How to Write a Metal Song

Co-authored by Tanisha Hall

Last Updated: July 8, 2022 References

Have a dream of being in a successful metal band but don't know how to start? There is no trick to making a good metal song. All you need is some knowledge of how to start, an idea of the sound you're aiming for, and like-minded bandmates. These tips are also good for most other types of popular music.

Part 1

Part 1 of 3:

Composing the Song

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Start with either a melody or a riff. There's no surefire way to start writing a song, but most people start with either a guitar riff or a vocal melody. ^{[1]
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- Starting with a melody usually involves playing around with some chords on the guitar and singing over it until you find a melody you like. This can be the start of either the verse or the chorus of your song.
- Starting with a riff usually involves working on the guitar until you come up with a good metal riff, something that's both catchy and driving.
2
Build the song's structure. A metal song, like rock and pop, is usually made up of a combination of verse, chorus, and bridge, with an optional intro and outro. You'll need to work with your rhythm guitarist to create a structure based around the original riff or melody you came up with. Create a chord progression for your verse and chorus, and decide if the song needs a bridge.^{[2]
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- The basic song structure of rock and metal songs goes: intro, verse, chorus, verse, solo, chorus, chorus, outro.
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3
Add drums and bass. After your song has a basic structure, it's time to add drums and bass. There isn't really any trick to this, other than jamming through the song with your drummer, rhythm guitarist, and bassist until your drummer and bassist have a sense of the song and what kind of beats and bass lines will work in each part.^{[3]
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- Metal bass tends to follow the chord structure closely, valuing rhythm over melody. But you aren't limited to that. Experiment with bass lines that follow the vocals, follow the lead, or do something completely different, but complementary.
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Add lead guitar optionally. If you've got a lead guitarist, now is the time to add some lead guitar melodies to your song. It's best to try to find guitar melodies that compliment the vocal melody, and don't get in the way of it.
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Write the lyrics. Metal music deals with a wide variety of topics when it comes to lyrics. You can write about just about any subject. A good general rule of thumb for writing metal lyrics is to keep the themes simple, and the imagery and metaphors interesting.^{[4]
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- Consider, for example, this verse by Vastum, “Our depths of joy in this saturation / In our polymorphously perverse constitution / The dissolution of our grief comes in libidinal death and the grace of mourning”. It deals with simple themes of sexuality, but uses verbose and unusual language.
- Consider the interesting use of extended metaphor in the song Anomalistic Offerings by Suffocation, "The pain is unbearable, but you continue making the incision / With drill in hand, you find the seed of the demon inside / Blood spews over the walls as you drill deeper," in which cranial surgery is a metaphor for battling inner demons.
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Practice the song and work out the details. Once you've got all the parts of your song in place, the structure, the melodies, the riffs, the drums, and bass, it's time to start practicing. Work on the song until the band is tight together. As you play the song, listen for places you can make improvements. Talk over your ideas about the song with the band and change it as you all see fit.^{[5]
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Expert Source

Tanisha Hall
Vocal Coach
Expert Interview. 27 March 2020.}
- Record the band playing the song so you can listen to it more closely. That way you can spend time analyzing the individual aspects of the song on your own time.

Part 2

Part 2 of 3:

