My trio does tons of jaming and we have quite a few "songs" but none of us are lyricists and we tend to write alot of chordaly complex things.
however, beacuse I cant play a melody and chords at the same time at this point, and the chords are an integral part of our sound, our instrumentals end up sounding like a series of grooves without melodies. we have drums bass and guitar, any suggestions?

start of with the basic, find a rythem you like, play it 4 or 8 times, that will be the verse. Another for chorus, possible a bridge. Even if the song is 10 min long, it still can have some words. Writing lyrics is a matter of opinion, if can be something you can be inspired by, or hate. It can be anything, if you cant think of anything try humming over the rythem you want. I write music and lyrics at the same time, what ever fits I use, doesnt mean they are always good.

1. record backing

2. add another person

3. transcribe and learn some players that are good at it (check out some wes Montgomery, martin Taylor, tommy Emanuel, james sherlock)

4. buy a boss loop station and loop some cool guitar tricks live, the audience will love it, just make sure you have a good drum fill.








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Get a new bassist who knows how to fill out the sound (be it 2-handed work, or playing chords up the dusty end of the neck, etc)? I played in a power trio for a few years and my bass style evolved to the point that I was fulfilling rhythm guitar (and often keyboard) duties as well as bass on the same instrument. Now I have a set of bass pedals I could probably do more (except that I'm a bit out of practice )








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thanks guys, ive been thinking about geting a loop station, and my current bassist certinly has the ability to fill out the sound a bit.
what do yall think about giving the bass a more melody oriented role?

jazzmunster121 wrote:

thanks guys, ive been thinking about geting a loop station, and my current bassist certinly has the ability to fill out the sound a bit.
what do yall think about giving the bass a more melody oriented role?

I definitely recommend the RC-20xL loop pedal. It's phenomenal, and no matter what your current level, it will definitely help you perfect your chops. It's worth it's weight in gold.

thanks for the tip, i'll look into that.

I don't know what kind of trio you're in, but I'm in a jazz/funk "jam" trio so my guitar work takes more of a back seat, leaving a more intricate and distinct melody to be played by the bass. When we jam the bassist and I generally do kind of a tag team melody, with a lot of call-and-response. Improvisation is a great tool. Try switching it up and maybe using some effects when you're not playing lead. I use a digitech GNX4 to get a really cool, watery or spacey sound if I'm following the bass on chords.

that is basicly all we do, but it's never really consistant as far as having a set form, what I might do is record some of our solos and call and response sections and put togather the chops we like into a melody of sorts.

cxo wrote:

jazzmunster121 wrote:

thanks guys, ive been thinking about geting a loop station, and my current bassist certinly has the ability to fill out the sound a bit.
what do yall think about giving the bass a more melody oriented role?

I definitely recommend the RC-20xL loop pedal. It's phenomenal, and no matter what your current level, it will definitely help you perfect your chops. It's worth it's weight in gold.

THANKS indeed!!!! I've been needing some info on this sort of thing myself!!!








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