How To Write Rock

Step One: The Hook

What's the first rock song you ever learned on guitar? Well if you're like me it was Surfing With The Alien (not really), but most folks pick up their very first Strat Pack Squier and jam on that timeless classic we all know and...love?...Smoke On The Water by Deep Purple.

Of course! That's the one. Either that or Smells Like Teen Spirit by Nirvana. Either way, these are great examples of rock songs, and perfect tools for us to learn how to write one. It's very easy. The main ingredient you need is a good hook.

I can't tell you how to write a good hook, but I will advise you that unless you are Opeth or Dream Theater following one simple rule will generally help you reach your listener: KISS, or Keep It Simple Stupid. That's a good thing to know, and in fact the two aforementioned bands both face criticism for not reaching the listener, at least not the average one. Sure if you are obsessed with Swedish Melodic Death Metal it's okay to write a riff that lasts 15 and a half measures, but if you want average people, like your buddies at school and your girlfriend, to like your brand spanking new song then K.I.S.S. - write a short, simple hook that will grab the attention of your audience.

Now simplicity is not necessarily the mark of an untalented guitarist. In fact, the use of simple motifs is common to almost all of the better-known composers throughout history. Bach, Mozart, Beethoven, Dimebag Darrell...

They all realized that complexity is wonderful, speed and virtuosity are great, but great music is founded upon simple, effective motifs. Minuet in G Major, Ode to Joy or Mouth for War - all incredibly simple melodies that work incredibly well.

And that, friends, is what a hook is. It's a melody that works incredibly well. Now the hook need not be simple, but you will have more luck with the incredibly effective part if it is. Keep an open mind, though. Sometimes listeners are willing to listen to an ever-changing cacophony of death for twenty minutes.

But most of them already own Opeth's Morningrise.

There is another reason for writing a simple motif: it keeps your options open. See, other genres can lend us insight when writing rock, and here I will borrow an idea from jazz to explain my thinking. Simple chords, like A5, allow us to explore almost every mode and scale imaginable when improvising. As long as we choose a scale with a perfect fifth, we're okay. This is why power chords work so well in heavy metal - the lead man can pick from a cornocopia of scales when shredding through his teeth-kicking, eye-gouging solo.

Using a chord like Gm7b9 is great, but it limits you.

So in rock, the motif should generally be based around something harmonically simple. As always there are exceptions to the rule, but keeping it simple, stupid, will make it easier to write vocals, bass lines, keyboards, etc.

Step Two: Building On The Foundation

Unlike classical music where melodies work against each other to create a spacious soundscape, rock is based upon strength. Hence its name?

I don't know. Actually it's probably called rock because the rhythm makes you want to rock back and forth, but I'm probably pulling that out of my behind, too. But it is focused on the strength of the sound.

Where in classical the bass and violins would play alternate melodies that would counterpoint or build ever-changing chords, rock generally uses a lot of unison to strengthen the impact of the motif. That's why there are two guitars a lot of times - twice the sonic impact of one guitar.

The bass may or may not duplicate the guitar motif, but one thing it almost certainly will do is hit heavy on the one beat. BOOM - bam - bam - bam. This is not always the case, but rock is rock because, well, it rocks!! To rock, the rhythm must be very strong, and the bass is there to provide the force.

So you have your hook, your devastatingly simple motif, and you have these other guys staring at you like, "okay, what do we do?"

Well, if you're singing, most of the time the answer is "exactly what I'm doing." The drums, like the bass, drive the rhythm with great force - again so the music rocks. The vocals tell a story, and again this is usually a simple story.

Guy meets girl, girl and guy exchange rings, guy is at party, girl shows up at party with other guy, first guy pulls out a desert eagle and pumps bullets into other guy leaving him face down in a pool of...

Okay scratch the last part, but you get the idea. Love girl, can't be with her for some reason. Or love girl, she's cheating on you. Or love girl and she died. Etc.

Love girl and...something bad.

That's pretty much the idea. But not always. Again there are exceptions to the rule, but rock music is so "love girl..." based because girls evoke a lot of emotion. Love, attraction, sex, all of that amounts to a lot of impact. If rock were about victorian furniture or the life cycle of grass it would not rock. So it's about sex, love, breakups, cheating, drugs, anything that is interesting to sing about, really.

