Who writes their own?

[purpleblob]

[quote name='Deep Thought' post='600791' date='Sep 16 2009, 10:01 PM']This is strange to me-the first things I ever played on bass were lines I'd come up with myself-mainly so nobody could tell me I was playing them wrong![/quote]

I haven't got the patience to learn other people stuff note for note. So a little like you so I tended to write my own stuff from a very early time so nobody could say I didn't get a line spot on.

Too be honest though I far prefer coming up with my own stuff or improvisation than copying somebody else too closely but hey we're all different

[EssentialTension]

[quote name='mrcrow' post='601198' date='Sep 17 2009, 12:08 PM']if you play others you have just hung your brain up[/quote]
If that's intended seriously, then I'd say it's total and complete b******s.

[EssentialTension]

[quote name='wateroftyne' post='601228' date='Sep 17 2009, 12:43 PM']+1... I think every line I play, original or cover, has a bit of 'essence of WoT' in it.[/quote]
+1 I think that's right. Even when it is someone else's line originally I still inevitably play it with some of my own feel (or lack of feel).

[xilddx]

Two of my bands the lines are already written by the songwriters, but live and in the studio I put some eyebrow on them and they definitely, Like others have said, have some silddx-essence. The other band I write most of the lines and luckily they love what I do. I have an equally lovely time with either scenario.

[tjkennelly]

I'm not very good at writing my own stuff. The one song suggestion I had for my old band was discarded (Turned that into an industrial nightmare for my coursework )

The band had this general song writing process: Singer makes drumtrack on drum machine
Guitarist gets copy of drumtrack and jams along to it and records it
I get tabs and copy of track
Drummer gets copy of track
Vocalist picks lyrics out of the big box of lyrics we had (With 3 people contributing to lyrics, it wasn't long before we had a box full of them)

I'd pretty much copy the guitarline, I was never really confident enough to do my own thing

[4000]

I write everything in the current band; chords, melody, harmonies, bass, most of the guitar, lyrics. I occasionally let the guitarist come up with complementary lines to keep him occupied, but I'm just as happy to come up with them myself. I've been in bands where I've co-written; with the right group of people that's fun, but generally speaking I write pretty much everything. I have a couple of side projects on the go in different styles where I've also written everything, and will be playing everything too (thanks to BFD2!!!). I've occasionally played on other people's stuff (always my own lines) and it can be fun, but writing is where it's at for me; far more so than playing the bass.

I don't really understand how some musicians don't/can't write; to me that's the whole point and most of the fun.

[sifi2112]

Me & my brother (guitar) 'write' or more like make up the music (riffs), some are bass lead but as I don't consider myself a real bass player (at least not yet) I don't mind thinking as a guitarist might (used to play guitar) & it seems to work with our stuff .. we all seem to like it. Singer is great a lyrics (more of a poet) but struggles with finding melodies sometimes.

Si

[wateroftyne]

[quote name='4000' post='601894' date='Sep 18 2009, 01:02 AM']I write everything in the current band; chords, melody, harmonies, bass, most of the guitar, lyrics.[/quote]
Wow... are the rest of the bands robots or something?

[BottomEndian]

Because I play a lot of massive, chunky, stonery, doomy, riffy stuff, about 95% of the time I'm just doubling the guitar riffs. Anything else can sound really... silly, to be honest. Occasionally, I'll add harmonies to the guitar line -- cheesy, but nice. That said, when I throw in a little fill or a solo section, there's always a little grin from the guitarist. Whether it's a "that was awesome" smile or a "you stupid tw*t" smile... it's hard to tell.

With the slower, more ambient stuff I do, I've got free rein to do what the hell I want, and I love it.

[4000]

[quote name='wateroftyne' post='601937' date='Sep 18 2009, 07:53 AM']Wow... are the rest of the bands robots or something?[/quote]

Cylons.

Seriously, it's my music. They're perfectly capable of writing (the guitarist in particular is very talented) but the band was formed to play my songs, so that's what they do. They're in other bands too where they write so get an outlet there. I've been in "let's write everything together" bands too (on some occasions with the same people), and generally enjoyed those. However plenty of guys & and gals out there do the same as me; it's hardly unusual. I let the guitarist write his own solos though (sometimes with a bit of direction ). at the end of the day, bass, guitar, keys, melody, harmony, lyrics, it's all the same, it's all composition, and that's what I do. Same goes with musical styles; I'll try my hand at anything, pop, punk, funk etc etc. Why limit yourself?

Edited September 18, 2009 by 4000

[Raving_camel]

None of my friends play an instrument, most of them don't have an interest in music full stop. So for the past 7 years i've just had to write by myself. I use things like Fruity Loops and sometimes Guitar Pro to write piano parts, and a drum machine to jam along to. I don't think I could write music with other people. not because I feel superior, but I think i'd feel way too exposed. It takes me about a week to fine tune a small little riff before I even let myself hear it in full lol.