I've been playing guitar for about 6 years, but where my technique fourishes, my theory lacks.. I've been playing mostly in Minor for the last 2 years. I just started playing phrygian while writing songs, and i love how it sounds. But I've been listening to a lot of Opeth and Darkane, and they seem to switch to different modes a lot in the midst of their songs. Thing is, whenever I write something in a certain mode(lets say minor, for the sake of discussion) I have a hard time fitting in a riff that's in a different mode(like phrygian) yet other bands seem to do it so easily. And it's not that i can't just put them together and play them, it's the fact that it always comes out sounding weird, and it seems like the song isn't flowing together like it should.. I know there are plenty of experienced and very skilled musicians on this forum and I hope i can get a good answer because i want to be a more versatile player, especially when writing music. I don't wanna just stay on one path the whole time. Any help is appreciated! thanks in advance.

Maby you should consider building from the ground up. getting a little bit of a fresh start.
One great way to learn theory is to start off with Major Triads, then moving on to Realative
Minors, I would assume you already know Your circle of fifths, But if you don't, it'd
be a good Idea to study those as well.

this is only 10% ontopic,but i don't want to start a new topic
what are the secrets of neoclassical metal?like a section in "downfall" by CoB,or that light-speed bit in Yngwie Malmsteen's black star at 3:00 i think
what are the modes,scales,which types of chords do you arpeggio?

@cursed: Alot of hormonic minor,Minor arrpegios(3,5,6 strings) alot of siqunses using those things. This is how I see it.

Written by BehindSpace336 on 02.09.2006 at 02:34

I've been playing guitar for about 6 years, but where my technique fourishes, my theory lacks.. I've been playing mostly in Minor for the last 2 years. I just started playing phrygian while writing songs, and i love how it sounds. But I've been listening to a lot of Opeth and Darkane, and they seem to switch to different modes a lot in the midst of their songs. Thing is, whenever I write something in a certain mode(lets say minor, for the sake of discussion) I have a hard time fitting in a riff that's in a different mode(like phrygian) yet other bands seem to do it so easily. And it's not that i can't just put them together and play them, it's the fact that it always comes out sounding weird, and it seems like the song isn't flowing together like it should.. I know there are plenty of experienced and very skilled musicians on this forum and I hope i can get a good answer because i want to be a more versatile player, especially when writing music. I don't wanna just stay on one path the whole time. Any help is appreciated! thanks in advance.

Do you have any recordings of any of the stuff you've written?

The key to any mode/scale change I've found is that it must compliment the phrase previous otherwise it will always sound forced (obviously). One good way of practicing scales/modal changes is to improvise switching any combination of scales, and seeing what sounds good. It's one thing to know the scale/mode on paper and by practicing it to a metronome doing tremelo/arpeggios but once you are given the space to experiment with no conditions, that's when you are really able to creatively exercise your technical abilities. Get guitar pro and copy paste drum sequences from metal songs and make your own jam to play over.

The point is that don't write a song thinking ok, 'I'm going to write a song in minor scale and then go to arabian scale' it limits you and puts boundaries on your mind. Think of writing a song first (don't think of tuning, scales yet), then all the ideas of what modes/scales will fall into place naturally as you progress through writing each passage.

Make each scale as a piece of your musical arsenal, instead of depending on it for creativity. Make it your bitch and you will get the most of it.