Writing a metal song

[Julian Barton]

Hey guys I have run into an issue. I am trying to write a metal song and I am looking for like a riff. I am kinda curious because I have never written one if anyone can speak on how to do so or some kind of techniques others use. I am looking for both sides of this from a theory stand point and from a creative stand point so feel free to shoot whatever in here.

 

[Richard O'connor]

I know this isn’t the answer you are probably looking for but I usually just noodle around. I’ll play along to a metronome at different tempos, different time signatures etc. Or if you have something like logic you can load a stock drum brat and see if you can come up with something playing along to that.
I usually just play around until o find notes i like and try and work around them.
From a theory standpoint? I can’t help lol I just go off what sounds cool to me

 

[Ed Seith]

For me, I usually start with a simple drum pattern on a drum machine (or now, EZDrummer). I keep it on a loop and just start playing stuff over it (not lead playing!) until ideas start to coalesce into a repeating pattern. Bam, there’s a riff.

 

[idssdi]

Usually I to noodle around for a bit until I play something I like and try to write a song from that. For me that usually means it isn’t actually metal but it should work for metal as well

 

[Coda Calypso]

Since you have a lot of the noodle around approach I’ll try to give you another idea. Start with a chord. Just pick whatever chord you like and figure out all the notes in that cord all over the footboard. Start playing them in different orders and find something you like. Then add articulation and ornamentation like slides and bendy things. Finally find notes in between and use those to get from chord tone to chord tone. Another approach is to come up with a chord progression or a bassline and loop it. Then just noodle round A bit. lol

 

[Julian Barton]

I actually found a halfway decent way to. I love the noodling and chord Ideas so I noodled I decided I would listen to a song and try and recreate it without knowing how to play it and hopefully find something I like.

 

[Andres Pierce]

To add to what others were saying about playimg with a backing track – not sure what kind of metal youre going for but its in the feel. For example if youre going for pantera-style riff/song try playing your guitar like your fuckin mad at it. It could help with those in-your-face type of riffs. Just a suggestion, but like i said you gotta take what you feel and put it into your playing, good luck!