I have a pretty nifty trick that has helped my writing TREMENDOUSLY over the years. It is really simple and can be quite fun. The trick? Change what you listen to!
Now, It doesn’t have to be a dramatic change such as going from symphonic melodic metal to gansta rap, but just stepping out of your musical comfort zone. Listening to musical styles different from what you write will help create a unique sound that is not a copycat of the big names. I realized this when I started writing metal. Everything sounded like Metallica or Megadeth – partly due to that is what I listened to. Recently I have had a revival of my classical music roots and trying to incorporate some of that into my music.
So, how about we all share some of the “different” musicians/composers/styles that we listen to! If it is an artist or composer, a short description would be good so we know where it is in the musical spectrum.
Kekal – black/industrial avantgarde metal (Christian group – black metal is typically non-Christian so be careful with this genre)
My Silent Wake – Doom/Gothic Metal (Christian group)
Olivier Messiaen – 20th Centruty Composer
Erik Satie – Avantgarde composer – really surreal piano pieces
Dimitri Shostakovich – 20th Century Symphonic composer
Matisyahu – Jewish Reggae
I am going to go on and stop there. I think it would be fun to hear what else you guys like to listen to 
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Skindred……metal/reggae at its best!!!
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I’m going to check that out! Sounds out there
LONG TIME FAN!
O.K. Does that mean I have to listen to the Partridge Family, Barry Manilo, Donnie and Marie Osmond, Billy Joel, etc. ? That’s just too much compromise. :-O
Anyway, for song structures other than the dominant short intro, verse chorus 2x, lead, chorus, ending, I often listen to Kansas from the 70s, and Rush’s concept album years (1976-1980) for great ideas on arrangements/structure, etc. Then you get into things like prelude, postlude, complimentary bridge, alternate bridge, complimentary alternate verse/chorus, or using a sub-structure midway thru as a melodic tangeant, etc. cool stuff.
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I am all for Kansas and Rush. I really particulary like Kansas cause it sounds like they modulate often and is actually quite refreshing when compared to the usual everything is in one key sort of a thing.
I am a big fan of Blue Oyster Cult, and they have some interesting structures to their music as well…
Lemme see. I’m not going to go as far as listing what genre these bands are in. I’ll just list the bands and their songs that I am digging right now. Some new, some old, some inbetween. Not strictly christian at all….. No endorsements for the beliefs of any of these bands.
Red Fang – The Wire, Prehistoric Dogs
Mastodon – Curl of the Burl
High On Fire – Rumors of War
Strapping Young Lad – AAA
The Melvins – The Bit
Tomahawk – God Hates A Coward
Satyricon – Black Crow on a Tombstone
Hank Williams – Jumbalaya
The Reverend Horton Heat – Spend a Night In the Box
The Dead Kennedys – Police Truck
Primus – Tragedy’s A Comin’
Astronomy – Blue Oyster Cult
Interpol – Evil
Megadeth – Diadems
Faith No More – Kindergarten
Iggy Pop – I Wanna Be Your Dog
Devo – Just a Girl
I gotta stop…………….
