

Just keep writing. Don't criticize what you're doing. Just keep writing. Probably gonna take some serious writing time to weed out the Metallica.

 

 

+1

 

Your music will eventually branch out on its own, unfold on its own so to speak. Dont be too critical at this stage, as it would constrict your creativity. For now perhaps, lay the electric guitar down and expand to acoustic, country, or some other genre, allow your instruments to open new doors for you, and then go back to your axe, see what changes arise.