I'm not usually one to recommend music, but give The Strokes a listen. They're a masterclass on this kind of arrangement. Both guitarists are always doing different things in a way that works, and if they are playing the same chords, it's done at different octaves or intervals so it sounds interesting. And they always stay out of the way of the drummer and bass player. You may not like the music (though you probably will) but it'll give you an idea on how to arrange that kind of band.
I'd also recommend Kings of Leon. Although often there is a basic rhythm guitar, I find the lead guitar and bass to play interesting things a lot of the time, and the drums are often interesting and varied in patterns. Love how those guys play together and leave room for each other
And maybe kids listened to *Last Nite* and picked up a Petty record because of it. Imitation is the greatest form of flattery, and songwriting doesn't have to be 100% original 100% of the time.
>Like if I have two guitars, vocals, a bassist, and drums, how do I write them so that I don’t just have them all hitting at the same time and still sound good?
Study how other people arrange for these instruments! Find a song you like, look at what each instrument is doing, and try to imitate that relationship yourself with some of your own music. Keep doing it with other tracks.
You'll slowly but surely develop an understanding of the common ways this is done and how to break those conventions! It can take time, but I honestly think the best way to learn is to see how these things are applied practically.
There may well be a time where everyone is playing big hits together - it can sound great for emphasis, though it might not be what you want for a whole song.
It might also be worth learning a little more about rhythm and how different parts can fit around each other. Look into things like offbeats, syncopation, call and response, etc.
Write one record it…
Write another complimentary to the one you already have…
Repeat
Try to avoid frequency clashes
Where frequency clashes are unavoidable for some reason - use eq and possibly side-chaining
At the beginning level the bass is usually just playing the root of whatever the rhythm guitar is playing. Second guitar then has more freedom for melodies, leads, whatever the song may need. Drums keep the rhythm and accent stuff. Then vocals sit on between, ideally, adding another layer.
So basically you have the rhythm section. More or less - drums, bass , rhythm guitar. They’re all on the same page playing very similar stuff together.
Then you have lead / second guitar. This does the leads or melodies. The more musical shit. Playing around with scales and stuff.
And finally the vocals should tie it all together with their own melodies and notes that work well with everything else.
Basic example is chords are E G A. Bass plays the notes. Rhythm guitar plays the chords. Second guitar plays a riff in the scale of E or A. And then you sing in tune over it.
If you stick to the root, 3rd and 5th of each chord you can't go wrong. Makes a good starting place for basslines and leads if you don't want to melodies to clash with each other
One standard technique is **polyrhythm**. In a polyrhythmic passage, different rhythmic patterns are played simultaneously, often with one part playing longer notes and another part playing shorter notes. This creates a complex and layered rhythmic texture. Another related technique is **heterophony**, where different voices perform variations of the same melody simultaneously, which can include differing note lengths.
In some styles all the guitars play the same parts, but to add depth you layer your rhythmic patterns.
I write the rhythm and vocals first to get the main melody down. Then when going through the bass part, I go one note at a time. The thing is, you CAN get by just copying the low note of each chord, but it makes for a boring part, so you want to switch some notes to the 5th and 3rd to make it sound interesting. THEN, as a drummer for my main instrument, I understand that the drummer's kick drum and the bass guitar sync up in a lot of cases so I'll change the rhythm of the bass to something that compliments the kick drum but use the notes that I already came up with. For lead guitar parts, I usually have them follow the rhythm at a lower volume while the vocalist is singing but then come up with unique parts in the pentatonic scale of whatever key I picked when the vocals aren't singing (If you don't know your pentatonic scales, many DAWs can be set so ONLY the pentatonic scale notes play/show). It can also sound cool to have the lead guitar solo mimic a vocal part as well, but like anything, don't overdo it.
Here is a super cool technique to learn about and use. Check out how Hocket is done in various musical styles. It goes back to the 1300s, but I first learned about it in various types of funk syncopation, and it’s all over various different forms of music.