Here’s my suggestion list for Christian Bands first:
Horsemen of the Apocalypse – Call for Lamb Dismemberment (Brutal Death/Grind) I Built the Cross – To Deface Grace (Brutal Deathcore) Antidemon – Massacre (Death Metal w/punk influences from Brazil) Elgibbor – Fall of Lucifer (various Black metal sounds, this one being Brutal BM; careful w/this genre; only listen to Christian ones, cuz most others seem satanic at some level) Blood Drift – Winds of Persecution (some kind of Death Metal [not sure if it’s technical, prog, or whatever]) Living Sacrifice – Distorted (Death metal [maybe old-school]) Rehumanize – Demise of the Adult Industry (Grindcore) Vengeance Rising – Beheaded (very abrasive Thrash, similar to Slayer but faster; later became Thrash/Death) Deborah – Soteria (Catholic Symphonic/Goth Black Metal<—-whoever runs this sight, contact them!!!) Exousia – Yo Creo en Dios (means I believe in God) (Catholic Thrash early, some kind of melo-deth later,<–they’re Catholic, so site runners should contact them) War of Ages – All consuming fire (Metalcore with more punk influence than metal) In the Midst of Lions – The Machine (Deathcore with more punk than metal) &nbs
p; HB – Mina Olen (very melo Symphonic rock/metal) For my postive but not Christian list, there’s: Dragonforce – Heroes of our Time (power metal; Dragonforce’s kind of power metal has the best solos) Miss May I – Relentless Chaos (Thrash/Metalcore)
sory dudes; it turned out very messed up looking. I hope it’s at least slightly comprehensible
I listen to a wide variety of music, a lot of the same stuff Michael does (including Hank Williams – that old outlaw country can be DARK!), which is one reason he and I get along so well. Today while I was on my errand marathon, I found myself listening to Six Feet Under’s “Haunted”, Iron Maiden’s “Killers”, a Judas Priest compilation, Yngwie Malmsteen’s “Marching Out” (mixed by Les Claypool, btw), and Cheyenne based avant garde Grindcore outfit Monastat 2600. I think it’s important to listen to different albeit similar styles of music, because you avoid burnout easier. 20 years ago I played in a hardcore band in NW Indiana (my D.R.I. influences came out there – love old D.R.I!) and while we played some originals and some Naked Raygun, Misfits and Social Distortion covers, I played them so much those were the last bands I wanted to listen to when I went home! Spent a lot of that summer listening to Slayer, Venom, and jazz guitarist Al DiMeola. Read a few of Frank Gambale’s columns too (Chick Correa’s guitarist). I love listening to Classical music too. Try this: Fall asleep to Classical Music. It is used to stimulate brain activity is babies while they are sleeping. I tried this before and I have to admit, the riffs I wrote after sleeping like this may have been more complex than the riffs I wrote when sleeping in silence (or if I fell asleep to “The Family Guy”)…
Now I gotta go listen to some Al DiMeola! I also didn’t know that Les mixed that Malmsteen song! I also like me some Jaco Pastorius.
Les actually engineered that whole Malmsteen album! You’d never guess, though. Al DiMeola kept me fresh during that summer, as did Frank Gambale. I’m not, by any means, a “lead guitarist” in the traditional sense. I am not a shredder. Not yet – we all still learn and progress. I probably sound more like Trevor Peres from Obituary than I do DiMeola or Gambale. Still, the influence did show in one of the songs in my old hardcore band, where I was playing lead guitar. I went to Goodwill the other day, and wound up on two ends of the spectrum: Found a Bach CD with “Tocatta and Fugue” played on the organ on it, along with the self titled Whitesnake cassette (yes, I’ve got a way to still play cassettes). As far as Hair Metal goes, I do like Whitesnake. David Coverdale is a fantastic vocalist, and I may be one of the few people who actually likes his work in Deep Purple (“Burn” was a classic tune!). I still have a primarily Melodic/Old School Death Metal sound, but the little nuances that different music can bring makes a world of difference in your playing. To give anyone else a nudge in the Bach direction, check this out. Not “Tocatta and Fugue” but it just grabbed me and wouldn’t let go… http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PhRa3REdozw .
Bach is awesome!!!! I often turn to any classical Baroque composer for inspiration…and Bach is one of the best. Also, if you listen closely to “Last Resort” by Papa Roach…..the main guitar riff is all Bach-inspired!!
This might not be as effective, but my advice is be unconventional and…crazy. Try things people usually wouldn’t do in and out of metal. It reflects metal’s above and beyond attitude (check out Black, Death, Deathgrind, and all them crazy stuff; y’all probly know). It also reflects Catholicism’s unconventionality. I mean, we were considered a weird cult back in the early days when the Roman empire was around. We also stopped the idea that women were just sex objects that are good for nothing but pleasure and child/son-bearing (*vomits*). Now, we seem a little radical because we save sex for marriage, hate pornography and contraception, and an absolute ban on abortion; well, that’s cause we’re not sissies (LOL). My example of unconventionality in my budding career is writing 57 verse lyric and filling it in with some crazy riffs (I only got to verse 40 on “Break our Hearts of Stone;” which is my deepest piece of writing yet!).
I realized that when I make riffs or even play random riffs for fun, the latest songs that got caught in my head make a significant influence, or even when I’m just think up some riffs. Recently, I’ve been listening to We Came as Romans and some hardcore riffs mixed with random words that could be good for lyrics were forming in my head, which I would probably make into a more deathcore sound if I actually had my guitar out. This could be a good way for us to get a certain sound that we’d like: listening to the most similar thing for a while then write.