Step Three: Your Song Structure

So you've got a motif, and you've got words. That's really all you need for a good rock song, or is it? You can write a great song that way, and many in fact have nothing more than those two simple ingredients.

But a lot of songs have a chorus. Well, what's a chorus? That's the "smoke on the wa-ter" part. The part everyone screams along with and pumps their fist from the audience. The chorus is even simpler than the hook. Why? Well all the no-talent slobs in the crowd have to bang their heads to it, that's why!

But that doesn't mean it should suck. Oh no, no, no!

A good chorus is almost always built around a chord progression. The most effective again are the simplest. If we number the chords in a key using roman numerals we pick a handful and arrange them in groups of four (three works, too), and go.

Key of C:
C = I
D = ii
E = iii
F = IV
G = V
A = vi
B = vii

The capital ones are Major, the lowercase ones are minor except for vii, which is always diminished (you will probably not use it in rock.)

Here are some common rock progressions to try:
I-IV-I-V
I-vi-IV-V
vi-I-V-IV (Under the Bridge chorus, in case you're wondering)
IV-IV-I-V

..and so on. As you can see, I, IV and V are the most common, also the minor vi. Others pop up, too, but it's not that common.

So find a combination of those chords (which happen to be the strongest most rocking chords) and sing something memorable over it. Try the song title, that usually works.

To finish step three, we need to explain the overall structure. It usually works like this:

Verse - Chorus - Verse - Chorus

That can alternate all day.

Occasionally there is a third motif, which is often more musically explorative. Note Symptom Of The Universe by Black Sabbath, or the Metallica cover of Breadfan. This can be called the "breakdown" or "interlude", but it's usually where the band gets its chance to have some fun. The bass can get a little more creative, the drummer can add some fills, and the lead guitarist can do some leads.

I stress leads for a reason as these differ from the solo, which we will cover next. Leads are just noodly bits on the guitar that sort of explore the stronger notes in the key. They aren't particularly noticeable or amazing, just fun, short and...well, noodly. So to play leads, noodle around a bit. That's what most rock bands do.

So you normally do two verses and two choruses: V-C-V-C and then something else. That "something else" is up to you. It can be an interlude/breakdown (third, more musical motif) or it can be a solo. That's our next step.

Step Four: The Solo!!

The solo normally takes the place of a verse, so the band plays the verse music underneath the solo. If you take a simple structure like V-C-V-C-V, the solo happens over that last verse. Pretty simple, eh?

Rock is fun to solo over because, as I said, the motifs are pretty simple giving the lead player a ton of creative freedom. Jazz players need to worry about harmony when they encounter chords with 4, 5, 6 or more notes in them. In that sense, the chord and the scale are almost indistinguishable. But in rock, the two or three note chords you're working with allow you unimaginable freedom in your solos, which is a good thing and a bad thing.

Where a jazz player can rely upon the harmonic structure of the song to determine which scale to play, or which notes are the juicy ones or the sour ones or the blue ones, a rock player has to use his creative freedom effectively, which means he's got to reign himself in a bit.

Freepower wrote a great article on phrasing, which you should read. In that article he compares phrasing to speaking, which is exactly right. When writing this article I break my ideas into steps, paragraphs, sentences and further into discreet ideas with commas, periods and other punctuation. As a soloist, you must do this also, or you will sound terrible.

Reigning yourself in doesn't mean you can't play fast or amazing stuff. It just means you need to consider what you're doing and why. Why am I sweep picking this 4 octave arpeggio? If your answer is "I have no idea" then don't do it.

But if your answer is "because the sick arpreggio fits perfectly into the dynamic flow of the song, creating the perfect climax before the last chorus!" then sweep away, young shredder. That brings us to our next topic, dynamics.

Not A Step: Dynamics

Rock songs can be very straightforward dynamically. The level of musical or emotional intensity stays pretty constant and the song ends nicely. This is a good technique for writing catchy, memorable songs like Yesterday by the Beatles. There is no buildup to a blazing solo, no unholy climax of screaming harmonics bent until the neighborhood dogs are barking uncontrollably. It's just a nice, comforting song with beautiful words. It comes, it goes, it's nice.

That's one extreme.

