Should I pull together a band?

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theuniversalist

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okay guys...here's the deal;

I've played guitar for about 5 years off and. I'm decent. I can play just about anything rythm wise that you throw in front of me. Lead I'm not the best but I can improvise a solo if I need to. I've also been writing songs on and off for the past year.

My question is: should I even attempt to bring together a band with these kind of lyrics?




Did You?

Verse:
I sit and wonder of your touch,
what is it that makes me feel like I'm the only one,
who remembers,
all that,
I've done,

Verse:
What is it that made me fail this time?
Every time before I claimed,
It was all in my mind,
But I know now,
I was,
Wrong,

Chorus:
Did you ever love me back?
Did you ever want my heart?
Cause I would give it all to you,
If we could just restart.
And save the world from falling.

Verse:
The tears never fell on that night,
I just sat and wondered why.
And yes I wanted to cry,
But would that be right?
Sit back and count the time,
And look me in the eyes.
Don't even be surprised,
When you find out,
All,
My,
Lies,

Chorus:
Did you ever love me back?
Did you ever want my heart?
Cause I'd give it all to you,
If we could just restart.
And save the world from falling.

Bridge:
I guess that I could just lie,
And say it was your fault,
But would that be alright?
To unlock my heart that's a vault....

Chorus:
Did you ever love me back?
Did you ever want my heart?
Cause I'd give it all to you,
If we could just restart.
And save the world from falling.

So there it is.
I was thinking of doing a "twin vocal attack" on the last chorus...feedback is very appreciated
 
theuniversalist said:
Chorus:
Did you ever love me back?
Did you ever want my heart?
Cause I would give it all to you,
If we could just restart.
And save the world from falling.
Click to expand...
Do you genuinely mean that chorus ? Would you really give all your heart ?
There was a discussion in another thread about cliches that become tired and lazy and standard. A hint that this may be what's happening is the presence of words like 'only', 'always' and all'. And here, fault and vault seem forced to co~habit.
Otherwise, I like it and I'm not one to like lyrics on their own without having heard the music. You can thank Gekko zzed and Rayc for that, ah, fairly measured response.


By the way, there shouldn't be many reasons a band wouldn't want to play that song, the main one being that they thought musically and vocally it was rubbish. If it has a killer tune, no worries.
 
I'm not sure what the lyrics have to do with putting a band together???

First off, without music...it's impossible to tell how the lyrics work. If you sang them agains a soft ballad they would sound totally different than if you sang them against a hard rocker.

Second, it really doesn't matter what anyone thinks about the lyrics...just find 4-5 guys that have the same general interests and who are of similar skill...and go from there. You gotta' just start...and very often, it's those first couple of bands that end up being the most fun (before everyone gets all serious with bloated egos).
 
I've Been In Bands And I Write Great Lyrics

And sometimes the bass player or the keyboard player have changed 3 or 4 words and made them incredible lyrics.

And I've sometimes changed 3 or 4 words in someone else's lyrics and made them one hell of a lot better.

Collaboration is sometimes the best way to do creative things; the old two heads etc. (and not top and bottom).

Plus, at least for me, working with a group of other musicians just puts me into a creative mindspace overall.

Form a band, and keep every single lyric that you write. Sometimes looking at three or four songs you wrote years ago allows you to see how good you've become, and a little ego boost never hurt anyone.
 
No you probably can't pull together a band unless you know a drummer and a bass player that are willing to give it a shot. No offense but guitar players are a dime a dozen. There are tons of "bands" on craigslist looking for drums and bass. Those "bands" are really just a couple of guitar players and MAYBE a singer. Starting a band is like herding cats.

The lyrics are fine but nobody is going to join a band based on lyrics. Hell I'm a singer and the primary songwriter for the band I'm in and I think the lyrics are relatively unimportant. Performance attitude and vocal tone are what matters for vocals/lyrics not the words. Unless you are doing storyteller type folk stuff. Don't get me wrong I try and make my lyrics interesting and meaningful but I am under no illusion that they mean anything to anyone but me.
 
Yonce N Mild said:
The lyrics are fine but nobody is going to join a band based on lyrics. Hell I'm a singer and the primary songwriter for the band I'm in and I think the lyrics are relatively unimportant. Performance attitude and vocal tone are what matters for vocals/lyrics not the words. Unless you are doing storyteller type folk stuff. Don't get me wrong I try and make my lyrics interesting and meaningful but I am under no illusion that they mean anything to anyone but me.
Click to expand...

+100000000000000000000000000000000

Lyrical content is the least important part of a song.
 
miroslav said:
I'm not sure what the lyrics have to do with putting a band together??
Click to expand...

Hear, hear.

If you want to form a band, do it. If you want to perform that song, do that. If both happen at the same time, great. If your band hates the song, you can either 1) fire one or more of them, and replace them with others who will, or 2) do the song as a solo or side-project. Both are worthwhile things to do, assuming the "parts" are quality stuff.