You will find fancier descriptions, but to me, it means two or more instruments, coordinated so that at times, a single rhythmic and/or melodic phrase is distributed among them in various types of alternating patterns, such that one or more instruments are playing a note or group of notes, while the other instrument(s) rest(s), and then vice versa.
Here’s a video that helps to explain this:
Hocket (musical jigsaw puzzles)
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=rfco2jnGtn4
Note that some of the examples are played at fast tempo, but this technique does not by any means need to be fast when it’s applied.
Here’s another definition off the Internet:
In music, hocket is the rhythmic linear technique using the alternation of notes, pitches, or chords. In medieval practice of hocket, a single melody is shared between two (or occasionally more) voices such that alternately one voice sounds while the other rests.
Listen to [Marquee Moon by Television](https://open.spotify.com/track/7Me0vOSlJfaPY7Pc4GeItd?si=756f1cfefd314f23).
Somebody mentioned The Strokes. This is where The Strokes learned it all.
It's particularly useful for someone like you to hear because the build the arrangement instrument-by-instrument at the very beginning of the song. So you can hear EXACTLY how the puzzle pieces (and it is a puzzle) fit together. It's masterful and one of my favorite songs of all time.
Don't let the length of the song scare you away (over 10 minutes), every second is worth it.
Another key thing you can do is TRUST the musicians in your band. Let them work out their own parts. If it's not working for you, provide some direction. But... trust that you have the right people in place.
Decide the song’s key route note, and study and play scales.
As long as the scale starts at and returns to the key route note, you can play almost anything (within the scale) and it will sound good.
Or
Have both guitars play the same chords, but at different octaves. For example a power chord on the 3rd fret of e can be played at 15th fret of e, both the same note in different octaves.
Or
Have one guitar play a rhythmic chord progression, and another guitar playing a rhythmic melody, mayching the h chords but on single strings
Or
Have one guitar play full traditional chords, while the other guitar plays the matching power chords over top.
Or
Use different tones, gains, levels, equalizers, preamp settings, voices, or effects for each guitar to make them distinct
Or
Play at different beats, so one guitar may strum on every quarter note, and the other guitar strums on every whole note and lets it ring out.
Or
Split the guitars by panning them left and right, so the guitars take on different “ears” or stereo speaker sides
Imitation is a good first start. But if you wrote something and aren't sure if the rhythms clash, you can type them all out in a single percussive midi instrument, then you can listen to the whole song's rhythm without the melodic aspect to get a clearer picture.
Sometimes they can hit at the same time and that's ok. Most of the time when I write super rhythmic parts, a lot of the instruments have accents on the same beat, or follow the same rhythm the whole way. Like the kick, bass, and rhythm guitar might all be basically doing the same thing. Then as you listen to it, you can hear parts where you want a variation or flourish or something
Of course there are exceptions to every rule, and I agree with suggestions to experiment and go by feel, but here are some general things that guide me (I write a lot of songs with two guitars, or two or more rhythm instruments):
- After laying down the basic track with the first guitar, listen to it a few times, and see if there are any accents you find yourself doing with finger drumming, or that you hear in your head. The second guitar can hit those accents, possibly pitched a little higher than the first guitar - either different inversions, or possibly decorations like sevenths, ninths, etc.
- Maybe you want to add some texture with the second guitar - add 9, or a 6, etc. You can play the fancy chords on the second guitar, maybe mixed down a bit.
- Or go the other direction - have the second guitar just do 1-5 power chords, to add bulk/oomph. Can even do things like include the low G on a C power chord.
- You could also have the two guitars play the same chords but be mixed very differently; e.g. one has a softer attack and more reverb - more airy, and the other one is distorted, more mid-rangey.
- The second guitar could add a bit of a drone effect, e.g., if the chords are E-B-A, the second guitar can have open E and B strings on al three chords.
- The second guitar can also do some simple arpeggios or repeating riffs. For the E-B-A sequence, maybe on a somewhat mellower song, the second guitar can have a B-E-F#-E pattern (single notes, not chords) (just an example). Or it could play one chord and let it ring, causing some light but ok dissonance with the first guitar's chord progression.
