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Post the way your band writes songs!

#21
Okz...we play alternative rock or something like that, we are three guitars and me, the bass player. Im the newiest of all members so I let the others write their riffs and then I try to put a very simple rythm with bass. the drummer doesnt make anything more than going trought with the basic 4/4 so the bass has to put the rest on the rythm line. I think ill trya basic line with roots and some variations...ill tell how it was tomorrow
Sorry for my english...im SPanish ;)
 
#22
Most of our songs are written by one member and distributed to the rest of the guys via powertab. At this point changes are made, rewrites of parts of the song, criticism is given and received.

If it's one of the guitarist's writing, they usually leave the bass line to me unless it's a huge part of the song. If I'm writing I'll do the bass and rhythm guitar but leave most of the lead parts to the lead guitarist. When the drummer writes he does all the parts and is incredibly anal about keeping it that way.

We play alt-rock and with two distorted guitars I stick to the root notes a lot in most songs, throwing in fills where appropriate.
 
#23
Our songs are put together piece by piece, and laboured over almost over analized.Until the drummer and guitar player are happy with it.

I'm just the hired help. (jokes)
I'd prefer to just do the jam thing, and piece from there.

Our songs are put together piece by piece, and laboured over almost over analized.Until the drummer and guitar player are happy with it.

I'm just the hired help. (jokes)
I'm just the hired help. (jokes)

The guitar player writes a riff and we make sumthin up,
The guitar player writes a riff and we make sumthin up,
oooohhh he writes a riff

Our songs are put together piece by piece, and laboured over almost over analized.Until the drummer and guitar player are happy with it.

I'd prefer to just do the jam thing, and piece from there.

I'm just the hired help. (jokes)
I'm just the hired help. (jokes)


;)
R
 
#26
Thank you all, but I still have a question, and it has not been really ansewered by any of you.
You have explained me some ways to mix lyrics and riffs, and that helped me and my group a lot, we have our first song written now...thx. But my next question is: How could a bass player write riffs or licks? I just cant. I play my bass for hours but Im still unable to write anything right. I just play stupid things and even it sounds ok I dont take note of them because I think they could not fix in music or lyrics. Playing bass alone and trying to invent something its a little boring I think.
Another problem: I read my lyrics and try to make a bass line for any of them, but I only follow the words and its stresses so I only sing with my bass...and thats not the thing a bass has to do I think...
Ok, Im confused, plz help again¡¡¡ help me¡¡¡ plz...
 
#27
i wrote most of the instruments, including of course all of the bass, to the instrumental in my sig, as well as a few other of our songs, and i also wrote many of the instrumental passages to all of our other songs. i also write all of our lyrics except for a song and parts of 2 others.

a bassist can write the riffs just like any other musician would - come up with something. Make Up Something Interesting and Complimentary to other sections of the song ;). here's where knowing music theory really comes in handy - by knowing what kinds of chords and scales work together to suggest certain musical moods, you can build a song like building anything else.
 
#28
OK, I write almost all of the songs of our group, and know the basics of music theory for bass, scales and chords. I dont find it difficult to write riffs or licks but I cant write things more complicated than the basic, and it sounds really better a simple rithm that supports the guitar chords with root notes on bass. This is what i´ve done in our first sing and its sounds Ok. Maybe it could be simple, very easy playabe but...
 
#29
I'm confused... are you talking about writing basslines to a song that already has the chord structure figured out or about writing all the instruments from scratch?

I too find bass can be an awfully tough instrument to write a song from, I know how to get creative and construct lines playing with other musicians but when it comes to composing from scratch I almost always write without the instrument in my hands, or with a different instrument.

I have a guitar that I play maybe once every couple months but every time I pick it up I come up with a number of great song ideas within the first few minutes. It's just a different way of thinking. My other most productive area for writing music is while sitting through a lecture at school, strange but true. Look to things other than just your bass for inspiration.
 
#30
I agree. I also think that bass its awfull to build from cero but its great to build over guitar or something else.
I have some good ideas and I have turned them into bass lines to our songs. I usually write over guitar chords but my partners are a little lazy and I do the most of the work, lyrics and music, but I cant play guitar well so...
Thx you all for all your advices, they have helped me a lot and now im goings in the right way...thx¡
 
#32
Ok, so you say that knowing music theory is the best way to write songs...
I agree but I think that if you start making noise with your bass finally you could randomly find something fine. One of my last bass lines comes this way, I was playing stupid and nonsense things on my bass and then some good sounds appeared. I take note of them, put it toghether, organized them and wrote a bass line withem.
Anyway, If i take my bass with the idea of making up something, then the ideas dont come so I still prefer the caotic style I use.
In the case we have the guitar chords I think its an easy task writing a bass lines with roots or power chords.
 
#33
Here's how my terrible nu-metal band typically writes a song:

Guitar player or myself play a riff. Guitarist's riffs tend to be jazzy or classical guitar like. Mine are funky or blues like.

Drummer comes up with basic drums to our riff, making sure we have a solid time foundation to build off.

We jam for a few minutes until both the guitarist and I have parts we like to play, and the drummer has pretty decent drums going.

Singer vetoes guitarist's riff, tells me I'm playing too many notes/in too high of a key/not aggressive sounding enough and dumbs down song to me playing roots and guitar player power-chording them.