Then you have the other extreme. Nice acoustic intro, beautiful little classical bits fading into distortion, then the drums kick in, the bass and finally the vocals. It all builds and builds until finally the solo happens and you are blasted with 250 notes per second of blinding, blazing shred.

You can go either way, or anywhere in between. Rock doesn't need dynamics, but it is one way you can make it more interesting, different and original. Now Yesterday is quite original and it's a great tune, but not every rock song in the history of the universe can be a Yesterday.

So play with dynamics a bit. See if it works.

Finally, end the thing. You can end on a chorus or a verse, heck you can let it crash into a brick wall in the middle of a measure. It's up to you with rock. Generally, though, there is some kind of decrescendo. It can be fast or slow, long or short. Some songs just fade out on the last chord of the chorus. Bling! Others hang on that chord for ever and ever, the drums hit every skin possible, and all the cymbals, the bass rumbles away and it all ends in a cymbal catch. Or something like that.

But rock songs always end. How they end can be just as important as the motif itself. For instance in Big Trucks = Flat Me, a song I wrote about a squirrel getting splatted by a semi, the song ends on a cymbal catch with a bass bomb, which of course represents the splat. That's important to the song and works, I would say.

So pick an end that fits. And don't forget to make it ROCK!!!!

(otherwise it's just plain old roll)

POSTED: 10/08/2005 - 06:36 am

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Comments

[MCRrocks]

not bad not bad! 8 for you sir!

p.s, first!, sorry, i haven't been first before so i just had to say that.

[LoseUrIllusions]

Good thing you didnt go into how to solo...Way too many articles on that already, but good job!

[randyrhoadsfan1]

it's all right,

[LoseUrIllusions]

^same rating for me...8/10

[...saul]

those are a lot of thing we most know to get your ideas in order

[dark_destiny]

good article. hope sum1 does a how to write metal

[...saul]

corretion....theres a lot of things we most know to get our ideas in order...its not bad

[kevinm4435]

Great article dude.

[local_hippy]

rocking...8/10

[ASIsustainiac06]

Great, its all true, thanks for the help bro.

[punkrocker_336]

tight definetly 8/10

[I_Buy_Peace]

all good true info 8/10

Great article Bubo. A good eye grabber at the beginning keeping them locked in to an awesome and informative step by step process. Couldn't have been better!

[liam177lewis]

cool

[ctb]

I liked it!, yeah could'ave been better but overall, good!

[Rodders]

Great Article....

[Sören]

Neat article, give it a 9.

[freemind12]

good article first ive seen like this good i could have done with this a few monthes ago 7/10

[greensand]

interesting article. I like how you ended it

[The Anti-Fuzz]

its ok, didn't help me too much 7/10

[yan_kong]

Nice...
The part about chord progression is called cadence...
V to I is a perfect cadence
IV to I is a plagal cadence
I to V and IV to V are imperfect cadence
If you study songs carefully, you're find out that many uses cadence... Actually it's in grade 5 in ABRSM exams
Check is out...
Plagal and perfect cadence USUALLY means that the song is ending or pausing. Like a full stop
Imperfect USUALLY means that there is more to come in the song... They are great to use in song composing..

[thejester]

very good article, rock is simple im glad you made that your driving point. 9 stars

[EV0L]

I dont say this often at all but that was a stellar article!

[jeeba jaba]

Very well done sir. Not only does this offer tons of information on the matter, it's also written very well, in that it keeps the reader entertained. Great article, keep up the good work.

[greeneggs'n'ham]

great examples. most people, when talking about chords, would have wrote "write a catchy rythm line.."

[Darken Rahl]

good job man 9/10

[goth_kid7666]

good shit man.....awesome article.....10+++++

[smileyface]

fantastic article....but it's writing music about more than just "love-girl" that separates you from being more than a generic boring commercial rock band

[`NeXxuS`]

Bubonic, I like you man, but why the hell did you have to put Opeth in this?

I dont like this article simply because of that.

[Yamiyo]

The part about chord progression is called cadence...
V to I is a perfect cadence
IV to I is a plagal cadence
I to V and IV to V are imperfect cadence
If you study songs carefully, you're find out that many uses cadence... Actually it's in grade 5 in ABRSM exams
Check is out...
Plagal and perfect cadence USUALLY means that the song is ending or pausing. Like a full stop
Imperfect USUALLY means that there is more to come in the song... They are great to use in song composing..

