Technique

It wasn't me!

How important is your technical proficiency to your song-writing? I find as I get better at an instrument, one can get almost lost in technique. I find sometimes I get less musical as the stuff I write becomes more technically difficult. Does anyone else have this problem at all? Or do people think technical proficiency is important to good music at all?

Steve_o

I think a certain amount of different techniques can make a song sound better sometimes, but certain techniques wont suit certain music styles, so if you find that a technique is effecting your music and the song in general, then that technique isn't for you! I think its a lot to do with discovering a song-writing process that suits you and that you're comfortable with! Try messing around with a few different styles, and do what feels right!

Paligulus

That's a great point OP. I find myself falling into the same trap myself. I think Steve o is right, you gotta suit the song.

If you've got good lyrics and some strong melodies, a simple music arrangement can be yor best bet. Vice versa, if you have an intricate musical arrangement then the melodies and vocals are going to have to be sparse. (Obviously Prog bands like Rush, Dream Theater are a whole different story!!!)

I think the key to good music is not to have different elments fighting for space/attention. This also goes for the mixing of a song too. You want to avoid 2 instruments fighting for the same freq space.

Oink

I'm very lucky in that musical genius, talent or simple dexterity do not generally get in my way when I play :rolleyes:. But I would agree with you guys: more can be less, or like Miles Davis said, no need to play all the notes, just play the right ones. (or sumfink like that).

Whenever I start writing complicated stuff (not that I get much done, but), I think of the songs I wish I had written. A lot of them would have 4 chords, and still sound great on an out-of-tune guitar (and accompanied by the Berlin Philarmonic )

frobisher

I try as much as possible to keep my songwriting very, very simple. In fact, I've only ever regarded my guitar playing as a tool for my songwriting so I once I got to a certain level of proficiency on it I was quite happy to stay there. Arranging the songs on the other hand is different, some technical and theoretic knowledge there helps alot.

It wasn't me!

I was more saying, do people find that when the stuff they write is harder to play, talking properly technical now, that it gets less strong as a piece of music? I didn't refer to individual techniques by the way, I meant technique in the broad sense, proficiency if you will.

frobisher

It wasn't me! wrote:

I was more saying, do people find that when the stuff they write is harder to play, talking properly technical now, that it gets less strong as a piece of music? I didn't refer to individual techniques by the way, I meant technique in the broad sense, proficiency if you will.

I gotcha, well I personally find that when I get more technical my internal musician takes satisfaction from that so it distracts me from whether or not the song is satisfying me so I try my best to keep things very, very simple. It's not easy!!

Steve_o

It wasn't me! wrote:

I was more saying, do people find that when the stuff they write is harder to play, talking properly technical now, that it gets less strong as a piece of music? I didn't refer to individual techniques by the way, I meant technique in the broad sense, proficiency if you will.

I agree with Frobisher, there is a certain amount of satisfaction writing a piece that is challenging to play, but there is also a certain satisfaction you get from writing a piece that is simple in form, is catchy and sounds good....obviously it depends on the style of music you are aiming at...Rock, Metal, Acoustic, Folk etc. etc.....in my view its better to keep it simple....but thats just my view!

It wasn't me!

It's a case of balancing groove and satisfying technique really, sin't it?

frobisher

It wasn't me! wrote:

It's a case of balancing groove and satisfying technique really, sin't it?

For me it isn't about either of those things. At least not at the writing stage. Usually it's about melody first, lyrics second, chords third and feel/rhythm/atmosphere last. Everything after that is production and arrangement in my books.

yevveh

frobisher wrote:

For me it isn't about either of those things. At least not at the writing stage. Usually it's about melody first, lyrics second, chords third and feel/rhythm/atmosphere last. Everything after that is production and arrangement in my books.

You've got the right stuff there in my eyes. I see everything as important but seeing as I write most of the music the first thing that has to be there is some sort of melody, pretty much every song of ours has had the bass written first and so is the driving force behind the songs. We generally avoid rhythm guitar so not much chords being used but when they are being used they're on the same page as the writing of the song. Feel, rhythm, atmosphere etc. are very important - when we're writing we'll discuss whether to keep the same feel for the whole song or specifically to make it different. Rhythm changes all the time, the idea for us is to create stuff that isn't the same song written a hundred times over, or isn't the same riff for the whole song (a la Director etc.). It all has to be taken into account. Lyrics are only done by the vocalist, and he's the only one in the band who has credible lyrics, so the rest of us generally leave him to it cos we haven't a clue!

It wasn't me!

Okay, specific case in point now. I don't really write good melodies, they aren't my forte at all. When I write the type of metal I usually play, and I try to write melodies, they tend to end up as steady semiquaver patterns, and are never that interesting. However, lately, I've been just jamming around late at night, and in the space of a few weeks have written some great solos, by slowing down to almost nothing, focusing on huge, expressive bends and soft melodies. Now, it's very difficult to do this while still retaining any element of metal, but I want to do so. So, as I play slower and quieter, my writing of leads and melodies gets better, and I want to be able to do the same while playing fast and loud. Perhaps this makes it easier to understand?

frobisher

It wasn't me! wrote:

Okay, specific case in point now. I don't really write good melodies, they aren't my forte at all. When I write the type of metal I usually play, and I try to write melodies, they tend to end up as steady semiquaver patterns, and are never that interesting. However, lately, I've been just jamming around late at night, and in the space of a few weeks have written some great solos, by slowing down to almost nothing, focusing on huge, expressive bends and soft melodies. Now, it's very difficult to do this while still retaining any element of metal, but I want to do so. So, as I play slower and quieter, my writing of leads and melodies gets better, and I want to be able to do the same while playing fast and loud. Perhaps this makes it easier to understand?

I get you. But that's not quite typical songwriting.

It wasn't me!

Not really trying to do anything typical though, and this forum isn't just for singer/songwriter four chord merchants as far as I can see, so just wondering does anyone else experience stuff like this.