How Turnstile Writes Songs

Turnstile writes songs rhythm-first. Most start as a groove or riff that singer Brendan Yates builds alone in his bedroom, the band fills in chords around that rhythm, and on Glow On (2021) they kept songs short (15 tracks in under 35 minutes) while adding keyboards, drum machines and cleaner, danceable sections on top of hardcore riffs.

Best for: guitarists and songwriters who can play open chords and a palm-muted eighth-note riff, like Turnstile, and want to write heavy songs that groove instead of just going fast. Skip if: you already write rhythm-first, switch feels mid-song, and edit songs down to under three minutes.

Time cost: 10 minutes a day. You’ll hear the difference between writing chords first and rhythm first within the first 3 days. Switching between a fast hardcore feel and a half-time dance feel usually locks in by day 10–14. The 30-day plan below ends with a complete song under three minutes, recorded on your phone.

Last updated: September 24, 2026 · Changelog: First published: Glow On and Never Enough analysis, a “Never Enough” harmony walkthrough, five drills and a 30-day plan. · By Justin Ray · Related: Turnstile: A Brief History

Who writes Turnstile’s songs?

Singer Brendan Yates starts most Turnstile songs, and the whole band finishes them. Yates told Grammy.com that “pretty much all the songs start with me in my bedroom,” and that he brings a song to the band once it feels complete. The band then tests ideas together and throws out anything that doesn’t work. Songwriting credit is shared. Wikipedia credits “Mystery” to Yates, bassist Franz Lyons, drummer Daniel Fang and guitarists Brady Ebert and Pat McCrory.

Does Turnstile write riffs or chords first?

Turnstile usually writes the rhythm first. Brady Ebert told Guitar World the band’s music is “very riff driven,” and that songs often start “with a rhythmical idea and then filling in the chords afterward.” Pat McCrory added that songs begin from groove concepts rather than fixed parts. For your own writing, that means working out the pick-hand pattern on muted strings before choosing any notes. The rhythm becomes the song’s identity, and the chords color it.

DRILL: Rhythm before pitch
TEMPO:       [BPM] (start at 140; "Never Enough" sits ~154)
STEP 1:      Mute all six strings with your fretting hand.
             Invent a 1-bar pick-hand rhythm using only 8th notes
             and rests, e.g. |x x - x - x x -| (x = hit, - = rest)
STEP 2:      Loop it 8 times until it grooves on its own
STEP 3:      Keep the exact rhythm; put it on the open [STRING]
             string, palm-muted
STEP 4:      Keep the rhythm; move the accented hits to [FRET 1]
             and [FRET 2] on the same string
REPS:        3 different rhythms per session
SUCCESS:     You're done when someone can nod along to Step 1
             (no pitches at all), and Step 4 still sounds like the
             same riff.

Why are Turnstile songs so short?

Turnstile’s songs are short because they come from a hardcore tradition that values economy, and the band cuts anything that doesn’t earn its place. Glow On has 15 tracks in 34 minutes 51 seconds, an average of about 2 minutes 19 seconds each. Only “Underwater Boi” (3:04) goes past three minutes. “Humanoid / Shake It Up” is 1:09, and “No Surprise” is 45 seconds. Pat McCrory told Guitar World the band tries to “capture that perfect take” by going in “as hard and fast as we can.”

How did Glow On change Turnstile’s sound?

Glow On kept Turnstile’s hardcore riffs and added a lot of color: keyboards, drum machines, cleaner guitar tones and slower, danceable songs. Wikipedia’s summary of reviews lists pop, funk, shoegaze, psychedelia and R&B among its influences. Dev Hynes of Blood Orange appears on “Alien Love Call” and “Lonely Dezires.” Yates told Grammy.com the goal “was to breathe as much imagination into these songs as possible.” Mike Elizondo produced the album at Phantom Studios in Gallatin, Tennessee, in 2020.

Can a heavy song start on keyboard or drums?

Yes. On Glow On, Turnstile songs started from drum beats, keyboard chords or melodies as well as guitar riffs. Brendan Yates told Grammy.com that “Mystery,” which became the album’s lead single and reached number 8 on Billboard’s Alternative Airplay chart, began as keyboard material meant for an interlude. Starting away from the guitar breaks your habitual fingerings. Once the idea moves to guitar, it becomes a riff you wouldn’t have found by noodling.

What is a half-time feel and why does it make heavy music groove?

A half-time feel keeps the tempo but moves the snare from beats 2 and 4 to beat 3, so the music feels half as fast. At 154 BPM, a half-time section feels like 77 BPM. Switching between full-time drive and half-time bounce gives heavy songs their groove, and your guitar should follow the drums: steady eighth-note downpicks in full time, and longer, accented strums with space between them in half time. Pat McCrory’s “dancey, slower songs” on Glow On use exactly this kind of contrast.