No, a V-I progression can be either perfect or imperfect, but it depends on other factors, most commonly, inversions of the root.
An I-V cadence (or anything-V)is called a half cadence.

Chord progression is fine; great article!

[PAsistem]

you make some very excellent points

[rockchick45]

It was quite good! 8/10

[DropD_Todd]

excellent 9/10

[monkeyman092]

good work. that pretty much the way my band does it

[Scourge441]

otherwise it's just plain old roll

Indeed.

Great article. 9/10.

[VRluke]

yea pretty sweet! 9+

[Snipe]

Best article I've ever read on UG.

Period.

10 out of 10 for you.

[guitarman47]

i remember the very first song i learned on guitar was californication by rhcp when i was 9 years old

[DukeFuel]

good article.....yes.....very good!!!

[yan_kong]

No, a V-I progression can be either perfect or imperfect, but it depends on other factors, most commonly, inversions of the root.
An I-V cadence (or anything-V)is called a half cadence.

Chord progression is fine; great article!

Nah, sorry dude but you're completely wrong...
Inversions do not affect cadence.
V to I will always be a perfect cadence whatever inversion any of them may be...
What factors affect cadence?
Inversion for sure do not affect cadence!!!

I to V is an imperfect cadence. There was an alternate naming to it but I did not pay attention to it.
You may be right by saying half cadence

[uselesssouls]

sick dude

[mesaboogieman]

[stubby2010]

Awesomeness

very good article

9 for you!

[ibanez87]

not very good. too many big words. music is the least of my worries. How do you write lyrics?

[Mickey Lightnin]

****in sweet dood

[archangels666]

Awesome. Except the thing about rock always being about love or a girl...don't agree with that part.

[Rdlcastle]

One of the few articles on UG that actually kept my attention till the end.

Great jorb!

[Cookie Goes Moo]

We *really* don't need more generic songs about girls, do we?

[toolfan1337]

Dude, whats up with all the Opeth bashing?

[DaveGilmour1189]

its funny and has a point, ill agree with archangel, though, its about drugs, sex and rock and roll

[timarmstrong19]

Bach, Mozart, Beethoven, Dimebag Darrell...
Are you out of your damn mind... Dimebag Darrell... lets think... those others have been remembered for wicked years... Dimebag Darrel wont be remembered in 20 years... not even close.

[pitbull510]

u got skillz

[Slash_HuDsOn]

NO THATS A BAD TIMARMSTRONG NO U DONT DISS DIMEBAG, NO THATS A BAD TIM! *hits nose with rolled up newspaper*

[BlindEarth]

I spent like 2 hours trying to get an account just so i could say "good job"

Good Job

[joejames007]

Slash_HuDsOn:
NO THATS A BAD TIMARMSTRONG NO U DONT DISS DIMEBAG, NO THATS A BAD TIM! *hits nose with rolled up
newspaper*
HaHa I laughed a lot with that

WOW! sick article man, way to go!!

[Spudric jr.III]

"My Baby Rocks Me with a Steady Roll" is the the 1951 song that the phrase and gerne Rock n Roll was created the Cleavland Dj Alan Freed introduced the song as "And now a bit of Rock and roll" alas history is made. No lie

[Spudric jr.III]

sorry that was a lie! but not about the DJ, but the song was actually recorded way back in 1922 by Trixie Smith
it was re-recorded in 51 thus the DJ thing. Now that's no lie

[sexy-man]

great article, 10 stars

[the_me_effect]

good article. a few songs have used this kind of thing. "I'll Melt With You" by Bowling For Soup (great song, dudes) and "Time of Your Life" by Green Day are great songs built on simple melodies. Not exactly heavy rock but great songs with great hooks.

[Smokey Amp]

This article was awesome. You explained everything extremely well, without becoming monotonous. Superb article.

[les_paul_01]

great article. a few articles have attempted to delve into each particular element i.e. chord prog, solo, song structure in general, etc. however you put them all into one article which certainly makes things a lot simpler! nice work

[Ibanez3]

Great article

[Alucard II]

i had to stop reading after your ass-faced approach to Opeth. maybe if i get over your ignorance, i'll read the rest; its gotten a good response.

yes, hooks are good, but bands like Dream Theater & Opeth have achieved a level of song writing that most artists never will.

