LAYERS

hey everyone,
i like to write songs that have layers. i just want to see who else shares my view on this. i don't try to get music that layers, but i write music like that.
Sum41 did it really well in their new song Hell Song. they play that cool lick over the powerchord riff. i was playing that with a friend and it gave me a feeling of ecstacy. i get such a rise out of someone playing a riff and me soloing over it. it's one of the best feelings in the world! i love building my songs like that. i have the rhythm guitar chugging through a metal riff following the lead playing this little lick up and down the neck. when i get my co-guitarist to try it out i'll figure out if it works or not. i think it will, then i'll see what it's like with bass and drums. i'm all happy with my layering.
anyway, answer my original question about your preferences toward layering, i like the action but some people like straightforward riffing.
post your opinions. that's what we're here for eh?

Here you get into the two main types of songs - riff oriented and chord progression oriented.

Riffs - These are the kind of song where you have a cool pattern and play it over and over, leading into another riff and another, etc.
Example - "Enter Sandman" by Metallica. The opening riff is pretty famous.

Chord Progressions - This is the kind of song where you play a set of chords. You can switch to another set for the chorus or bridge, but it's strumming chords instead of a specific riff. Example - "Knockin' on Heaven's Door" by Guns n' Roses. The main part is G, D, C x2.

This "layering" method of songwriting you have seems to be riff oriented, where you play a specific pattern (riff) over a rather driving rhythm.

Personally, I prefer chord progression songwriting, because they tend to be a lot more open-ended as to improvising a solo and what you can do with the rhythm.

i'm not talking about structure here.
i'm just trying to express my extreme elation/ectasy when someone plays a really nice meaty riff while i play a repeated lick or solo over it. it doesn't even have to be heavy or particularily meaty either. the Hell Song by Sum 41 (single of Does This Look Infected?) does it terrifically. my friend played the riff and i played that neat little riff over it and we switched back and forth for a while and it was just great.
no structure or musicality technicalities.
it's very simple, but beautiful when done right. most bands do this with solos (ex.metallica) but i haven't ever really heard what i'm talking about. you need to play about the same volume. get a really solid,moving riff going. then just solo/play repeated licks over it. jamming you know?
i'm just wondering if you guys feel like i do about it.

hey,
what genre are In Flames? i've heard of them, but only the name. i think it was metal. just help me out there please.

hey thanks man, i bet i'll like them.
thanks for the help.

i use this kind of "layering" - as you call it - also inmy songwriting. Basically i come up with a cool melody/riff and i build up a rythm part underneath which is either pure chords (mostly triads spread on a spectrum of various instruments like strings, winds, piano, etc) plus part of those triads (mostly the powerchords) for the rythm guitars, or some rythmic chord-riffing-doublepick-whatever. my songs are more like counterpointed arrangements - i think thats what pleases you when you talk about "layering"

here are a few bands who use heaps of that stuff:

BlindGuardian
GammaRay
Therion
Haggard
Rhapsody
etc.

Yes, In Flames are a very good example of what you're talking about.

Don't let the DEATH METAL genre scare you. When people say that, they think of a bunch of old men with long hair with no talent running around screaming "I want to kill your mother." But there really are other people out there than Slipknot.

I've only heard a few things from In Flames, but I have yet to hear anything that dissapoints me. They've got some strange combinations in their songs. Concoctions like, acoustic guitar in a heavy song. Just out of nowhere, while an electric is palm muting a riff, there's an acoustic guitar playing in the background.

Very cool.