Members krazeexharhar Posted June 28, 2006 Members Share Posted June 28, 2006 I'm trying to figure out how to make things work with my band right now. Last night I brought a song in with only chord sheets and lyrics so that they could help write the actual song, (I've just done all the writing for the past few songs but they wanted to be involved too) and it wouldn't come together at all. The drummer was being a retard and doesn't listen critically to what we're playing at all, and the other guitarist cannot improv for the life of him (he only just "solos" over rhythms, doesn't know how to write leads). The only people who were following along well were the bassist and our screamer, who understood immediately the chord sheet and were supporting as best as they could. How do you guys write together with your band so that everybody is happy? Maybe I should just start doing it myself again. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members mumford Posted June 28, 2006 Members Share Posted June 28, 2006 We generally bring in all the parts written out and sight read them. Once we've learned them, we record it, and I live with the cd for a few weeks while I write a vocal melody and lyrics. The structure changes throughout the process. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members YourHerodDGC Posted June 28, 2006 Members Share Posted June 28, 2006 My band likes to do everything together at practice, and they're all good at jamming and improv, but to me, it makes the songs seem half-assed. I prefer songs to be mostly written by one person, and then tweeked by the rest of the band when it's finished. I mean, when i write songs for the band i usually hear the song in my head before i play it. I feel the purpose of playing music is so you can write the music that you want to hear. If it's done my way, the song will sound best to you. When it's jammed out in practice, we tend to settle for the first or second thing played. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members krazeexharhar Posted June 28, 2006 Author Members Share Posted June 28, 2006 Originally posted by YourHerodDGC My band likes to do everything together at practice, and they're all good at jamming and improv, but to me, it makes the songs seem half-assed. I prefer songs to be mostly written by one person, and then tweeked by the rest of the band when it's finished. I mean, when i write songs for the band i usually hear the song in my head before i play it. I feel the purpose of playing music is so you can write the music that you want to hear. If it's done my way, the song will sound best to you. When it's jammed out in practice, we tend to settle for the first or second thing played. Thats kind of the feeling I get, too. It's just that its SO Much work to lay down the recording so that people can understand how to play it...it takes hours for me to track drums and record guitars bass and vocals. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members puddinstone Posted June 28, 2006 Members Share Posted June 28, 2006 I come in with riffs and ideas and we all work it out together. I've found if your band knows how to work well together then you can come up with something better then what one individual can write. That's just my opinion though... Sometimes it is hard to settle on an idea or a format... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members orangekick Posted June 28, 2006 Members Share Posted June 28, 2006 First and foremost, we wanted to have people that were all on the same page. That has happened, so songs tend to evolve out of jams. We record the riffs in a big mess and then play them back and figure out where to trim or expand. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members fishfartz Posted June 28, 2006 Members Share Posted June 28, 2006 steal all of jraks ideas your audience will thank you Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members krazeexharhar Posted June 28, 2006 Author Members Share Posted June 28, 2006 So what if it's clear that we're not working well together? A lot of the problem is we can't spend enough time together because we're doing hourly rehearsals. We've been able to put together two songs because I mainly taught all the parts to everyone. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members orangekick Posted June 28, 2006 Members Share Posted June 28, 2006 I can't be in a band that doesn't work well together. I've tried to make things work for one reason or another before, but the music suffers and so does any friendship with anyone in the band that might not be working out musically. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members BLacktocomm Posted June 28, 2006 Members Share Posted June 28, 2006 we bring in music the singer says he will write lyrics, a month later we bring in lyrics and the singer says he will get a melody a month later we end up playing his {censored}ty love songs. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members The*Ataris Posted June 28, 2006 Members Share Posted June 28, 2006 With what I'm currently doing. Singer/guitar player brings in a riff/chord change, a vocal idea, and maps the songs out for 90% of the material. He can describe what his "vision" is pretty easily... --No one needs write drums for the drummer; he understands what we need almost immediately and works to tweak his own part over the next couple of practices. --Same goes for bass player. He usually wanders a little bit while we're trying it for the first few times. It can get a little annoying, but he eventually writes really good lines... --I usually take the role of the picky mother{censored}er (editor/whatever), at which I'm probably better at this point in my musical development. I'll call out stuff I don't like while trying to find something for myself to play... The other 10% either comes from me or from a jam... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members yjsays Posted June 28, 2006 Members Share Posted June 28, 2006 have what you want, then try it out that way, after they try it, if there's some input from other members, try it out. If it's cool, keep it, if it's not, dump it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members voerking Posted June 28, 2006 Members Share Posted June 28, 2006 I come in with riffs and ideas and we all work it out together. I've found if your band knows how to work well together then you can come up with something better then what one individual can write. That's just my opinion though... that's how it is with my band, as well. i generate 90% of the riffs, but we all arrange/destroy the songs in a 100% democratic way. we end up with songs that none of us could have written by ourselves, which rarely resemble the original ideas/riffs in anything but a very vague way. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members krazeexharhar Posted June 28, 2006 Author Members Share Posted June 28, 2006 Damn, okay I guess from now on I"ll just write by myself and bring stuff in as complete songs...and just allow them to tweak it if they want or whatever. