Songwriting with a Band
If you are the singer or songwriter of a band, you have a pretty substantial responsibility. One way or another,the music will be cast in your own image. If you do not play any instruments but only sing, the challenge can be tougher when having to write songs. You will need to write with a band.
So here is my golden rule for songwriting with a band: turn up with lyrics. Ideally learn them. Do not come in hoping you will be inspired during the practice- you probably won’t. Make sure you have a decent selection, a lot of stuff might not work the way you planned. Turning up without anything is seriously bad form.
The process of writing songs with a band can sometimes be more natural than with a solo artist. The guitarist will probably play something, and everybody else will join in. You then do your best to adlib a melody for your lyrics over what is played. Usually this manifests in a variety of revisions suggested by different band members until the song begins to sound pretty good. Funnilly enough, this doesn’t always depend on the talent of the individual members of the band. Often a band will be formed with very capable musicians, who are incapable of playing together (’Dreamtheater’ is a good example of this). Such a substantial part of it is chemistry that nothing could be better than a bunch of friends getting together to have fun playing (e.g. ‘Arctic Monkeys’). Consquently, chill out and don’t worry too much about it. Ego and music rarely mix.
Remeber the golden rule number 1, always make sure you turn up with well penned lyrics. The quality will be much higher and all the other problems will work themselves out.