DRILL: Full-time to half-time switch
CHORDS:      [CHORD 1] - [CHORD 2]    e.g. D (xx0232) - G (320003)
TEMPO:       [BPM] (start at 140, work up to 154)
FULL TIME:   4 bars of palm-muted 8th-note downpicks, accent 2 and 4
HALF TIME:   4 bars: strum on beat 1, let ring, hit beat 3 hard,
             let ring. Same metronome, same chords.
REPS:        6 switches without stopping (48 bars)
SUCCESS:     You're done when the half-time bars feel exactly
             twice as slow without the metronome moving, and you
             land the first full-time downpick right on beat 1.

Why do Turnstile choruses use so few chords?

Fewer chords make a chorus easier to shout along to and let the rhythm and vocal carry it. Hooktheory’s analysis of “Never Enough” (D major, about 154 BPM) shows the harmony simplifying as the energy rises. The intro uses extended chords (Dmaj9, Gmaj9, F♯m, Bm(add9)), the verse uses D–G–F♯m–Bm (I–IV–iii–vi), the pre-chorus G–Em (IV–ii), and the chorus only D–G (I–IV). The more energy a section has, the fewer chords it needs.

What is the difference between copying Turnstile’s sound and writing like Turnstile?

Copying a band’s sound means matching its gear and learning its tabs. Writing like the band means following its process: rhythm first, short songs, switching feels, and simpler chords as the energy rises. The table compares the two, drawing on the band’s own interviews.

How is Turnstile’s “Never Enough” built?

“Never Enough,” the title track of Turnstile’s 2025 album, is in D major at about 154 BPM, according to Hooktheory. The steps below cover the harmony section by section, what that shows about the band’s writing, and an original practice part that uses the same chords. The practice part isn’t a transcription of the recording. It shows how the same harmony changes when you write rhythm-first and simplify toward the chorus.

Step 1: the harmony, section by section

Step 2: what the harmony shows

The number of chords shrinks from section to section: four rich extended chords in the intro, four plain triads in the verse, two chords in the pre-chorus and two in the chorus. Every chord stays in D major, so the lift comes from simplification and energy rather than from outside chords. Hooktheory rates the intro’s chord complexity high and the chorus’s low. That’s the reverse of what many beginners do, which is to save their fanciest chords for the chorus.

Step 3: an original rhythm-first practice part at 154 BPM

INTRO (clean, let ring, half-time feel: strum beats 1 and 3)
    Dmaj9 x54220 | Gmaj9 3x0202 | F#m 244222 | Bm(add9) x20422

VERSE (palm-muted 8th-note downpicks on the root, accents marked >)
      >   >       >           >   >       >
e|---------------------|---------------------|
B|---------------------|---------------------|
G|---------------------|---------------------|
D|-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-----|---------------------|
A|---------------------|---------------------|
E|---------------------|-3-3-3-3-3-3-3-3-----|
   1 + 2 + 3 + 4 +       1 + 2 + 3 + 4 +
   (D bar, then G bar; F#m = low E fret 2, Bm = A string fret 2)

CHORUS (open power chords, accents on 2 and 4)
    D5 x577xx for 1 bar | G5 355xxx for 1 bar | repeat x4

DRILL: "Never Enough" harmony map (original part, not a transcription)
TEMPO:       154 BPM (start at 120 if needed)
INTRO:       Dmaj9 - Gmaj9 - F#m - Bm(add9), clean, half-time strums
VERSE:       D - G - F#m - Bm, palm-muted 8th-note roots, accents on the
             pattern shown above
PRE-CHORUS:  G - Em, 2 bars each, open strums building louder
CHORUS:      D5 - G5, 1 bar each, accents on 2 and 4
REPS:        3 full passes (intro 4 bars, verse 8, pre 4, chorus 8)
SUCCESS:     You're done when each section switch lands on beat 1 at
             154 BPM, and the two-chord chorus feels like the biggest
             moment even though it's the simplest harmony.

How can I write a song that switches between hardcore and dance feels like Glow On?

Write one rhythm cell and play it in two feels, then join them with a hard stop. Glow On’s contrast between heavy and dancey sections is easiest to reproduce when both sections share DNA, such as the same chord pair or the same accent pattern, and only the feel and tone change. The three techniques below go beyond what most “sound like Turnstile” articles cover: one rhythm in two feels, the stop-start seam, and the brevity edit. Each works on its own.

How do I play one rhythm in two feels?

Take a one-bar accent pattern and play it twice. The first time, play full-time palm-muted eighth notes with the accents hit hard. The second time, play the same accents as clean, open chord stabs at half-time, letting each ring. At 154 BPM the half-time version feels like 77 BPM. Because the accent pattern stays the same, a listener hears a new section that still belongs to the song. That’s how you get a Glow On-style shift without writing a whole new part.

