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The Flash said:
I can also play and sing Seek & Destroy by Metallica but I feel like that doesn't count. There's nothing rhythmically challenging about it, you're either playing a steady palm muted note under the vocals (verses) or a rhythm that goes accordingly with the words (pre-chorus and chorus).
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That one I can do as well. As you say, it's relatively straightforward.

Strangely, a song I have trouble with is Children of the Damned - I always mistime my singing in the last line of the chorus. The song isn't even particularly difficult on guitar, but the timing between the singing and the guitar throws me off every time.
 
I managed to write some lyrics that actually sound musical today. Pretty goofy stuff but that's what I was going for. I've been trying to write some poppy songs for a while but I've struggled to find decent enough hooks.
 
I can come up with some catchy stuff on the bass but I currently do not have one despite it being my main instrument. Can't afford to buy one at the moment. I've always been improvisation based on guitar therefore whatever I come up with turns into instrumental babbling. Or an alternative rock/indie rock like thing. Far from pop.
 
Speaking of improvisation and just fiddling around with instruments.

When you sit and play casually, what do you usually keep coming back to? I have a tendency to fall back to the mid-part of Master of Puppets when playing clean, and other clean Metallica parts. When playing with distortion, I often fall back on Phantom of the Opera,
 
I honestly never learned very many songs, so when I sit around and play it without thought I usually end up jamming on an improvised riff that falls somewhere heavy on the Clutch/Metallica spectrum or some dissonant, Opethian quiet/heavy chords.
 
I don't really have many songs that I can play in their entirety. I mostly play some random riffs when I'm bored of fiddling around. I do have a tendency to play The Trooper whenever I pick up my electric guitar, though. I also like playing the rhythm guitar of Disposable Heroes by Metallica, it's a good workout for the right hand. When I'm on bass, I go for Phantom of the Opera often.

Like Knick, I also most often jam on improvized riffs. My playing involuntarily ends up sounding Middle Eastern/Spanish. I have fuck all information about basic chords, chord shapes and scales, so I tend to play what I've grown to be familiar with over time. When I'm bored of it, I tend to tune down to Drop D and go pure death metal with really strained, uneasy riffs and use of pinch harmonics.
 
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The Flash said:
I've been trying to write some poppy songs for a while but I've struggled to find decent enough hooks.
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Good artists borrow, great artists steal. Isolate one thing you love in an existing song and use it.

There's a moment in "Losing My Religion" where the bass moves down the scale in counter to the vocal melody. I've built hooks off that idea.

Steal a riff. Some filler riff from an obscure song you love. I built one of my favorite originals off a Blue Oyster Cult riff from "Dominance and Submission".
 
My biggest current problem is lack of equipment. If me and my family get through our financial struggles, I'll be writing music non-stop. I don't have a bass, I don't have a proper recording device, I don't have a camera and can't afford any of them. I already have thousands of recordings on my database but they all were recorded on a phone in one take and the sound is garbage. They say follow your dreams, but you really cannot do it when you're stuck in a pile of shit.
 
SinisterMinisterX said:
Good artists borrow, great artists steal. Isolate one thing you love in an existing song and use it.

There's a moment in "Losing My Religion" where the bass moves down the scale in counter to the vocal melody. I've built hooks off that idea.

Steal a riff. Some filler riff from an obscure song you love. I built one of my favorite originals off a Blue Oyster Cult riff from "Dominance and Submission".
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The opening riff in Burn by Deep Purple sounds quite a bit like 2 Minutes To Midnight.

And Thunderburst by Samson was stolen from The Ides Of March. Listen at 27 seconds. That's actually pretty wild that Samson copied that and Bruce ended up as Maiden's singer. I would love to hear the chat between Bruce and Steve about that one.
 
Actually upon further reading, I see that Samson's drummer was in Maiden and wrote Thunderburst before he left Maiden and joined Samson. Then, Samson used the song in 1980's Head On and Maiden used it on Killers as well so it seems both bands have a right to the song which is cool.
 
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