Singer insists in song being in the key of C since he can't sing in any other, insists in the song being in 4/4 time, and proceeds to scream lyrics that don't fit with the music well at all.

Singer happy. Rest of band indifferent. Generic song is recorded.

Or, if the singer isn't there:

Guitar player or myself play a riff. Guitarist's riffs tend to be jazzy or classical guitar like. Mine are funky or blues like.

Guitarist suggests a way to make it a little harder to play, so we keep getting better as musicians.

Drummer comes up with basic drums to the new, more difficult part.

Instrumental develops, giving everyone the chance to write in a part they like, and not sounding nu-metal at all.

Next practice, singer declares he hates the song more than anything, and refuses to even try to do anything to it.

Song is scrapped.

...Sorry, I think that turned into more venting than helping...But it felt good to post! :D
 
#34
Your post made me laugh a lot hehehe...maybe its not helpin but it was funny anyway.
we have the same problem with our singer, when we finally get the bass and guitars music and of course lyrics he comes and says...I dont like it. Its something strange because he always says that but he nevers advices anything so...we get really angry with him. He is also the one who makes less work but criticizes the most.
I think we´ll say goodbye to him someday...soon
 
#35
Originally posted by Only
Here's how my terrible nu-metal band typically writes a song:

Guitar player or myself play a riff. Guitarist's riffs tend to be jazzy or classical guitar like. Mine are funky or blues like.

Drummer comes up with basic drums to our riff, making sure we have a solid time foundation to build off.

We jam for a few minutes until both the guitarist and I have parts we like to play, and the drummer has pretty decent drums going.

Singer vetoes guitarist's riff, tells me I'm playing too many notes/in too high of a key/not aggressive sounding enough and dumbs down song to me playing roots and guitar player power-chording them.

Singer insists in song being in the key of C since he can't sing in any other, insists in the song being in 4/4 time, and proceeds to scream lyrics that don't fit with the music well at all.

Singer happy. Rest of band indifferent. Generic song is recorded.

Or, if the singer isn't there:

Guitar player or myself play a riff. Guitarist's riffs tend to be jazzy or classical guitar like. Mine are funky or blues like.

Guitarist suggests a way to make it a little harder to play, so we keep getting better as musicians.

Drummer comes up with basic drums to the new, more difficult part.

Instrumental develops, giving everyone the chance to write in a part they like, and not sounding nu-metal at all.

Next practice, singer declares he hates the song more than anything, and refuses to even try to do anything to it.
Click to expand...

I believe that is Limp Bizkit's approach too.
 
#37
I am in two bands. In one band, our singer-guitarist writes all the lyrics, guitars, and for the most part determines what feel the bass and drums should create.

In my other band, the singer-bass player (me) writes all the lyrics, bass, and guitar rythms. I don't write the drum tracks, but I hold veto power. ;)

The way that I write songs is that I have a moment when something effects me in some way... I feed off of it, trying to develop my feeling's intensity, then I try to explain my feelings in poetry, and the song develops from there.

As an example... I wrote this a few minutes ago (I hearby copyright it and all that happy-stuff!) :

Oh, we love money
Yeah, we love money
we worship only money
money is our god

yeah sure your son died at school, but you'll feel
so much better when you sue
It's your entitlement
it's your entitlement
think of your retirement
it's your entitlement

Oh, we love money
Yeah, we love money
we worship only money
money is our god

It's great to be so civilized
that we know the price for human life
so our lawyers rewrite every law
money talks and we take the call
and feeding frenzy consumes our souls
but in our greed, we won't even notice... ...or care

It's your entitlement
it's your entitlement
think of your retirement
it's your entitlement

Oh, we love money
Yeah, we love money
we worship only money
money is our god

money is our god
money is our god
money is our god
money is our god

Of course it will be in D Minor, the sadest of all keys. *sniff*
 
#40
I'm two original bands at the moment. One I've been with for about 5yrs. We're all best friends and love to jam together. The drummer is useless, so it's me and guitarist that bounce ideas off of each other. I'll come up with a riff and tell him where I hear it headed and he'll try and come up with something in that direction. (or vice versa) Sometimes he'll go in a different direction. If I like it, I'll go with it. If not I, beat him until he agrees with me. J/k, I just tell him I don't like where it's headed and he respects that. The guitarist also sings, so he writes the lyrics and melody. We also end up writing a good portion of the drum parts.

The other band I'm in is more serious with a kick ass drummer and guitarist/vocalist. Since we've only been together 3mos, we haven't been able to collectively write songs. We've jammed, but no luck with actually writing sons. The guitarist writes all the tunes and we add our parts. Check us out at www.chrislongmusic.com.

I've noticed that the when it comes to writing songs in a collective fashion, there almost always needs to be a leader of sorts. One person needs to have the direction of the song and maybe a riff or two. If I can come up with a part that follows his direction and makes him happy then I've done my job and wrote something that I may have never written without his direction. I've done this many times and the next day thought to myself, "Wow, I wrote that!!" And, the next time I'm a leader for a song in progress, the other guys will respect my direction and try to write something that fits with what I'm hearing in my head. It's all based on respect and listening. I've also been in situations where no one assumes a leadership role and nothing gets written and I feel like I'm wasting my time.
 

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