[Bubonic Chronic]

To Alucard, others regarding Opeth:

I love Opeth, but my wife hates them. My mom hates them. Most of the people that are important to me in my life hate them.

First, they are too brutal. Second, it's just too advanced, too sophisticated for your average listener.

But Opeth is my favorite band. But then I am a trained musician with more developed tastes than, say, my wife.

We both like the White Stripes, though. And Sonic Youth.

In the car I listen to Opeth or Testament. When I'm barbecuing with the neighbors and their kids, I put on some Stripes or some Doors or Zeppelin.

Further, if Opeth ever did achieve mass appeal, it would be a tragedy for metal. It would be wrong.

[Rock TABer-><]

I supose its alright. lol. I already knew all that being a rock guitarist that has also writen Requiems, Sarabands and 4 part simohonies and I can cirtify that all he says is the truth. All of those who dont get it are just too simple to write a good rock song i supose. 9.75/10 to you sir.

[Rock TABer-><]

OH hold the phone. Some of the high grade theory is wrond. AHH. But I wont go into that because its around grade 8. This will do for the average rocker i supose, call it a 9/10 shall we.

[Rock TABer-><]

#wrong

[L.A. Woman]

ha, my songs and band might even improve because of this article :p we just f*cked around a bit before. Maybe if we write a song according to this it'll be better. But well, have to see about that eh thanks anyway

*by the way, The Doors and Zeppelin rule, and I think I like your neigbours if they agree to listen to it o_O my neigbours start to nag immediately every time I turn up the volume a bit :/ * Opeth's nice too sometimes, listening to To Bid You Farewell right now*

[vanceboy]

Decent...although there have been a lot of "how to write a good song", or variations of it. Ill give it a 7.

[Trip272]

Dont be a pussy.
Write good songs.

That's what I always tell myself.

[_RockOnForever_]

nice article. what are some cadences for minor keys? solo writing is always where i get stuck... and lyrics too haha

[addvent]

one can tell youre not one for mindless bashing
very mature in the fact that knowledge varily is power

[fireoptic]

I hope you were being sarcastic when you said Smells Like Teen Spirt was a great rock song, because i saw great humor in that joke. Haha

[Erc]

Alucard II wrote:

i had to stop reading after your ass-faced approach to Opeth. maybe if i get over your ignorance, i'll read the rest; its gotten a good response.

yes, hooks are good, but bands like Dream Theater & Opeth have achieved a level of song writing that most artists never will.

I don't think he was bashing them in anyway. He was using them in a comical fashion to describe bands at the peak of musical complexity (okay not the peak but not too far off) opposed to a common simple mainstream band.

He was trying to get the point across that non-musicians like mostly simple music.

And I realize that Buconic Chronic just gave as good as an answer...oh well you get two! =)

Great article I really like it, I had always been wondering about the freedoms of powerchords with modes and you cleared that up =). Thx.

[mixingdickie]

Cheers heaps , Awesome article easy for a newbie to understand and use straight away !!!

[Diceman42]

first guy pulls out a desert eagle and pumps bullets into other guy leaving him face down in a pool of...

Someones been playing Cooouuunter-Striiike...

[Andy_the_k]

purdy kewl
will u marry me and carry me children

[Jonno]

It's people like you that are killing music!!!!!
you should never try to folow rules when writing a song. it is about expressing yourself creativly. How can it be creative if you are just following these rules?

sorry dude but this article sucks, and anyone that thinks differently is a faker, a wannebe and a loser

[blue_white_bass]

Jonno, yes expresing, but rules can help alot with your expression, that's why most post-modern poets are bringing back classical poem forms, and so on. Yes you can express yourself freely, but if you just play random notes I don't think you are expressing yourself, but playing with theory and being able to transmit that tune in your head to your guitar (a lot of times you need rules for that) that's expressing.

[ExtraG]

Nice work, man. All things you wrote are true and not too hard to realize, but when someone (like me :P ) can read it in this form, it's really helpful. Thanks!

