The Songwriter Forum - songwriting reviews, tips and chat
Songwriter Forum => The Writing Process => Topic started by: RossBagley on August 04, 2018, 01:14:52 PM
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We all have our own influences when it comes to music, but how do you keep those influences without sounding too much like them? Personally I'm very much into early Arctic Monkeys sounding music and every time I try write a fast paced song it sounds too much like them...can somebody help?
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Nothing wrong with the Arctics.They have knocked out some fabulous original stuff. Of course we all have influences. Try digging out some stuff from other artists from the 50s, 60s, 70,s et all and immerse yourself in that for a few weeks. Maybe a delve into Frank Zappa might help broaden your horizon. Whatever you produce it's you , not the Arctic's though :)
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Yeah I've thought about doing this before I'll give it ago, thanks!
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The Artics are OK. But today represent the bland, insipid, dying embers of rock and roll compared to their forebears.
As Pompey suggests check out Frank Zappa. Or Captain Beefheart, or The Stooges, Or MCS, Or Sonic Youth, Or The Fall, or The Flaming Lips (1990s) or Neutral Milk Hotel, or The Clash, or These Animal Men, or the Pixies, or Dead Kennedys or The Ramones, or Wedding Present, or Wire
Theres loads more but that might keep you going. All the above inspire me 1000% more than the Artics (who admittedly had a pretty good debut album)
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All great suggestions Micky :)
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A good point, and one which is close to my heart.
I haven't listened to anything commercial for lots of years, I just make my own, and I have been really surprised on this forum, when folk say, 'Oh that sounds like x or y' and I've quite literally never heard of them.
I gave up doing covers, and I just want to do my own thing, it's so liberating and I get the sense that it's all worthwhile, rather than working on a cover where the result has to be - Oh that's better/worse than the original.
So keeping my stuff original is easy, I might lean towards a genre, or try and do a song in the style of a band that I like the sound of...
hope this helps
cpm
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A wise man once said something along the lines of....
...everything has been done before, all the notes have been played, the chords, all the words. The only unique thing in the equation of your music is YOU!
So concentrate on putting yourself and your experience and personality into the music and it will be like no one else's.
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A wise man once said something along the lines of....
...everything has been done before, all the notes have been played, the chords, all the words. The only unique thing in the equation of your music is YOU!
So concentrate on putting yourself and your experience and personality into the music and it will be like no one else's.
I think the wise man was in to something there
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Not sure how you write; music first, lyrics first, both, but you could try writing lyrics to the tune of a different song, and then try putting that to your own music and arrangement. May not fit with the Arctic's style of writing a push you out of your comfort zone.
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I just write. Without trying to sound like anything.
Just write a good song.
Who it sounds like is not my concern, but what it sounds like is.
I write the song and, then give it the treatment I think it needs to sound the best it can. If it sounds like someone else... oh, well, that's who I am today.
Hopefully it always sounds like me.
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Hi!
When I find myself stuck on just one sound I sometimes do the opposite. Instead of trying to move away from that sound I start recording and try to use that idea over and over just to use it up.
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So when you write an upbeat song it just naturally comes out sounding like Arctic monkeys? You arent "going for that"?
If it is the natural music that comes out of you then I wouldnt worry about it. I would only focus on doing something original from the last thing you did. Explore new sonic territory, new lyrical directions, new chordal patterns, new beat emphasis.
Originality has its own way of ringing true if you are putting out what is really inside of you.
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I would stop worrying about it just do your thing. The more different styles you can listen to the better. That includes today’s music even if you don’t like it too much. It may give you an idea for a melody or a chord progression you haven’t thought up before.
Another trick is to play along to songs you haven’t heard before. This can give you new riffs and melodic ideas as well.
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Write whatever makes you happy. I sound incredibly like my favourite writers but I embrace that rather than deliberately try to do something too different. The exception is the stuff that I have written for Nooms and I. Essentially I wrote quirky instrumentals and sent them acoss to him to work his magic. Perhaps the secret is to find a co-writer, someone who has a very different approach to yourself but someone who you admire and trust to work their own magic
Paul
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Hey,
If i played a tune for someone, and they said, that sounds like Townes van Zandt, or John Prine, or Dylan, i'd be happy as a pig in shite. Don't worry about originality, just try and write the best you can. A good song is a good song, even if it's not completely original.
Vintage54
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We all have our own influences when it comes to music, but how do you keep those influences without sounding too much like them? Personally I'm very much into early Arctic Monkeys sounding music and every time I try write a fast paced song it sounds too much like them...can somebody help?
It's hard to tell unless you post what we can hear and read you know what i mean 8)
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Man, I struggle with that too. I will most of the time come up with a tune in my head, write some lyrics for it, mess around with it for a while, just to realise it sounds exactly like a song I listen to on a regular basis.
I think it's all due to the "contamination" with the music we like, because we have the tendency to listen to music differently than regular people (like really listen, not just hear) and songs somehow stuck with us on a subconscious level.
What I found works for me is clearing my head space completely prior to the writing process, maybe doing some light meditation to quiet my mind and clear out any possible influences. What also works is disconnecting yourself from music for a while and maybe write songs in days when you haven't listened to anything else.
I'm sure you'll find your own ways of staying original. When it comes to music, everything's been done before, but the stories we tell through it are what gives it an original twist. :)
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Recently released 'On the Slow Glide' and a few of the forum members said it had a Black Velvet bass line, well I've never heard that song, but my song was original at the time I wrote it...
I wonder If I've written anyone else's hits? 8)