writing your own favorite music

[jagarock]

hello.

 

i have a picture (or sound) of what my favorite music sounds like in my mind.

 

im imagining a blend of the incredible raw parts of "sikth" and the melodic part of "tool",

and the result would be complicated technical yet melodic metal with powerful vocals and interesting chord changes.

 

i play all the instruments needed good enough to make this also.

 

it should be possible to make your own favorite music!

BUT I FU***ING CANNOT.

 

every time i sit down to play, im just STUCK on playing the same old chords,

the same old progressions, and everything i play just ends up being POP and heavy riffs.

 

by writing this i think maybe one problem is that im not patient, just wanting things to work NOW.

and TBH, it SHOULD work now, hell i know what sound im after, it should be easy to take this

from the deep of my mind and just let it out on the guitars!

 

im just frustrated. i want to make my own favorite music, but something is stopping it for me, and i dont know what

[Primaryorange]

Hey man!

 

I feel your pain at times.

 

I will sit down and be like "Damn, i have been over these same chords a million times. grrr" and get frusterated.

 

Sometimes you say "I am going to write a song like this!" Then sit down and out comes E, A, D again.

 

When I search for "out of my box" chord changes I have a few tricks:

 

Capo. Toss a capo on a random fret and start messing around. It usually leads to something creative...Though sometimes I'll think its creative and notice it's just E, A, D again in different positions. Hah.

 

Look up random guitar chords and tabs from random bands or bands you know. THE TRICK IS. To chose a tab or song you NEVER HEARD BEFORE.

 

All you are doing is looking for chords you know work well together, because someone else already proved them to.

 

Chosing a song you never heard before will help make sure you don't accidently rip it off.

 

As for taking the sound you have in your brain and converting it to a finished piece you can share with others.. Well thats the curse of every songwriter.

 

I have actually dreamed about how cool it would be to hook some futuristic helmet to my head that records all the music in my thoughts and converts it to recordings. You could record albums when you were sleeping!

 

I would suggest playing unfinished work with other musicians too. They will help push the song into directions with their own elements that you might not have discovered doing it all yourself.

I am sure a good majority of your favorite songs, (as mine) sound nothing like the artist had originally written, until the rest of the band put their musical hands on it.

All it takes is someone to play some little riff, or bass line, that opens the flood gates to find exactly what you are looking for.

[Lee Knight]

Figure out a way to write what happens in your head. Sing it in to a little recorder. The minute you rely on your instrumental skills to write what's in your head... you're once removed from it.

 

Don't pick up your instrument until you already know what you're going to play.

 

Of course this doesn't have to be the case all the time. But for the scenario you describe:

 

"every time i sit down to play, im just STUCK on playing the same old chords,

the same old progressions, and everything i play just ends up being POP and heavy riffs."

 

...it can be a great way to get at what you've been imagining.

[jagarock]

singing. thanks for the suggestion, i can imagine that will help actually