[rafaga]

Great! I´m from a rock-pop band in spain and I think this article ís incredible. It will help me with my songs, specialy the step 4: ´cause I´ve got a lot of problems with my solos.
Thank you very much and greetings from España
(forgive me for my poor english)

[rockinlewis]

i feel inspired to write a song about pumping people with desert eagles now...

[RedburN]

very well written.

didn't KISS stand for Knights In Satan's Servive ?

[danno89]

I thought this was a fantastic article, yes there have been quite a lot of this kind "how to write a song" but really, honestly and truthfully i am ridiculously, hoplessly crappyily, suckyily shit at writing songs. This is the only one that has helped, and the only one that i understand. I gave it a ten. Well dun m8, you seem quite funny, it has inspired me to write a song, except im crap at them(ill print the article) also it has let me know that my only good song is actually somwhere near correct...i think....yours Danno
p.s...if in doubt use backspin.

[bigrd15132]

Nah, sorry dude but you're completely wrong...
Inversions do not affect cadence.
V to I will always be a perfect cadence whatever inversion any of them may be...
What factors affect cadence?
Inversion for sure do not affect cadence!!!

I to V is an imperfect cadence. There was an alternate naming to it but I did not pay attention to it.
You may be right by saying half cadence

Actually, inversions do affect the time of cadence. This article wasn't great. The Hook and the chorus are the same thing, generally. If not, the hook happens in the bridge, not the verses. As for your topics...most good rock songs aren't about girls at all. Look at Rush, Metallica, Def Leppard, and...well, those aren't great examples. It makes it seem like I'm stuck in the 80's. Anyway, the article was alright, but a lot of yuor ideas were limited and some of your terminology was off. I'll give it a 6/10.

[bigrd15132]

correction. "time of cadence" should be "type of cadence"

[Rubber_Soul]

[SWEET

[GarryBuck]

great article 10/10

[o_ndompippet]

thats great!!!!!

[Jonno]

If you are playing random notes and it is expressing yourself then thats great. You don't need other people to like what you're playing - you do!. I am not talking about basic theory and musical rules that help you get it from your head to the guitar, obviously you need that but creating generic crap songs isn't good. the classics were good and creative back then and thats why we need them. But don't recreate them now just cause you can't be bothered to think for yourself!!

[Jonno]

the above reply is for blue_white_bass

[Puddinkid]

I havent heard opeth... sorry but hes not making fun of them or bashing them hes saying they dont follow a simple rule thats all... by the way good article im sure it will help me, and redburn knights in satans service was a rumour not true

[Buckan]

ACtually, the chord progression in Under the bridge during the chorus is A-Am-G-F, not A-C-G-F :P

[mikeofthechimps]

vi-I-V-VI (in C am-C-G-F) still rocks. besides, under the bridge is actualy A-Am7-G6-Fmaj7 which I think u'll find can be interpreted as VI-I-V-IV - its just a variation on vi-I-V-IV so the author was more or less right - and considering u read that as A-C-G-F u hav no right to criticise.
Great article btw.

[mrbounce]

I have way more trouble trying to come up with a good melody/hook/whatever you want to call it then what this article dealt with. Still, clearly outlined and useful.

[the-jailbreak]

good stuff... but kinda too theoretical... suggest golden tips! anyway, neat stuff..

[zeebie]

mrbounce:
I have way more trouble trying to come up with a good melody/hook/whatever

find something that inspires you: other music, a movie, drugs... doesnt matter as long as it makes you think outside the box. Just remember, whatever you make up, make sure its not inspired by your wallet, and never let it be.

[abfleks]

Nice and simple.

[November_Rain88]

what if people like experimental and progressive style music? You said how to write a rock song, not how to write a catchy pop rock song.

[sellars]

dont take the mickey out of dimebag darrell man HE IS A LEGEND!!!! LIKE TO SEE YOU PLAY BETTER :grrICKHEAD

[sellars]

dont take the mickey out of dimebag darrell he's a legend!! LIKE TO SEE U PLAY BETTER :grrICKHEAD

[timdowland]

Useless! I thought you were giving us something a little more in depth. How Do you expect us to write a song with this Crap. You should have called the article How to get a bunch of ideots to waste their time reading my crappy article that teaches nothing.
I would have went with that one.

