Methods of songwriting for bands

[DoubleBlade]

I was just wondering what are the methods employed bands when it comes to songwriting.

Does the band have a member who acts as the "main composer" of the band and therefore does most of the songwriting and musical arrangments?

Does each member of a band come out with their own riffs/solos/rhythems/drum beats and at the end of it all combines everything to form a song?

Does the band engage in a freestyle jam together which later becomes a song?

Hope to hear from you SOFTies.

 

[Freeko]

Well if you have a member who acts as the main composer wouldn't that lose the whole purpose being in a band(meaning everyone sharing their own opinon)?

Well I guess different methods can be input in different situations/bands?

For example, maybe have like a main writer for a specific song?
Like Queen, where different members have their own personal song of which they get more control over. Like John Deacon has Another One Bites the Dust. Roger Taylor has I'm in Love with My Car. Brian May has Brighton Rock. Freddie has the brilliant Bohemian Rhapsody. Of course opinions from band members are highly recommended and welcome.

In Black Sabbath they have a core songwriting team. (Pardon me if I got it wrong)

And in Deep Purple songwriting credits are split 5 ways!

In my band its a combo of all 3!
Sometimes one of us has a riff that and wanna turn it into song and maybe has the whole thing planned out in their head. So maybe he becomes the leader for the song?

Sometimes we mash each other riffs into a song or simply write the song together!

Lyrics usually come last, once the foundation is laid. We haven't seem to get the hang of coming up with vocal melodies. But if we do, why not turn it into a song?

So different situations calls for different methods!

 

[reid]

in my band, i write the lyrics and the main tune; my lead guitarist adds in the arrangement, structure and music, and the rest of my band improvise their bits and jam along

our style differs from the above poster's, we go for tune and lyrics first, then we fit riffs/solos/music in general into the tune.

different styles for different bands, and thats a good thing i say

so theres no fixed rule

 

[XLayaR]

I prefer to let my mates write their own parts and I write mine

equal responsibility and equal share of effort