Songwriting Strategies

[GFEBassist]

What's your guys' strategy on songwriting? Just curious. My band starts with a guitar riff, adds bass, then drums, then finally vocals. We usually work verse/chorus/bridge to get songs done.

[KCsilvertone]

Our band lays out vocals, then the main guitar line, then the secondary guitars lines, then the bass, then the drums....

It is always good to have your vocals first, so that you can lay down a guitar line that flows with the vocals instead of against them,..

Bass and drums are normally meant to be rhythm, so those should probably be put in last, cause they are just the background...

please crit:
http://www.musicianforums.com/forums/showthread.php?t=325727

[Thrak Attack]

It depends on what you're going for. My band has mainly started from the instrumentals (guitar usually) and moved on to vocals, but if you want a really catchy melody it's a lot easier to start with the vocals.

[burton.and.gas]

me nad my mate dont have a band and we just think stuff up i wrote a bass line an song recently and now my maye broke the main string used.

[sherbondy]

i just write the song then lay down the rhythm i fill in everything else in later

[bighambino]

I sit down with my guitar and record any good part I come up with (on tape), and move on to the next part. Once I fill up a tape, I go through it all and find the best parts. Once that's done, I write to those parts, or combine them with others. Lyrics always come last.