[TheBassEffect]

dear timdowland:
i think what he was trying to do is layout a basic table for inexperienced musicians....not "professionals" such as your self....its not always the notes played in the song that grabs the listeners attention, but the order of "play"... if you not mixing it up at all then its just like all other generic pices of absolute crap that play in the same order: generic song after generic song... so h/f and dont hurt urself by expecting EVERY FRICKIN ARTICLE TO BE WRITTEN FOR YOU!!

yours truley:
TheBassEffect

[evilmetalboy]

dark_destiny wrote:

good article. hope sum1 does a how to write metal

i agree with this dude.

[disuse_PUNK]

Jonno's a twat

[disuse_PUNK]

Good article tho!

[junkhead35]

good article,timdowland get the stick out of youre ass and shove it down youre thoght.

[Sun of a Studio]

timarmstrong19:
B
ach, Mozart, Beethoven, Dimebag Darrell...
Are you out of your damn mind... Dimebag Darrell... lets think... those others have been remembered for wicked years... Dimebag Darrel wont be remembered in 20 years... not even close.

I agree. He's not on the same level as the prior three. Sure most rejects on this site might cream their jeans whenever the name is mentioned but there is no comparison. He may have been good or whatever but anyone who plays for long enough eventually learns something or two.

[watchurback]

besides the "love a girl..." part it was good. 8/10

[cdk4bls]

Jonno: sorry dude but this article sucks, and anyone that thinks differently is a faker, a wannebe and a loser

Well, so much for disagreeing with the idea rather than the person. Other than that, I agree with most of what you said, Jonno. And 7/10 for the article.

[Disturbed42]

I read about a sentence and a half before I got bored and stoped reading. From what I read it kinda sucked

[joerick]

i know that if you're reading this comment then you must be waaaaay too bored.... but..

great article 10/10. love the writing style. you convey an intelligent understanding of simple rock without being patronising. ok just a little patronising!

Write another!

[moneyshoes]

archangels666 wrote:

Awesome. Except the thing about rock always being about love or a girl...don't agree with that part.

Well actually, Rock N' Roll, back when it was first named a genre, Rock N' roll literally means sex. So, technically, it should be about girls and love.

[lp_guitar_girl]

yan_kong wrote:

Nice...
The part about chord progression is called cadence...
V to I is a perfect cadence
IV to I is a plagal cadence
I to V and IV to V are imperfect cadence
If you study songs carefully, you're find out that many uses cadence... Actually it's in grade 5 in ABRSM exams
Check is out...
Plagal and perfect cadence USUALLY means that the song is ending or pausing. Like a full stop
Imperfect USUALLY means that there is more to come in the song... They are great to use in song composing..

ah!!! theory overload!!! but good atricle nonetheless
and what if a girl wants to write rock???

[STERIOGRAM134]

greta article dude alot of information.... Thanks 8/10

[g1asseye]

cheers 4 ya help

[Jaypeddie]

jesus, every damn classic rock band has one or two songs about a girl (or two) (zeppelin has about 612) it was just an example; god you guys can be jerks.

and the dimebag darrell reference was a "joke", perhaps you've heard of them.

oh, and nice article.

[byrnnryb]

"In fact, the use of simple motifs is common to almost all of the better-known composers throughout history. Bach, Mozart, Beethoven, Dimebag Darrell..."

[giter'man]

i dunno man but i was getting anal while reading this article and usally it feels good but dam man after reading this my asse hurts

[cheepskayte]

a real good article but i was bored as hell half way through next time shorten it

[ibanezza]

I would like to hear your song about the squirrel please!

[rockeroller]

nice article--9/10 and i second wanting to hear your squirrel song.

[guitar_dude11]

its ok but nothing really very new

[ty4613]

ya our band(TWEAKED) is going thru a ruff time right now its hard to write a song

[lespaul_rentals]

am i the only person who finds it ironic that the same guy who loved it when Kurt Cobain died and hated Nirvana, is the same guy who tells us to Keep It Simple Stupid?

awesome article!

[Ampeg J]

It's people like you that are killing music!!!!!
you should never try to folow rules when writing a song. it is about expressing yourself creativly. How can it be creative if you are just following these rules?

sorry dude but this article sucks, and anyone that thinks differently is a faker, a wannebe and a loser

It looked more to me like a lesson in structure. If you want free-form jazz, great. No rules.