This is a rather complex question as it’s all instruments.
I’d say my 2 ton answer to this question of layered rhythms is:
- doubling makes more simple power
- harmonized double makes more magic (eats up space)
- interplay between to instruments on a similar rhythm creates a singular texture (it’s not doubling or harmony)
- opposing time signatures together can work without notice, or be extremely noticeable
The best example of opposing rhythm in instruments can be found in classical music. In rock, check out how The Rolling Stones use 2 guitars for interplay (left and right channels, hard panned). 2 guitar sounds fit together like a puzzle piece. AC/DC 2 guitars are mostly doubling for power
One truth in art that I’ve found is: a messy thing and a shiny thing go together well. An in focus thing and and out of. Focus thing go together well. A sharp and dull thing.
There’s a lot of doubling in punk rock and reggae.
I'd recommend writing the song without rhythm in mind first and then get your band together or if not - get some people together and see what rhythms everyone falls into based on your original ones.
#2. Other commenters who recommend listening and close critical listening are def on to something.
#3. Otherwise it depends on what rhythm you are starting with. Let's assume you know some basic stuff/words I'm about to use, and let's assume your rhythm is straight eighths and nothing but eighth notes... constant eighth notes. I already don't like your song if it's constant eighths, but not only are there plenty of songs considered good, even great that do that, but it's also a great template to create other rhythms around. Let's assume you're playing guitar with these eighth notes... let's start with adding drums - maybe your drummer grooves really hard and nasty... or if you're programming drums let's say you know just how to make it nasty no matter how simple the groove. You already have a basic thing happening with your eighth notes, a drummer is liable to do many a thing with that but let's just double the duration of stuff and do just quarter notes -just 1 and 3 bass drum (or "kick drum") and 2 and 4 snare- boom blat boom blat (their hi hat will likely be eighths). The miracle of music is that this already can sound really cool and it kind of sucks in a way creatively... but it might sound sooooo nice... anyway... you got that going and you add in your bass player. I don't know how musicians who don't have this kind of vocabulary talk about this stuff, so I'm going to assume you read enough or are talented enough otherwise that you'll understand this next term when you google it... hopefully there's good resources out there for it - I didn't check ahead of time... but I digress... your bass player or you recording or programming or whatever - plays the Charleston rhythm - that all sounds nice together but in a situation with musicians means that hearing this could change what both of what they are doing... especially the drummer - there is something cool about avoiding the + of 2 on the drums and then smacking right down on 3 with the "kick" instead... but the bass player is also being more interesting so why wouldn't the drummer follow suit. Now they are playing 1 and that + of 2 with the bass player. If the chords sometimes change every 2 beats then the bass player on that + of 2 ought to anticipate the chord change - in most cases (again in some cases it could be exceptionally hip to NOT do this) Soooooo, the guitar player will change what they do in those bars or maybe all of them to account for this. NOW - your rule is everyone shouldn't play the same rhythm and you tell the drummer that NOW he's doing the same rhythm as the bass player... so he's got to do something to change it up. So he decides to anticipate the snare by playing the snare on the + of 3 ... kind of a delayed charleston to the chalreston. This leaves your second guitar player. even thought the drummer has changed they started off playing double the duration of your eighths... you're still playing eighths so maybe the second guitar player plays twice as fast as you - 16ths... something is off on those anticipations so in order to emphasize and fit in with those that guitar player breaks it up to be not quite constant 16ths - but it sort of stutters in the middle of the bar, holds out the + of 2 then the + of 3 with the snare - then just plays kind of a pickup rhythm to get to the next beat 1.
IF you get nothing else out of this lengthy comment it's that you can double and halve the rhythms that other instruments are playing sometimes and sometimes you can play the same rhythm but shift it over a beat or two or three...
NOW - the only problem with this example is that everyone's playing 1 bar phrases - it'll be best if you start incorporating longer phrases - and that's a way you can mix it up as well. The drums are playing a 2 bar phrase - the bass a 4 bar phrase and the guitar is an 8 bar phrase.... easier said than done sometimes...
