Ever composed an epic?

isn't love lies bleeding a poem by wordsworth?

hehe Scrogdog that is pretty damn epic!

Check out some old Alan Parsons Project works, talk about carrying through on a theme!

Check out some old Alan Parsons Project works, talk about carrying through on a theme!

Yeah, Now Those Were Some Epic's! Also, ELO Produced Some Epic Tunes.

Yeah, I Have Wrote Quite A Few Epics Myself, And How To Keep Sane... Hmm, Not Sure I Am ( ;) )

My First Ever Attempt At "Writing" An Epic (Vs Just Jamming And Recording For An Hour) Was My Song "Start The Wars" From My CD Dark Place . Coincidently, I Wrote It For Submission To Sierra Games, And Never Did Submit It. It Weighs In At A Hefty 10:42, And Was A Blast To Write For Me. I First Programmed The Drums In MIDI, And Put The Changes I Expected In That Way. Then I Added The Bass And Synth To A Theme, And Then The Guitar - A 10:42 Solo ;) Only Took Three Takes To Get It The Way I Wanted... I Kept The Other Takes As Well, But The Final Was In My Opinion "Right"

One Thing I Can Offer, If You Are Trying To Do Such A Project, Take Your Time - Your Sanity May Be At Stake If You Try Non Stop To Get It Out ;)

Symphony X has an incredibly epic track called the Divine Wings of Tragedy, which is a really positive outlook on life and death. It's 19 minutes long, its unorthodox, and keeps me pretty interested. Their latest track like that is called "The Odeyssey". Pick some of their stuff, it might me right up your alley. The biggest problem when composing things like that is to not turn it into a wankfest where you are practicing your sweep picking for half the tune. I say songs that are long just for the sake of being long are very very stupid. If you can say the same thing or better in a 3 minute song, I'd rather hear the 3 minute version. But as stated before by someone else, the thing I like about epic long songs is if they are composed well, you can totally surrender yourself to the power of the song while it takes you on a journey, and usually you are in a very different place by the end.

Another band which I think pulls of long songs incredibly well is Opeth. Check out Credence, To Bid you farewell, Hope Leaves, Window Pane, and Harvest. Their sense of harmony is very unorthodox and a lot can be learned from their use of tension through extreme dissonance.

Those are all rock bands of course, so for classical, Mozart is usually my pick. I dunno, I just find him so unique in so many ways with his compositions. Bach is good, but, I dunno, his stuff is like, too perfect for me haha. I kind of like the dissonance and "imperfections" Mozart includes in his music. I guess I'm just kindd of drawn to artists who purposely include elements like that in order to reach a different destination.

Best of luck, and remember:

Keep
It
Simple
Stupid!

Yes: Close to the Edge, And You And I, the totallity of "Topographic Oceans", Gates of Delirium, Awaken, Endless Dream...

Genesis: Supper's Ready, The Cinema Show...

Emerson, Lake & Palmer: Pictures at an Exhibition, Trilogy, The Endless Enigma, Tarkus, Karn Evil 9...

It's a Progressive Rock thing. That's where the first ones appeared (unless you count the Beatles "A Day in the Life") and where you'll find most of them today (Pendragon, Symphony X, Threshold, Flower Kings, etc).

Once you give yourself the liberty to write something like this it's actually easy; you don't limit the number of ideas, you can allow yourself to come back to previous ideas and explore them again. Try it, it's fun!

thanks all... i have noted all of these bands and songs down...

im personally not into mozart... but i think thats a taste thing, more of a Beethoven and Mussorgsky fan :) but each to their own...

Funny thing is a friend of mine randomly told me that he was going to start work on a conept album (which i suppose is what im doing, 5 epic songs about computer game... sounds concepty to me)... Are we heading back to those dark days???

I suppose the difference between epic and long is the interest factor, which i shall bear in mind.

Thanks again :D. keep any other suggestions comin please!

I wrote a song way back in '81, it was a couple of 3-line verses and a chorus to start with, ended up with 3 sets of 3-line verses, no choruses, 3 different solos, 3 guitars, piano, organ, kitchen sink....weighed in at about 8 mins & 41 secs....

I never did know how to finish a song....this one, I just kept going on and on and on....maybe one of these days, I'll record it....but it'll be too big a file for soundclick or D-music....

:D :D :D

Vic

I've never composed an epic, but I know all the parts (not including solo's) to "In Memory of Elizabeth Reed" 8)