How do all of you go about writing lines for the current bands you are currently or have been in???

Once a few respones come in i will post my methods. This should be fairly interesting for the music buffs.

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I find it hard as fuck to create a riff on my own, but if someone has created the riff already, its really easy for me to improvise on it, or improve the riff itself

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Yeah same here.

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i will usually start screwing around in a specific key, and from there try and develop a melody. once ive got the melody its all gravy from there.

well, first i rhythmically observe how my line should be written. In my opinion the bass is a melodic percussive instrument that you hold in your hands, so using the bass like it is a mix between drums and guitar usually will lead me to find a general groove outside of what the guitarist is playing.

secondly if i haven't helped with working on a song and just my guitar player wrote the entire thing, then i will just learn his parts and once drums come into the mix i meld his parts and add that rhythmic feel i mentioned earlier.

Lastly i do my best to make melodic lines that catch you off guard. Many bassists do their job, which is to hold down the fort, but the guys who most bassists aspire to be add another function to what they do and that is playing parts that utilize the groove of the song, and the melody of the song. If you write parts that stand out and still manage to keep the general beat of the riff then and only then will you get the same kind of recognition that the other members of the band get, and you will also be much more my satisfied with the outcome of your lines.

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I also hear new melodies as I'm trying to go to sleep. It happens a few times a week.

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My friend who plays bass isn't in my current band because he works in a sheet metal factory for something like 12 hours a day, 5 days a week so he really doesn't have time to be in a band; otherwise, he'd join in a heartbeat. But he jammed with us a few times and he put a WHOLE new side to our music. He would use a lot of harmonies to ride on and usually follow more closely with the 1st guitarist/drums.



That sounds spot on to me. I completely agree. You're also right about doing more than simply "holding down the fort". Bass has way too much potential for it to be wasted on simple rhythm lines. I and I think most people love it more when the bassist came come out and have it's own face, while covering it's unique duty of grooving. So the bassist still holds down the fort, but sometimes, will go out there and fight like the rest, or sometimes do even both at once, so to speak.

Just throwing this out there, Death - Destiny has a lot of really cool bass work... hell pretty much the whole album does!

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Same thing here as well. I just can't write good pieces loosely, it doesn't work for me.

But apart from that I completely agree to the opinion of trying to groove as hard and creatively as possible, that's what a bass guitar is made for, not such horrible simple tabs like for instance Iced Earth's "Dark Saga".
Yes, because the rest of the band wanted to play it I had too play it as well.

It is a bassist's duty to be innovative and rock harder than any other band member!

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Yes I agree with this, together with the drummer, they can create a very nice unique groove.

alot of my best riffs come to me in my sleep

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You remind me up off Paul McCartney, like for example he'd compose a lyrics in his dream.

paul mccartney is a fool

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You forgot the root word, more of a fool...
"More"
I agree with you.
But his band really roX!!!, what should I say?

paul mccartney owns. in the words of balki bartokamos "dont be ridiculous".

What if the Beatles was the first Metal band in the world?

that doesn't even make sense...
lol

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