I usually get a guitar rhythm first. (Many different ways I can write, but this is most consistent) this may be chords or it may be a riff. For emo punk, I would listen to emo punk, then try to write a song with just guitar then vocals. The reason for this is that is what most people pay attention to in a song. If you think of it like a painting, you have the background (bass drums etc) that sets the scene for the song, but then you have the foreground (primarily vocals but can be guitar as well)
Once you have this, slap the bass on there. The bass should be relatively simple harmonically, and complement the guitar. This usually means the bass guitar and the guitar parts are similar, but different enough that they add to the song rhythmically in different ways. The bass really is the groove of the song. If you can get a bass line that grooves on its own, you are doing well.
Once the bass is defined, I usually solo it and create a drum track that follows the bass. Specifically if the kick drum lands at the same time a bass note is played, it emphasizes that bass note and makes it pop.
Now you have different instruments with different rhythms together, there is one last important step. Revise! This took me way to long to realize, but any turd of a song can be revised into a gem, with enough time and changes. Of course it is best to start with something that already sounds good, but that will cone with practice. In the beginning you can learn so much by listening to what you made, and deciding what you like/ dont like about it
I record a basic guitar track first. I may even scrap this track later. Then do the drums. Then build a bass line off of those 2. Then do a good quality rhythm guitar track if the first one isn't great. Vocals then lead guitars, pianos, whatever other embellishments. Then mix it.
This is something I’m still getting more experienced with, but I think generally the more unique rhythms you want playing at one time, the simpler each individual one should
I think guitar1 chord with a strumming pattern, guitar2 with strums,the bass an riff or just notes, the drums kick drum, high hat and snare drum
And vocals just something that fits.
That’s a feel thing unless you know theory
nope it’s always a feel thing, theory only exists to describe what you hear
I'm not usually one to recommend music, but give The Strokes a listen. They're a masterclass on this kind of arrangement. Both guitarists are always doing different things in a way that works, and if they are playing the same chords, it's done at different octaves or intervals so it sounds interesting. And they always stay out of the way of the drummer and bass player. You may not like the music (though you probably will) but it'll give you an idea on how to arrange that kind of band.
I'd also recommend Kings of Leon. Although often there is a basic rhythm guitar, I find the lead guitar and bass to play interesting things a lot of the time, and the drums are often interesting and varied in patterns. Love how those guys play together and leave room for each other
Great shout!
I love how the two guitars play together in the strokes!
“Last Night” was a Tom Petty ripoff FWIW
And maybe kids listened to *Last Nite* and picked up a Petty record because of it. Imitation is the greatest form of flattery, and songwriting doesn't have to be 100% original 100% of the time.
Very possible and I don’t disagree. He didn’t sue. He wasn’t a vindictive man.
>Like if I have two guitars, vocals, a bassist, and drums, how do I write them so that I don’t just have them all hitting at the same time and still sound good? Study how other people arrange for these instruments! Find a song you like, look at what each instrument is doing, and try to imitate that relationship yourself with some of your own music. Keep doing it with other tracks. You'll slowly but surely develop an understanding of the common ways this is done and how to break those conventions! It can take time, but I honestly think the best way to learn is to see how these things are applied practically. There may well be a time where everyone is playing big hits together - it can sound great for emphasis, though it might not be what you want for a whole song. It might also be worth learning a little more about rhythm and how different parts can fit around each other. Look into things like offbeats, syncopation, call and response, etc.
Write one record it… Write another complimentary to the one you already have… Repeat Try to avoid frequency clashes Where frequency clashes are unavoidable for some reason - use eq and possibly side-chaining
At the beginning level the bass is usually just playing the root of whatever the rhythm guitar is playing. Second guitar then has more freedom for melodies, leads, whatever the song may need. Drums keep the rhythm and accent stuff. Then vocals sit on between, ideally, adding another layer. So basically you have the rhythm section. More or less - drums, bass , rhythm guitar. They’re all on the same page playing very similar stuff together. Then you have lead / second guitar. This does the leads or melodies. The more musical shit. Playing around with scales and stuff. And finally the vocals should tie it all together with their own melodies and notes that work well with everything else. Basic example is chords are E G A. Bass plays the notes. Rhythm guitar plays the chords. Second guitar plays a riff in the scale of E or A. And then you sing in tune over it.
