Guitar Gear Forum

when you write songs (particularly you folks who sing and play and write both), you you constantly evolve them over the years? or once you track them are they solid and to be left alone, played in their original style and intent, regardless of future stylistic changes in you or your band.

getting ready to do some significant recording hopefully this spring. at least a strong EP.
been thinking about revamping some stuff, particularly lyrics, many of which were hastily written before practices/shows and which will be much more upfront on record.

what say you?

Depends on the song. Some songs I'll go back and re-work. When we played the GAB show and I played some Son of Fire songs, the drummer and I re-worked them for the hell of it. Made one of them slightly mellower and extended some of the verses.

With lyrics I will finalize them in the studio. Sometimes certain words need to be replaced, or I wanna change the cadence on a particular line. If I'm in a new band and have an old song that will work, it will inevitably change because the rhythm section is different and I adjust it to their feel.

I've written a lot of songs. Not all are great of course.. Some do have those parts that are better than the sum of the song.. So, of course, the idea to cherry pick ideas and rework them further is something i consider, but i almost never do that.. For me, writing a song was for a reason. Its cathartic for me.. To go back and try to recreate the place i was in when i originally wrote it, never seems to end up any better than before.. Plus, I'm always looking to move on and create something new and fresh...

I once read an interview with Billy Howerdell where he said "Songs are never finished. You just stop working on them." I tend to agree with that.

Telephant wrote:Sometimes certain words need to be replaced, or I wanna change the cadence on a particular line.

this is what im looking at


i usually write out of catharsis and necessity combined (hey mike, we're fucking playing that song tonight, did you get lyrics? lol) , and then later take what that became and turn it into something that better fits the song as a whole.

Y0UNGBL00D wrote:

Telephant wrote:Sometimes certain words need to be replaced, or I wanna change the cadence on a particular line.

this is what im looking at


i usually write out of catharsis and necessity combined (hey mike, we're fucking playing that song tonight, did you get lyrics? lol) , and then later take what that became and turn it into something that better fits the song as a whole.

I do that too. Hell a lot of times I just improv lyrics at practice and start piecing together from there. Usually I like to improv some lines, and then sort of pick the topic or theme I want to sing about and build from there.

me too. brothers i tell you. lol

I think periodically revisiting your works is just a healthy song writing exercise. Even if you have "finalized" versions that you've played in your band or at gigs.

what do yall think about major bands that completely revamp arrangements of classics live?

You ever hear Tool play 46&2 live? They added another part where one of the choruses should be and its pretty cool. Hendrix once said something like, "If you want to hear it exactly like the album then put on the album."

Once the song is recorded, that's pretty much it for me.

What I do like is the opportunity to play a song live a few times before recording it. Had more than a few good "accidents" as result.

To me songs are available for change until they're recorded, after that I don't really mess with them.
Change what needs it, leave it alone if its fine. Tinkering too much can be a very bad idea IMO.

Telephant wrote:You ever hear Tool play 46&2 live? They added another part where one of the choruses should be and its pretty cool. Hendrix once said something like, "If you want to hear it exactly like the album then put on the album."

couple times, actually

my "songs" are riffs repeated ad infinitum. sometimes i make mistakes

Live, I change the vocal delivery on my songs depending on the moment and the mood. And the leads are always a work in progress - they evolve far more than the rest of the song.

But once they're recorded, I stay probably 90% true to them from then on.

For my metal stuff the songs pretty much lock in once recorded. The grunge/punk/modern rock originals changed constantly even after demos. When I played as a studio bass player for hip hop stuff that was locked down solid before I even picked up the instrument.