DRILL: One rhythm, two feels
RHYTHM CELL: [YOUR 1-BAR ACCENT PATTERN]  e.g. accents on 1, 2+, 4
CHORDS:      [CHORD 1] - [CHORD 2]
TEMPO:       [BPM]
FEEL A:      Full time: palm-muted 8th-note downpicks, accents hard,
             distortion on (or pick hard on an acoustic)
FEEL B:      Half time: clean, open-chord stabs only on the accents,
             let each ring; gain off or neck pickup
PLAY:        4 bars A, 4 bars B, x4
SUCCESS:     You're done when a listener hears Feel B as a new
             section, but can still clap the same accents in both.

What is a stop-start seam and why does it hit so hard?

A stop-start seam is a full stop, a beat or a bar of silence, placed right before a section change. Silence resets the listener’s ears, so the next section lands harder than any extra riff could make it. At 154 BPM one beat lasts about 0.39 seconds and one bar about 1.56 seconds. For a switch from half time back to full time, stop on beat 4 of the last half-time bar and come back on beat 1 together. It only works if everyone stops at exactly the same moment, so practice it with a metronome.

How do I edit a song down to under three minutes?

Play the full song, then remove one section at a time and ask whether the song still makes sense. If it does, leave that section out. At 154 BPM one bar of 4/4 lasts about 1.56 seconds, so a 2:30 song is about 96 bars. A Glow On-length structure might look like this: intro 8 bars, verse 16, pre-chorus 8, chorus 16, half-time section 16, final chorus 16 and a 16-bar ending. Every section should change at least the feel, the tone or the density.

DRILL: Brevity edit
SONG:        [YOUR SONG] at [BPM]
BAR MATH:    seconds per bar = 240 / [BPM]; target <= 180 seconds
PLAY:        Full run-through, recorded
THEN:        Remove ONE section (a repeat verse, a second pre-chorus,
             an extra intro loop); play again, recorded
REPS:        Repeat until removing anything else breaks the song
SUCCESS:     You're done when the song is under 3:00, and every
             remaining section changes at least one of: feel,
             tone, or density.

What is a 30-day plan for writing songs like Turnstile?

This plan uses 10 minutes a day with a guitar in your hands and no written homework. Week 1 builds rhythm-first riffs, week 2 switching between feels, week 3 simplifying the harmony toward the chorus, and week 4 editing and recording a complete song under three minutes. Use any chords you like; D and G at 140–154 BPM work well to start. Copy the block into your practice log.

30-DAY "WRITE LIKE TURNSTILE" PLAN (10 minutes a day)
KEY: [KEY] (start in D)   TEMPO: [BPM] (140-154)

WEEK 1  Rhythm first (days 1-7)
  Days 1-4  Practice block 1: rhythm before pitch (3 cells a day)
  Days 5-7  Pick your best cell; turn it into a 2-bar riff on
            two notes of [KEY]

WEEK 2  Switch feels (days 8-14)
  Days 8-10  Practice block 2: full-time to half-time switch
  Days 11-14 Practice block 4: one rhythm, two feels (heavy + clean)

WEEK 3  Simplify toward the chorus (days 15-21)
  Days 15-17 Practice block 3: "Never Enough" harmony map
  Days 18-21 Write your own: 4 extended chords (intro) -> 4 triads
             (verse) -> 2 chords (chorus) in [KEY]

WEEK 4  Edit and record (days 22-30)
  Days 22-24 Add one stop-start seam before your final chorus
  Days 25-27 Practice block 5: brevity edit to under 3:00
  Days 28-30 Record the full song on your phone, 2 takes a day,
             "as hard and fast as you can"

SUCCESS FOR THE MONTH: a phone recording under 3:00 with one
rhythm-first riff, one feel switch, and a two-chord chorus.

Use an AI chatbot as a writing coach

Paste this prompt into any general-purpose AI chatbot. It will coach you through a rhythm-first writing session. It won't produce Turnstile's riffs or lyrics, and it shouldn't. Prompt last reviewed September 24, 2026; it isn't written for any particular AI model.

You are my songwriting coach. I want to write rhythm-first, the
way many hardcore bands do. Don't write lyrics for me and don't
reproduce any existing band's riffs.
Tempo: [BPM]. Key: [KEY]. Feel I want: [HEAVY / DANCEY / BOTH].
1) Give me three 1-bar rhythm cells for muted strings, in
   x (hit) and - (rest) notation, eighth-note grid.
2) After I pick one, tell me which two notes or chords in
   [KEY] to put it on.
3) Give me a half-time version of the same cell.
4) Suggest a section map under 3:00 with bar counts at [BPM],
   with harmony that gets simpler toward the chorus.
Ask me what I heard before each next step.