Original songs sound too similar

[Scorgie]

Hey everyone, I've been writing a bunch recently and upon looking back and reflecting on a few songs I feel like they all have the same kind of feel. The strumming is similar and phrases are all the same. I have a lot of trouble changing my approach to the guitar when I want a song to have a certain feel. (Happy, upbeat, slow, etc) I hope this makes sense because I've had trouble explaining it before but does anyone have any advice to help this?

[cheeksmiller]

by phrases being the same are you meaning the length of the phrase or the actual melodies are the same? It can be pretty easy to get into a rut so to speak. When this happens to me I have to slow down and purposefully play other rhythmic styles for a bit.

Although without hearing some examples its a bit difficult to really be to helpful I have found that there are times when I swear two things I have done sound to alike but when I let others hear it they do not hear what I do.

But I would suggest just changing your strum pattern, alter the chord progression, slap on a capo, try a basic fingerpicking pattern instead... just purposefully sit down to and be different. You don't even have to write anything just change up your playing and then see what falls out.

Take a couple songs that you think sound to much alike...then purposfully change your strum pattern or backing rhythm.

Or rewrite the melody to break the phrase in a different spot.

Mainly you may just have to sit down be purposefully different to get the creative juices flowing differently.

[Scorgie]

Originally Posted by cheeksmiller

by phrases being the same are you meaning the length of the phrase or the actual melodies are the same? It can be pretty easy to get into a rut so to speak. When this happens to me I have to slow down and purposefully play other rhythmic styles for a bit.

Although without hearing some examples its a bit difficult to really be to helpful I have found that there are times when I swear two things I have done sound to alike but when I let others hear it they do not hear what I do.

But I would suggest just changing your strum pattern, alter the chord progression, slap on a capo, try a basic fingerpicking pattern instead... just purposefully sit down to and be different. You don't even have to write anything just change up your playing and then see what falls out.

Take a couple songs that you think sound to much alike...then purposfully change your strum pattern or backing rhythm.

Or rewrite the melody to break the phrase in a different spot.

Mainly you may just have to sit down be purposefully different to get the creative juices flowing differently.

I mean the length. And I'm going to try to post some sound clips early tomorrow. I put a capo on today and that helped a bit. I may take a day off and let myself reset before I start playing again.

[Bern]

Be careful...when writing your own stuff it's easy to fall into the trap of doubting yourself and 'oh, it sounds like this or that'. Sometimes changing things for the sake of just change will turn out to be even worse and gets your creative flow offtrack...

[mr. beaumont]

Start with a melody instead of chords.

[DupleMeter]

My advice from 28 years of songwriting...Just write - don't worry about that.

Honestly, even if they really do sound the same, that's an arrangement or production issue. You can change them up later if you really need to. Just write & try not to critique yourself. Then sit with them for a while, a month or so before you start rethinking the arrangement/production aspects.

Worst case scenario, you do a little clean-up down the road to better differentiate them from one another.

[fazool]

I tried writing originals and had the *EXACT* same problem. All my "originals" were basically the same thing rehashed. Now, my favorite musicians all have their own signature sound and style so I expect some similarity. But, mine, were stupidly repetitive so I stopped trying to write.

When I resumed playing guitar after more than a decade away, I took a more mature approach and gave up speed metal complexity and am learning fundamentals (scales, keys, modes, etc).


I don't write now but I do noodle around and once in a while come up with an arrangement. After a lot of these I sort of have a lot of partial song pieces.

These are truly different. The way I did it was to intentionally start in a different key. I play some scales in a different key and walk around the scale until I work out a little lead. Then from the lead I get the "vibe" and then made a bass line, then chords.

I'm absolutely not qualified to even comment, let alone advise, but what I did was made a conscious effort to "write" something in a different key. The whole feel was different and that naturally led me to a different rhythm, strumming pattern, everything.

I tend to play in the key of C or D. I recently noodled around and realized I was toying in G so I made a conscious effort to play in G. I exercised my G major scale, then referred to my circle of fifths, and ended up with a little fun arrangement in G and that led me to a whole new sound. The strumming pattern complimented the new sound and was TOTALLY different than what I normally do.


Anyway, like I said I'm not qualified to comment but I just described what I experienced.

[mchalebk]

I think one big problem for guitarists when writing is that they write on the guitar. This will greatly limit what they are able to come up with. This often results in using similar and familiar progressions.