Your basic rock songs do tend to follow a structure of some sort, and within that structure there is plenty of room to be creative.

Just because i dish out vanilla ice cream doesn't mean i'm going to eat it plain.

I add to it.

[Ampeg J]

"free-form jazz" was a bad example on my part.

Even within that there is some structure.

Industrial/white noise is more like it. :P

[Galvinize-SG]

Great article man. It's just what I need for my new band

[Punkrocker506]

Again, like the ass hole who brough us "How To Write Emotional Solo's"...You can't tell anyone how to write their own music. That's like telling someone how to write Experamental music; it just doesn't happen.

[xQuitEveryGamex]

I found this response to be amuzing.

timdowland :
Useless! I thought you were giving us something a little more in depth. How Do you expect us to write a song with this Crap. You should have called the article How to get a bunch of ideots to waste their time reading my crappy article that teaches nothing.
I would have went with that one.

I would like to shed some light on the word "ideots".

Need I say more?



(great artcle!)

[mistique_007]

nice and helpful,,,i was looking for 1 of these....
thanks 9/10....

[russ33]

im gunna write a killer rock song about victorian furniture, that'll show you

great article BTW

[\m/(--_--)\m/]

"Guy meets girl, girl and guy exchange rings, guy is at party, girl shows up at party with other guy, first guy pulls out a desert eagle and pumps bullets into other guy leaving him face down in a pool of..."

Probably one of the funniest things I've heard in a year.

[\m/(--_--)\m/]

"Bach, Mozart, Beethoven, Dimebag Darrell...
Are you out of your damn mind... Dimebag Darrell... lets think... those others have been remembered for wicked years... Dimebag Darrel wont be remembered in 20 years... not even close."

Boo on you. Dimebag is always remembered!

[deathbyawesome]

great artice, I'm going to concider the things you said when I start writing songs for my band.

[minichibi]

"Using a chord like Gm7b9 is great, but it limits you." sort of made me grin I thought it was a pretty good article. I enjoyed the points, although some of it was pretty obvious XD!

[KingGohma]

]

xQuitEveryGamex wrote:

I found this response to be amuzing.

timdowland :
Useless! I thought you were giving us something a little more in depth. How Do you expect us to write a song with this Crap. You should have called the article How to get a bunch of ideots to waste their time reading my crappy article that teaches nothing.
I would have went with that one.




I would like to shed some light on the word "ideots".

Need I say more?



(great artcle!)

I would like to shed some light on the word "artcle".

Need I say more?

(Love the article, man)

[Vaul96]

Personally I'd much rather not reach the average listener. Media kills bands! Creates sell outs! Blows egos up! I've been listening to alot of Alternative, progressive and underground music, like the aforementioned Dream Theatre and Opeth, and it's much more enjoyable and inspiring than the stuff you see on MTV!

Perhaps i shall write an article on the impact of media on bands

[IronMan425]

sellars wrote:

dont take the mickey out of dimebag darrell man HE IS A LEGEND!!!! LIKE TO SEE YOU PLAY BETTER :grrICKHEAD

KingGohma wrote:

]xQuitEveryGamex wrote:

I found this response to be amuzing.

timdowland :
Useless! I thought you were giving us something a little more in depth. How Do you expect us to write a song with this Crap. You should have called the article How to get a bunch of ideots to waste their time reading my crappy article that teaches nothing.
I would have went with that one.




I would like to shed some light on the word "ideots".

Need I say more?



(great artcle!)


I would like to shed some light on the word "artcle".

Need I say more?

(Love the article, man)

I would like to shed some light on the incorrect placement of the period when putting the incorrectly spelled "artcle" in quotation marks. The period is to go inside the quote if it's at the end of a sentence.

Need I say more?

(I didn't like the article, man. I just wanted to be a sarcastic ass.)

[guitarist10]

Excellent article! I want to read more but reading makes me tired and I was about to take a nap before I read this anyway!

[guitarist10]

guitarist10 wrote:

Excellent article! I want to read more but reading makes me tired and I was about to take a nap before I read this anyway!

When I said i want to read more I meant part 2.

[slayerrulez]

I,think this guy has a good understanding on how music works.I look forward to more columns from him.