As hopefully some of you readers know, I write, record and produce my own "djent" (progressive metal) compositions (Soundcloud and Youtube on the right). After 2/3 years of doing this, I'm finally at a point where I am happy with the majority of material I write, as opposed to discarding 9/10 of all the riffs I write. This came as a slight shock to me, but has made playing and writing all the more pleasurable and I have learned a great deal along the way.
This post simply expresses 5 tips I've come to learn about writing progressive metal that I hope any musicians who read this can either relate to or take on board themselves.
1) Broaden Your Horizons
I fell into the trap of listening to the same bands and same songs over and over, and, as a consequence, my music wouldn't progress the way I wanted it to. I would end up writing things that sounded all too familiar, The trick (not really trick, it's pretty logical) is to simply listen to different bands. I'm not saying go way out of your comfort zone and pick up a genre you've had no experience with (though I'm sure that would help a bunch too) but (at least in the metal genre) find new bands that you would not normally listen to. I am constantly discovering new artists that write some truly excellent stuff and it has brought my writing on leaps and bounds.
2) Technical Doesn't Always Mean Good
Who doesn't love listening to a brutally difficult riff played with ridiculous precision? I do, of course. However, writing purely to try and impress people with your guitar prowess will quickly become a chore. You should write what you feel and hear in your head, if that makes sense, not the fastest, triple-picking-est music you possibly can. Step back once in a while and play a nice large chord that sounds massive. It's awesome.
3) Instrumental? Vocals? Whatever You Like
I see a lot of bands' videos on Youtube now get completely unhelpful comments like "This would sound so much better without vocals" or "I wish there was an instrumental version of this". The bottom line is, if you are happy with how it sounds, vocals or not, that's what you've created and it shouldn't be up to people to try to make you change your sound. I myself write mostly instrumental music (because I can't write lyrics for shit) and, yes, I enjoy instrumental bands (AAL) but vocals can add so much to a song. It takes skill to make vocals sit on incredibly harsh music without it being undermined by vicious riffing and if you're managing that, don't you dare stop because someone on Youtube doesn't like it.
4) Musicians Make the Sound, Not the Gear
This harks back to my "Djent Tone Part 1" post, where I mention that spending massive amounts of money on recording gear (this is particularly popular right now in the djent scene) is completely arbitrary. "That guy has an AxeFX, I've gotta get one so I can sound like him." No. I have a Line6 UX1 and use Pod Farm. This maxed out at like, £100. I'm not saying my tone is amazing, but I think it's now pretty good and sits in a mix well. It's all about how YOU play. Not how much money you blow on gear.
5) Keep Writing
This tip may seem like a cop-out and pretty general. But it's true. Keep writing, if not for anyone else, but for yourself. I'm constantly humbled that I still get plays on my older songs on my various profiles and incredibly constructive comments. The internet, mostly, is your friend and most powerful tool. Share your music, let others hear what you're about, and someone will tell you you're doing a great job. Which you are.
These tips aren't anything to swear by, by any means, but they certainly help me, even right now when I wrote this, thinking about them was helpful. Now go write some music.
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