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members yjsays Posted June 28, 2006 Members Share Posted June 28, 2006 Originally posted by krazeexharhar Damn, okayI guess from now on I"ll just write by myself and bring stuff in as complete songs...and just allow them to tweak it if they want or whatever. usually works out best that way, basicly, you give the foundation of the song, what happens afterwards is up in the air. that's how you get your own band's sound, everyone inputs in some way. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Alanfc Posted June 28, 2006 Members Share Posted June 28, 2006 I record intro-verse-chorus at home and post it for the band to listen to. WIth a clean guitar dead center for the vocal melody idea. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members protoge x Posted June 28, 2006 Members Share Posted June 28, 2006 it's probably better to have one or two people be the main songwriters and then take the others input later. having to many "visionaries" is what breaks up bands. i've been in this band for a year now and we have a pretty decent system. me and the bass player are the main songwriters. we'll write most stuff alone, then me and him will get together to jam it out and work on it, throw out ideas. then we take it to the band to finish it off. krazeexharhar don't worry about the drummer so much, it's hard to find ones that aren't retarded in some way shape or form. as long as he can play the parts and isn't being a douche personally you can work with him. maybe think about replacing your "lead" guy. if the lead guitarist can't follow the rhythm he's not a lead guitarist. as for the rest of them they sound on the ball. keep it up bro and good luck EDIT: i forgot to ask what kind of music are you playing? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Elliott Damage Posted June 28, 2006 Members Share Posted June 28, 2006 Me and the other guitarist write all the songs. Here's exactly how we do it: I write a basic song.He learns it, completely {censored}ing destroys it, changes 90% of it. I write the lead parts over that. Turns out great everytime, I couldn't imagine doing it any other way. Seriously, the band is more than the sum of it's parts. I do a basic structure and then everyone 're-invents' it with their own little changes and style and the song turns out better than i'd imagined. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Jeztastic Posted June 28, 2006 Members Share Posted June 28, 2006 Our singer writes the songs and plays them, while we jam around and learn it. We all then contribute ideas and direction. It sounds like you're trying a similar approach - however, what we've learned is, if someone can't handle this, then either tell them what you want them to play, or fire them. And yes, you need more time! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members light years Posted June 28, 2006 Members Share Posted June 28, 2006 i write the guitar part at home. then go to practice then show the guitarist the part then tell the bass player what type of ideas i have for his part then jump behind the drum kit and come up with accents, rythmns etc. then its done. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members krazeexharhar Posted June 28, 2006 Author Members Share Posted June 28, 2006 Originally posted by protoge x it's probably better to have one or two people be the main songwriters and then take the others input later. having to many "visionaries" is what breaks up bands. i've been in this band for a year now and we have a pretty decent system. me and the bass player are the main songwriters. we'll write most stuff alone, then me and him will get together to jam it out and work on it, throw out ideas. then we take it to the band to finish it off. krazeexharhar don't worry about the drummer so much, it's hard to find ones that aren't retarded in some way shape or form. as long as he can play the parts and isn't being a douche personally you can work with him. maybe think about replacing your "lead" guy. if the lead guitarist can't follow the rhythm he's not a lead guitarist. as for the rest of them they sound on the ball. keep it up bro and good luck EDIT: i forgot to ask what kind of music are you playing? We're doing kind of ambient rock/metal/post-hardcore type stuff. You can check it out at www.myspace.com/thebandsandiego I wrote and recorded everything on that page. the screamer isn't me though. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members KBN Posted June 28, 2006 Members Share Posted June 28, 2006 Originally posted by protoge x it's probably better to have one or two people be the main songwriters and then take the others input later. having too many "visionaries" is what breaks up bands. What happens when the "others" don't write, but think they are visionaries anyways? "Hey you guys should start writing stuff that is more fun for us." Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members KBN Posted June 28, 2006 Members Share Posted June 28, 2006 Originally posted by krazeexharhar We're doing kind of ambient rock/metal/post-hardcore type stuff. You can check it out at www.myspace.com/thebandsandiego I wrote and recorded everything on that page. the screamer isn't me though. Nice. I can definately hear the Thrice influence. Vhiessu is simply amazing. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members krazeexharhar Posted June 28, 2006 Author Members Share Posted June 28, 2006 Yeah I definitely love Thrice...went through high school going to their shows during their identity crisis/illusion of safety days. I realized it's definitely hard to write with effects with another guitarist unless he's completely in tune with you, which he's not. He's more of a metalhead kind of guy. He's a good guitarist...just not really familiar with how I play, but he plays everything I dish at him so maybe just writing it will work better. I think what helped a lot for me is I played on a worship band before and I've alwasy been into bands like This Day Forward, Circa Survive, Dredg, etc. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members TIKILOCKEDOUT Posted June 28, 2006 Members Share Posted June 28, 2006 I'm pretty much the main songwriter 100% - I write the songs and bring them to the band - in the past I will work with just the bass player on their own until we get the parts tight and then take it to rehearsal with the drummer and work it from there. Somtimes songs can come from a jam that are great but they are usually unstructured and more the B-side experimental kind of tracks than anything else and I'm good at improv. I like to have the songs written and fully formed in my mind before I take it to the band - anything else is too time consuming and usually NOT what I want to hear. Just putting a new band together now and the bass player is one of those guys who is happy to sit back and own his bass lines and let me do the writing - live, the songs may develop new parts or sections but you have to work the main structure before you can allow things to evolve. So for me ... structure first! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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