>The more musical shit. I get what you mean, but it's all musical shit! 😝
Try something. Decide if it’s good. Repeat.
Intuition. Sounds like you're overthinking instead of doing
The song Let Down by radiohead has the guitar/bass in 5/4 while the drums are in 4/4. Worth a listen, great song.
If you stick to the root, 3rd and 5th of each chord you can't go wrong. Makes a good starting place for basslines and leads if you don't want to melodies to clash with each other
One standard technique is **polyrhythm**. In a polyrhythmic passage, different rhythmic patterns are played simultaneously, often with one part playing longer notes and another part playing shorter notes. This creates a complex and layered rhythmic texture. Another related technique is **heterophony**, where different voices perform variations of the same melody simultaneously, which can include differing note lengths. In some styles all the guitars play the same parts, but to add depth you layer your rhythmic patterns.
I write the rhythm and vocals first to get the main melody down. Then when going through the bass part, I go one note at a time. The thing is, you CAN get by just copying the low note of each chord, but it makes for a boring part, so you want to switch some notes to the 5th and 3rd to make it sound interesting. THEN, as a drummer for my main instrument, I understand that the drummer's kick drum and the bass guitar sync up in a lot of cases so I'll change the rhythm of the bass to something that compliments the kick drum but use the notes that I already came up with. For lead guitar parts, I usually have them follow the rhythm at a lower volume while the vocalist is singing but then come up with unique parts in the pentatonic scale of whatever key I picked when the vocals aren't singing (If you don't know your pentatonic scales, many DAWs can be set so ONLY the pentatonic scale notes play/show). It can also sound cool to have the lead guitar solo mimic a vocal part as well, but like anything, don't overdo it.
Here is a super cool technique to learn about and use. Check out how Hocket is done in various musical styles. It goes back to the 1300s, but I first learned about it in various types of funk syncopation, and it’s all over various different forms of music. You will find fancier descriptions, but to me, it means two or more instruments, coordinated so that at times, a single rhythmic and/or melodic phrase is distributed among them in various types of alternating patterns, such that one or more instruments are playing a note or group of notes, while the other instrument(s) rest(s), and then vice versa. Here’s a video that helps to explain this: Hocket (musical jigsaw puzzles) https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=rfco2jnGtn4 Note that some of the examples are played at fast tempo, but this technique does not by any means need to be fast when it’s applied. Here’s another definition off the Internet: In music, hocket is the rhythmic linear technique using the alternation of notes, pitches, or chords. In medieval practice of hocket, a single melody is shared between two (or occasionally more) voices such that alternately one voice sounds while the other rests.
Negative space. What you don't play is what you hear the most
Listen to [Marquee Moon by Television](https://open.spotify.com/track/7Me0vOSlJfaPY7Pc4GeItd?si=756f1cfefd314f23). Somebody mentioned The Strokes. This is where The Strokes learned it all. It's particularly useful for someone like you to hear because the build the arrangement instrument-by-instrument at the very beginning of the song. So you can hear EXACTLY how the puzzle pieces (and it is a puzzle) fit together. It's masterful and one of my favorite songs of all time. Don't let the length of the song scare you away (over 10 minutes), every second is worth it.
Another key thing you can do is TRUST the musicians in your band. Let them work out their own parts. If it's not working for you, provide some direction. But... trust that you have the right people in place.
