how do you make a song again

[darkdeciet]

ok so drums and bass are the soul of every song and guitars are just "iceing".
so if a band has no bassist and a shitty drummer who has been drumming for 2 months how do i go about this? i mean should i just start playing a beat and have them join in then work out a chorus? or have them start with a riff and have me join into them with what i can do? i am so confused how to go about it. right now what we have been doing is they go home and get some riffs made up and then we all sit down later and listen to each one, say yay or nay to each of them then work out getting them in to a song form. then drums and lyrics follow shortly after.is this wrong?

 

[Mahgy115]

How do I say this? It's all about the "feel." I don't think there is a recipe or an explicit format or manual for how a band gets together and writes a song. I've had several bands with several different types and breeds of musicans. With some the chemistry was there, with others it wasn't. My only insight into it is this. It is formally the vocalist and/or the guitarist's responsibility to come up with the bulk of the material. "Riffs," chords and voicings, lyrics, they all come together in a way the is inspired by the artist. When my friends and I were fresh out of inspiration, what you described is exactically what we did, we just had our drummer pound out a beat, and one of us (whoever was most inspired) would start it out. Bump-Bump---Chick-Cha-Bump-Bump, and that was how it started. The drummer was just going away with a simple but effective beat, and then the bassist would follow in, my lead guitarist would get this devil grin on his face, and add tot he riff, change it up a bit, etc. It is at that moment that we always remembred the cheap $20 tape recorder was available and we always had it on. We would go through some old poetry or "words without music" as we used to call it, and try to fit it in with the noise we had made. In periods when I didn't have a band, that was when the acoustic guitar and the pen became my savior, and I truly started my own brand of songwriting. I'm sorry, I'm babbling. I wish you the best of luck with it all, but just remember that it about soul and inspiration, don't try to hard.

Maghy115

 

[Rokket]

I agree with Mahgy, but I will add that it doesn't matter how you come up with your original stuff, as long as it works. There are threads in here asking that same question: how do you write? Check them out for some insight, but what it boils down to is: WRITE. How you do it will be different everytime until you find a formula that works. My own personal thing is starting out with a riff or lick in my head that I write words to, then mess around until I can play something that fits the words because I don't have the expertise to play what I hear in my head. But the results are still satisfying, and that's the key. if you can't enjoy it, don't do it.

 

[Mahgy115]

Rokket hit it right on the head. WRITE! It doesn't matter what it is, or how good you may think it is at the time. You'll never get any experience at, or get any better at something you never do. I have no idea who you are or your musical tastes, but just take a look at people like Woodie Guthrie, the man has wrote like 1000 songs! Are they any good? That is for each listener to decide, but what matters is that he had something to say and he said it. Look at 'ol Dylan for God's sake. Bob Dylan is over 60 and he's still writing and producing fine and timeless music. He has like 30+ albums and wheather it is a cover or original material, he commands the music and makes it his own. You'll never write a song just thinking about it or worrying that you'll do it wrong, you just have to do it and let it become what it is. Sorry I'm babbling again.

Best of luck

Mahgy115

 

[TXBamanut]

Another thing I'd do is....

....get away from your instruments for a while. I know, I get boxed in at times by my limitations on whatever instrument I'm writing on at the time or my preferences on my "pat licks" I always come back to. That really dictates the melodies that I write and my lyric patterns start to fall into the same old rhythm. One of the best ways for me to get away from that is to move on without the instruments.

 

[Kevin Deschwazi]

In my band we don't have drums or bass so i guess we must be fucked?

There are people who can sit with a guitar or at a piano and entertain thousands of people.

By saying (and believing) stuff like 'drums and bass are the soul of the song' you're just putting up barriers.

As some black dude with multicoloured dreads once said 'free your mind and your ass will follow'.

 

[Rokket]

....get away from your instruments for a while. I know, I get boxed in at times by my limitations on whatever instrument I'm writing on at the time or my preferences on my "pat licks" I always come back to. That really dictates the melodies that I write and my lyric patterns start to fall into the same old rhythm. One of the best ways for me to get away from that is to move on without the instruments.

That's a good point. Another trick is to listen to music that you normally don't. If you're into rock, listen to jazz or classical. You can sometimes get stuck in a rut with songwriting because you are listening to and playing the same shit all the time. But that's a bit down the road from where you seem to be. You're the drummer, right? Do you play other instruments? That could help too, as you can play a song, but come at it with a drummer's frame of mind.
But like I said, WRITE. That's how you learn. Trial and error....