what i mean is, what makes a song good to you guys especially you other song writers, as far as chord arrangements and vocal melody, your thoughts and comments?

a distinct bass melody, bass parts that just follow the guitar chords are so boring. (i.e.: the strokes)

 

there's more than that, but someone else can probably answer better than i can.

To me, a good test for a song is if it still sounds good (or interesting, or whatever) if you just play it with an acoustic guitar or a piano. If it doesn't, and only sounds good with the full band, it may have other qualities, but I don't really think it's a good song.

 

So think of that and really obvious things like if it's too repetitive, not repetitive enough, too predictable, too self-consciously unpredictable...

 

 

And I hate getting too bogged down in theoretical stuff (because it tends to make everything seems stale and lifeless, blah blah blah etc) but I've found that a sort of rule of thumb that works for me is that melodic simplicity is good (ie., you should be able to hum a good melody off the top of your head), and harmonic complexity is good (ie., an Fmaj7 is more interesting to me than just an F).

 

And of course, what works for me may not for you or anybody else, etc. etc. etc.

 

 

This post is too long and doesn't really say all that much.

yeah i agree, i think songs in their most basic form should sound good to be good in a band overall, but im sure exceptions can be made, it seems though that singing ruins most bands or songs, it seems like you could have a good guitar riff/progression but if the vocals dont fit right then it will either be good or bad.