Forming a Band

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Consider whether to make a band before or after you start writing. You can write songs without a band, but it's harder, especially for metal. Metal has a lot going on in it instrumentally, so you'll likely find writing it on your own difficult. But you can at least start the song before forming the band. And if you're multi-instrumental, meaning you have some skill with all the instruments in a metal band, you can even write the whole thing yourself if you want to.
- If you want to write the song by yourself before forming a band, you'll need access to drums, a guitar, a bass, and recording equipment, at least a microphone and a computer. Then you just follow the song composing steps one by one, recording each part before moving on to the next.
- If you want to start writing a song before forming a band, you can write just the rhythm guitar and vocal melody of the song. That will give the song a solid base that can be built upon once you've got some bandmates.
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Decide on what instruments you want. Before you form a band, you need to decide how many members you want, and what instruments everyone will play. Usually metal bands consist of a drummer, as bassist, a vocalist (who may also play guitar/bass) and two guitarists, one as rhythm and the other as lead. Most bands follow this type of line up but you don’t have to have this. You could have one guitarist or no bassist for example. It's up to you.^{[6]
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Look for band members. There are a number of ways to find people to be in your band. The easiest and often most effective way is to join with people you're already friends with, who have both musical skill and instruments.^{[7]
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- Another way to find band members is to place an ad on a site like craigslist. Make a posting explaining your mission to form a band, what kind of music you want to play, and what roles you're looking to fill.
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Find people who have a similar vision. There are certain characteristics you need to look for when recruiting and members. Your fellow members need to have similar tastes in music, not identical, but similar. You also need to find people who have similar levels of skill, otherwise you might have one member who holds back the rest. ^{[8]
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- It's also important that everyone in the band gets along with each other. If there's some serious personality clashing in your band, it won't last very long.

Part 3

Part 3 of 3:

Improving Your Metal Songs

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Pinpoint type of metal you want to play. There's a wide range of sub-genres within the metal genre, so it's best to pin point your style before you start. You can choose anything from black metal to grindcore. Make sure all of your band members agree on a style. Some popular metal sub-genres include:^{[9]
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- Death metal, which is characterized by down-tuned guitars playing fast, intricate rhythms along with growled vocals and dark subject matter.
- Power metal, which is characterized by fast tempos, melodic harmonies, and clean vocals.
- Black metal, which is characterized by cold atmospheres, satanic imagery, and raspy, harsh vocals.
2
Listen to a lot of your preferred genre. It's going to be hard to write songs in a particular style without being very familiar with that style. It's likely you've already listened to plenty of music in the style you're interested in, but it will help greatly if you expand your knowledge and try to find more artists who play in that style. The more familiar you are with the conventions and particulars of a certain style, the easier it will be to start writing good metal songs.^{[10]
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Expert Source

Tanisha Hall
Vocal Coach
Expert Interview. 27 March 2020.}
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Study music theory. While no formal music education is required to write a good metal song, knowledge of music theory can only help you. You can research online to find resources for learning about the basics of music theory.^{[11]
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Expert Q&A
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Question

How do you write a good bridge for a metal song?

Tanisha Hall
Songwriting Instructor
Tanisha Hall is a Vocal Coach and the Founder and Executive Director of White Hall Arts Academy, Inc. an organization based in Los Angeles, California that offers a multi-level curriculum focused on fundamental skills, technique, composition, theory, artistry, and performance at a conservatory level. Ms. Hall's current and previous students include Galimatias, Sanai Victoria, Ant Clemons, and Paloma Ford. She earned a BA in Music from the Berklee College of Music in 1998 and was a recipient of the Music Business Management Achievement Award.

Tanisha Hall

Songwriting Instructor

Expert Answer

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Bridges are transitions. Musically, this is your opportunity to get creative and bring a different tone, change the beat, change instrumentation, or add harmonies. When it comes to the lyrics, a bridge should present a question, answer a question, or emphasize the themes of the song. If the main idea of your song is, "Life is hard, but we can make it," the lyrics on your bridge might be, "Are we going to get out," or, "We gotta get tough." In terms of melody, a bridge can echo a theme or idea from the verse or chorus, or it can introduce a new kind of musical pattern. The bridge is really your place to get creative!
Question

How can I write a good riff that's simple enough to be the chorus and let the vocals shine through, but complex enough to be intresting if the vocals happen to drop out or something?

Torpi

Top Answerer

Err on the side of simple - think of the opening riff to Smoke on the Water, which is very simple, but which some guitarists will play over and over for hours! Or, start with something simple and add variations to it, like the classic riff in Enter Sandman (music theory related to themes and variations helps with that, even if you're working on a two-bar riff instead of a whole theme).