How do you guys write your own songs by only using a bass? I'm considering buying a guitar and writing my own songs, but is it favorable to be writing songs on a bass? Your input, please.

Do what feels right. Not everyone can be a bassist.

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Well, ther are a few ways you can do it, and it will vary depending on your style.

You can just straight write riffs, like a guitarist would do. You could also do like Athiest would, and write sort of free-form stuff, and base the song around it. Those are how I usually write, so that's just me. You don't need to be a guitarist to write songs.

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I dont usually write full songs on my bass, i usually just create tapping pieces, and groove's and riffs, but what i would suggest is to go with Anubis's advice, write some riffs, and then just structure them..

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ive written some excellent parts on the bass, but when im writing riffs 99.9% of the time i do it on guitar. if you are really thinking about picking up a guitar, do what i did and buy a cheap little combo for under 200 bucks. happy writing.

i use an ibanez starter pack (crappy guitar and amp) for writing music for guitar and bass, then i'll use my bass to experiment and find a good bass line. The starter pack works just fine for me, as i dont need anything more than a working guitar and amp to write stuff. If youre just writing a bass line, though, don't bother with a guitar.

what i do is find a chord structure first, then write melodies to support the structure/ or write bass/rythm lines under the melody, then write lyrics and solos ( bass or guitar whatever), then there is your song

The best thing about writing songs is you get to write really good lines without having to listen to what your guitarist says, they finally have to listen to the bassist he he

First off, guitarists as a species are whiny egolistical crybabies who feel your purpose as a bassist (and in life) is to support their stupid delusions of grandeur.

That being said, picking up a guitar yourself will make you a better player and all around musician. It will also give you more input into your band's sound and get you more respect. "Know your enemy" - right? The ideal situation is to find a guitarist you really click with and can write with but that's hard to find.

So go for it if that feels right to you. Just don't join the other team!

Since ive never played the guitar so i just write the bass parts and use GP4 for the guitar parts

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I have a Steinberger double neck I got off Musicyo.com. It's the ultimate writing tool IMO. Has a pretty fast 24 fret bass neck too!

I write 100% on my bass. I find that if I write on gtr. every thing gets to bland and repetitive, but if I write on bass and build the gtrs. around that my compositions sound a hell of a lot better. Usually I'll look at scales and set up my riffs around a particular scale then I go in and tweak it to my liking often I'll jump back and forth across the fret-board.