The best composing I've done has occurred when I've written a melody in my head, with a guitar nowhere to be found. After getting a good feel for the melody, I then sit down and try to figure out what chords supoort the melody best. In some cases, the progressions are quite obvious. However, I will often try to think outside the box and try alternate chords to support the same line and see if anything interesting pops up. This has often led to much more interesting chord progressions, the kind of progressions I never would have come up with if I had started writing with a guitar in my hands.

So, as mr. beaumont suggested, try starting with a melody instead of chords.

[cheeksmiller]

Originally Posted by Bern

Be careful...when writing your own stuff it's easy to fall into the trap of doubting yourself and 'oh, it sounds like this or that'. Sometimes changing things for the sake of just change will turn out to be even worse and gets your creative flow offtrack...

This is very true. What I was trying to get at by saying being purposefully different was to do something different to help move your ear in a different direction. Not saying to purposefully write different just to be different...I think I even mentioned that... but you are correct in that sometimes just being different can make things worse. but it can also help change your ear up just enough to break out of a rutt

[islandguitar]

Perhaps also keep in mind that other folks will hear your stuff with different ears and to them it may sound very distinct and different.

[Fruitloop]

I think this is every musicians problem, the eternal struggle not to repeat yourself. What I've found helps me a lot is to learn something new in a new style. Flooding my senses with unusual things usually clears up the creative earwax blockade.

Also don't forget to shamelessly steal something you like. Not talking about plagiarazing but taking a rhytm or progression and making your own, then go from there.

[Bern]

Originally Posted by cheeksmiller

This is very true. What I was trying to get at by saying being purposefully different was to do something different to help move your ear in a different direction. Not saying to purposefully write different just to be different...I think I even mentioned that... but you are correct in that sometimes just being different can make things worse. but it can also help change your ear up just enough to break out of a rutt

I think the problem for some songwriters is that they only expose themselves to one style of music, which will then manifest itself in their own writing. Not that there is anything wrong with that, but it could get kind of repetitive after a while.
My advise for the OP would be to explore different rhythms like Reggae or some Latin stuff, for example.
Actually, I just recently thought about this while listening to Mark Knopfler. He combines his influences really well in his songwriting.

[jseth]

Well, first of all - DO NOT THROW AWAY ANY OF YOUR SONGS!!!

This is something I have learned over the past 5 decades of writing tunes... no matter what YOU think of them, file them away for later inspection... you just never know when you might want to revisit those songs or use them in another song... just be glad you're writing, and leave your "self-critic" out of the equation!

Now, I don't know what type of tunes you're writing, or what you like... so, in general? Start listening to other music... songs that you'd like to write similar songs, but more importantly, artists and players who are completely OUTSIDE your present scope/tastes... Not only songwriters, but instrumental artists who have mastered their instruments... guitarists can learn A LOT by listening to horn players, piano players, etc... Also, listen to different styles of music than the "norm" for you; not that you want to write songs LIKE those styles, just to broaden your horizons and discover what's really happening "out there".

I would suggest the same thing with regards to lyrics, as well... if you tend to write strict rhyming lyrics, read some free prose/verse... if your songs tend to be pretty straightforward and "tame", read some authors who are the antithesis of that, like William Burroughs and Charles Bukowski. Again, to immerse yourself in ideas and forms that are outside of your "comfort zone".

After a fashion, you will develop your own sense of style, your own way of expression... and that's a very important aspect for a writer...

Also, realize how many of your favorite writers seem to write similar sounding songs; for instance, I love Jesse Winchester's songs, and have for years; yet, there is a "sameness" to his writing that reveals itself in many of his tunes. I've been listening a lot to a record called "Quiet About It", a tribute album to Jesse Winchester... a bunch of great songs performed by some fantastic songwriters in their own right, like James Taylor, Jimmy Buffett, Allen Toussaint, Elvis Costello, Rodney Crowell, Lucinda Williams... it's wonderful to hear their interpretations of Jesse's tunes, and at the same time, there is a "sameness" that comes through most all the songs. I suppose that's called having an "identity" as a songwriter, I don't know...

Not such a bad problem to have...

[Hotspur]

Before I give you advice, could you talk about your songwriting process a little?

How do you go about writing a song?

Also, what's your skill level? How much theory do you know? How good is your ear?

[Antipodean Ed]

Put Gary Ewer's Songwriting tips on your website favourites - http://secretsofsongwriting.com/ . He has a new tip on his blog or website almost every day, and has covered the problem you raise in several of those. I end up saving and using a lot of his practical ideas.

Good luck!