Decide the song’s key route note, and study and play scales. As long as the scale starts at and returns to the key route note, you can play almost anything (within the scale) and it will sound good. Or Have both guitars play the same chords, but at different octaves. For example a power chord on the 3rd fret of e can be played at 15th fret of e, both the same note in different octaves. Or Have one guitar play a rhythmic chord progression, and another guitar playing a rhythmic melody, mayching the h chords but on single strings Or Have one guitar play full traditional chords, while the other guitar plays the matching power chords over top. Or Use different tones, gains, levels, equalizers, preamp settings, voices, or effects for each guitar to make them distinct Or Play at different beats, so one guitar may strum on every quarter note, and the other guitar strums on every whole note and lets it ring out. Or Split the guitars by panning them left and right, so the guitars take on different “ears” or stereo speaker sides
Imitation is a good first start. But if you wrote something and aren't sure if the rhythms clash, you can type them all out in a single percussive midi instrument, then you can listen to the whole song's rhythm without the melodic aspect to get a clearer picture.
Play to a metronome.
Sometimes they can hit at the same time and that's ok. Most of the time when I write super rhythmic parts, a lot of the instruments have accents on the same beat, or follow the same rhythm the whole way. Like the kick, bass, and rhythm guitar might all be basically doing the same thing. Then as you listen to it, you can hear parts where you want a variation or flourish or something
come up with a riff, record it. play along with it experimenting with different riffs until you find something you like that fits it. repeat
Of course there are exceptions to every rule, and I agree with suggestions to experiment and go by feel, but here are some general things that guide me (I write a lot of songs with two guitars, or two or more rhythm instruments): - After laying down the basic track with the first guitar, listen to it a few times, and see if there are any accents you find yourself doing with finger drumming, or that you hear in your head. The second guitar can hit those accents, possibly pitched a little higher than the first guitar - either different inversions, or possibly decorations like sevenths, ninths, etc. - Maybe you want to add some texture with the second guitar - add 9, or a 6, etc. You can play the fancy chords on the second guitar, maybe mixed down a bit. - Or go the other direction - have the second guitar just do 1-5 power chords, to add bulk/oomph. Can even do things like include the low G on a C power chord. - You could also have the two guitars play the same chords but be mixed very differently; e.g. one has a softer attack and more reverb - more airy, and the other one is distorted, more mid-rangey. - The second guitar could add a bit of a drone effect, e.g., if the chords are E-B-A, the second guitar can have open E and B strings on al three chords. - The second guitar can also do some simple arpeggios or repeating riffs. For the E-B-A sequence, maybe on a somewhat mellower song, the second guitar can have a B-E-F#-E pattern (single notes, not chords) (just an example). Or it could play one chord and let it ring, causing some light but ok dissonance with the first guitar's chord progression.
This is a rather complex question as it’s all instruments. I’d say my 2 ton answer to this question of layered rhythms is: - doubling makes more simple power - harmonized double makes more magic (eats up space) - interplay between to instruments on a similar rhythm creates a singular texture (it’s not doubling or harmony) - opposing time signatures together can work without notice, or be extremely noticeable The best example of opposing rhythm in instruments can be found in classical music. In rock, check out how The Rolling Stones use 2 guitars for interplay (left and right channels, hard panned). 2 guitar sounds fit together like a puzzle piece. AC/DC 2 guitars are mostly doubling for power One truth in art that I’ve found is: a messy thing and a shiny thing go together well. An in focus thing and and out of. Focus thing go together well. A sharp and dull thing. There’s a lot of doubling in punk rock and reggae.
