Songwriting Tips On How To Write A Metal Song

In terms of songwriting, metal is one of the most interesting and diverse genres of music. When writing a metal song, it is important to understand how to write for several instruments of the genre such as distorted guitar, bass, drums and keyboard/synthesizer. On top of that, writing metal music often includes the creation of complex rhythms, unusual chord progressions and other interesting musical elements. This can all be overwhelming if you are not sure where to begin or what to focus on first.

In order to get started writing a metal song of your own, check out these songwriting tips:

Focusing On Rhythm To Write A Metal Song

One of the key characteristics of metal music is that it often contains complex rhythm in its melodies and riffs. This complexity gives the music an element of surprise upon first listen, and makes the people who hear it want to keep listening to the music again and again. To help you write metal songs with interesting rhythms, try this simple exercise:

  1. First, write down 16 note rhythms on a piece of paper. Use only basic rhythms for now such as quarter notes or eighth notes.
  2. Next, randomly erase 8 of these rhythms and replace them with rests (silence).
  3. Once you have done this, go back over the notes that remain and play through the rhythm you have created.

While writing a metal song you can use this rhythm for any of the typical metal instruments such as drums, bass or guitar (6 or 7 string). Once you have assigned this new rhythm to one of these instruments, experiment by having the other instruments imitate it. Additionally, try having some instruments playing the same rhythm and others playing a different rhythm.

Writing Metal Music By Harmonizing Power Chords On Guitar

By far the most popular chords to use while writing metal music are “power chords”. Although technically these are not chords (since chords are by definition made of 3 or more notes, power chords contain 2), power chords are what gives metal music its distinct sound. In order to add interest to these chords as you write metal songs, try using extra notes from basic chords to harmonize and expand your riffs. For example, if you are using a power chord that begins on the note “A”, try adding in notes from either A major, A minor, A diminished or A augmented to add in more depth. This will give you many more expressive options to choose from as you write.

Additionally, in most cases, musicians will use high levels of distortion or overdrive to play power chord riffs on guitar. This makes it hard to add on extra notes to fill in the chords because they become muddy due to effects of distortion on sound clarity. Overcome this problem by writing the power chords to be played by one guitar, and the additional notes you want to add in to be played by a separate guitar.

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