It could be said there are two ways to lead a band: 1) Have an communicate clearly your vision on what the band will be, so that everyone knows that vision and pulls in the same direction, or 2) keep it lose, and let the talents and personalities of the members determine where the band will go. Decide which is your way, and stick to it.
 
Are you the singer or just the guitar player?

Lyrics are not that important (although bad /cheesy lyrics can kill a song)...melody is key when writing songs...also surounding yourself with decent players is important as well.

For the most part it may be better for the singer to write the lyrics because it sounds more natural however it all depends on the singer and how they can adapt lyrics to suit the melody.

Lyrics may not always suit the melody and need adjusting/rewrite.
 
okay...many thanks for the mixed views and opinions....now I am even more confused than before....
 
well I've gotten pretty mixed opinions about this.
oh and @D vincent I'd be the singer to
 
theuniversalist said:
okay...many thanks for the mixed views and opinions....now I am even more confused than before....
Click to expand...

You asked if you should start a band based on LYRICS, how the hell is anybody supposed to give you a valid opinion on that? Some songs benefit from a full band arrangement, others are just fine with a guitar or piano accompaniment but there's no way to offer a critique on that when all you give us is words on a page.

If you are under the impression that lyrics = a song, you are mistaken.

Greg_L said:
This is why asking for opinions about stuff like this on the net is dumb. Just do whatever you want to do.
Click to expand...

And that about sums it up.
 
Greg_L said:
This is why asking for opinions about stuff like this on the net is dumb. Just do whatever you want to do.
Click to expand...

+1

Lyrics are not a reason to start a band. (did someone say that already, I didn't read the whole thread.)
 
hey, Theuniversalist-

Do SOMETHING. Form a band. Find a collaborator and work up the song with him/her, then hit the open mics in your town. Or do something else, just get off your butt and TRY something. You will learn, soon enough, if it was the right thing, and you will have fun and learn lots in the mean time.
 
...

uh, cant tell anything from lyrics?

I remember being teenager bought a new cassette and couldnt wait to get hom to listen to it... opened the package and read all the lyrics and liner notes home from the mall...

some of them sounded VASTLY different than just reading them... and this was my favorite artist I knew sort of what to expect even...

I cnt see any reason NOT to try to form a band, even if you guys are all just playing together working on stuff for fun and hobby. If your a musician, you want to play with people, right (that didnt sound good out of context, but, you know what I mean, LMAO)
 
The band you're thinking of forming already exists..

Too late.

Sorry.:mad:
 
....

p!$$ on everybody else...

you write lyrics? cool beans... you play some guitar? equally cool...

I don't think anyone here can "judge" how impressive this skill set you have is over the internet. You need to be associating with other musicians, whether that is to form a band to flesh out your lyrical ideas into real songs to play out... or, just to have other musicians and songwriters around you...

you must have SOME talent, or you wouldnt be on the internet asking opinions.

I also think really great songwriters often are not great performing musicians. there's some talent floating around even this small steel town I live in, up and down the steel valley... but, what talent is here *shrugs* I cant get anyone to see my POINT that for instance, a guy in his 50's PROBABLY is never going to get to be a star, and have kids buy his albums. Why should he NOT concentrate on making demo CDs of originals, for the purpose of trying to sell the SONGS ?

To me its intuitively obvious that if a tree falls here in this small steel valley, it makes a sound, but no sound the world around us will ever hear.

PLAY in bands, associate with other musicians, get a core thing going with another guitarist or keyboardist interested in writing songs with you.

EVERYthing is entirely subjective. I hear some GREAT recordings that to me sound like 3 drunks having fun doing a power chord song about dead raccoons or something... maybe to some punk producer somewhere, they "get" that, and its witty and punk-y good... to me? *urp* its not my style.

I also sometimes read great lyrics on here, and wish the song around it was done by the guys that made that drunken raccoon recording... I *think* thats the intuitive value of producers is. They have a studio, they have authority, they can hear the drunk raccoon guys make a great performance... and they know they liked the sound and feeling of that poorly recorded song they heard someone else do...

and the producer brings that all together, in a fashion it has a chance to actually BE something... instead of what it is without the producer: trees falling in small steel valleys, making no noise the outside world will ever get to hear.

somewhere out there is a drummer, a bass player, and another guitarist songwriter/key board guy... all wishing they had someone like YOU come along, and they look at your lyrics notebook and go "wow! THIS one's freakin cool! Lets try to DO this one!"

... you just need to FIND those guys... and you cant really let any of us make those decisions for you. Famous songwriters have histories of getting kicked out of several bands when young, and other musicians quitting on bands that were already working well... eventually, they get together with the right people, and every once in a while, a producer hears them and gets interested in throwing a few bucks at them and seeing if the result is maybe gold...

you cant seriously be a guitar playing, song-writing musician... actually asking if you should be playing with other musicians? geez... the answer should be intuitively obvious. Even if all you do is make friends with another like-minded songwriter already in another cover band... you two might make some cool tracks, write some cool songs, no other way to know.
 
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