Kien Nguyen
Go learn a scale!
Yes, go learn how to play a scale on your instrument.
Major scale to be exact.
So I've been struggling to understand how the artists of the songs I like write instrument parts/riffs like that.
Then I learned one riff of this one song I love a while ago, still don't understand how it's made.
Fast forward to a couple days ago, I've learned and practiced how to play major scales on guitar (just learn one shape and you can play many major scales). Even though I did notice some of the songs comes up when I run the scales (play notes up and down the scales), none of them are the ones that I think are difficult to come up with.
Until today when I tried the song I practiced again out of boredom, I notice that all the notes in the riff fit exactly in a major scale!
Then I tried one more song that I like out of curiosity, and what do you know, it fits exactly into a major scale as well!
So if you, reader, are trying to write songs and wondering how people think of instrument parts like the ones you like, I urge you to try to learn and practice how to play major scales on your instrument and enjoy the surprise :D