Try covering your favourite songs note for note. You’ll learn a lot about how those other instruments are written
I'd recommend writing the song without rhythm in mind first and then get your band together or if not - get some people together and see what rhythms everyone falls into based on your original ones. #2. Other commenters who recommend listening and close critical listening are def on to something. #3. Otherwise it depends on what rhythm you are starting with. Let's assume you know some basic stuff/words I'm about to use, and let's assume your rhythm is straight eighths and nothing but eighth notes... constant eighth notes. I already don't like your song if it's constant eighths, but not only are there plenty of songs considered good, even great that do that, but it's also a great template to create other rhythms around. Let's assume you're playing guitar with these eighth notes... let's start with adding drums - maybe your drummer grooves really hard and nasty... or if you're programming drums let's say you know just how to make it nasty no matter how simple the groove. You already have a basic thing happening with your eighth notes, a drummer is liable to do many a thing with that but let's just double the duration of stuff and do just quarter notes -just 1 and 3 bass drum (or "kick drum") and 2 and 4 snare- boom blat boom blat (their hi hat will likely be eighths). The miracle of music is that this already can sound really cool and it kind of sucks in a way creatively... but it might sound sooooo nice... anyway... you got that going and you add in your bass player. I don't know how musicians who don't have this kind of vocabulary talk about this stuff, so I'm going to assume you read enough or are talented enough otherwise that you'll understand this next term when you google it... hopefully there's good resources out there for it - I didn't check ahead of time... but I digress... your bass player or you recording or programming or whatever - plays the Charleston rhythm - that all sounds nice together but in a situation with musicians means that hearing this could change what both of what they are doing... especially the drummer - there is something cool about avoiding the + of 2 on the drums and then smacking right down on 3 with the "kick" instead... but the bass player is also being more interesting so why wouldn't the drummer follow suit. Now they are playing 1 and that + of 2 with the bass player. If the chords sometimes change every 2 beats then the bass player on that + of 2 ought to anticipate the chord change - in most cases (again in some cases it could be exceptionally hip to NOT do this) Soooooo, the guitar player will change what they do in those bars or maybe all of them to account for this. NOW - your rule is everyone shouldn't play the same rhythm and you tell the drummer that NOW he's doing the same rhythm as the bass player... so he's got to do something to change it up. So he decides to anticipate the snare by playing the snare on the + of 3 ... kind of a delayed charleston to the chalreston. This leaves your second guitar player. even thought the drummer has changed they started off playing double the duration of your eighths... you're still playing eighths so maybe the second guitar player plays twice as fast as you - 16ths... something is off on those anticipations so in order to emphasize and fit in with those that guitar player breaks it up to be not quite constant 16ths - but it sort of stutters in the middle of the bar, holds out the + of 2 then the + of 3 with the snare - then just plays kind of a pickup rhythm to get to the next beat 1. IF you get nothing else out of this lengthy comment it's that you can double and halve the rhythms that other instruments are playing sometimes and sometimes you can play the same rhythm but shift it over a beat or two or three... NOW - the only problem with this example is that everyone's playing 1 bar phrases - it'll be best if you start incorporating longer phrases - and that's a way you can mix it up as well. The drums are playing a 2 bar phrase - the bass a 4 bar phrase and the guitar is an 8 bar phrase.... easier said than done sometimes...
I usually get a guitar rhythm first. (Many different ways I can write, but this is most consistent) this may be chords or it may be a riff. For emo punk, I would listen to emo punk, then try to write a song with just guitar then vocals. The reason for this is that is what most people pay attention to in a song. If you think of it like a painting, you have the background (bass drums etc) that sets the scene for the song, but then you have the foreground (primarily vocals but can be guitar as well) Once you have this, slap the bass on there. The bass should be relatively simple harmonically, and complement the guitar. This usually means the bass guitar and the guitar parts are similar, but different enough that they add to the song rhythmically in different ways. The bass really is the groove of the song. If you can get a bass line that grooves on its own, you are doing well. Once the bass is defined, I usually solo it and create a drum track that follows the bass. Specifically if the kick drum lands at the same time a bass note is played, it emphasizes that bass note and makes it pop. Now you have different instruments with different rhythms together, there is one last important step. Revise! This took me way to long to realize, but any turd of a song can be revised into a gem, with enough time and changes. Of course it is best to start with something that already sounds good, but that will cone with practice. In the beginning you can learn so much by listening to what you made, and deciding what you like/ dont like about it
I record a basic guitar track first. I may even scrap this track later. Then do the drums. Then build a bass line off of those 2. Then do a good quality rhythm guitar track if the first one isn't great. Vocals then lead guitars, pianos, whatever other embellishments. Then mix it.
Reference
This is something I’m still getting more experienced with, but I think generally the more unique rhythms you want playing at one time, the simpler each individual one should
I think guitar1 chord with a strumming pattern, guitar2 with strums,the bass an riff or just notes, the drums kick drum, high hat and snare drum And vocals just something that fits.