Songwriting With A Whole Band, Is It Possible?
Do famous bands really write a lot of their songs as a group? We sometimes will see everyone in the band listed as co-writers, but is this really how the songs were written? It almost sounds too good to be true, everyone getting along, and tuning into the same creative vibe to create music together.
In reality though, band writing is far less common then most musicians realize. The list of co-writers is not always what it appears to be. Sometimes people from outside of the band, who didn’t even collaborate musically at all, are listed as writers, as a business arrangement, so that they will benefit financially from the song royalties.
Practice time can often be wasted with one band member teaching songs to the others, and then allowing them to contribute to the arrangement. It would be much more productive to just finish the song at home, and give a recording to the others to learn prior to rehearsal.
So what can be done to insure that all members with a songwriting passion get to share in creating the new songs?
The answer to this problem is for band members to write on their own, or in small teams of two or three. This way it will be easy to exchange members in writing teams, and rehearsal time will be spent arranging and polishing finished songs, which will be a lot more fun.
To avoid wasting a lot of time having to show each band member, one at a time, how to play each new song at band practice, while the others wait, it is best to get a rough recording of the song to everyone prior to rehearsal. It can be extremely frustrating having to wait for each player to learn their parts before it can be played by the whole group.
You can always add band members as co-writers if their input to the arranging process ends up significantly changing the song. But I wouldn’t put them down as writers just because they put some standard drum beats or bass lines to a completed song.
THE TWO BEST TIPS FOR EFFECTIVE BAND SONGWRITING
One, be aware that some writing partners will like to stick together, and other just won’t click well. This is very similar to dating, so don’t let jealousy or other emotions interfere with developing great songs for the group. You are part of a team; BE A TEAM PLAYER, all good songs benefit you and the whole team.
Two, realize that some players won’t have a knack for writing at all, and that is ok.
Additionally, sometimes drummers or bass players will learn to hack out chords on the guitar or keyboard and sing, to get more involved with the writing process. It would then be YOUR JOB to overlook their inadequacies on a new instrument, listen to the quality of the song despite a probably mediocre performance, and help them with the performance aspect, and possible co-writing of their songs.
So stop seeking that incredible band songwriting team, it is often just a myth. Keep writing great songs with whatever partners work well together, and if some band members don’t write so well, that is fine too. The main thing is that some do!
Want to Learn the Insider Blueprints to Great Songwriting? At Songwriting Planet We Have Lots More Songwriting Tips and Techniques for you.
