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"Are You in a band?"

Ive just started my own band with a few mates of mine and everything started out great. We can all play reasonably, some better than others. We have a place to practice. and our singer can actually sing too.

The problem ive now got is that we've been doing covers when we practice. We have written one song but thats it. and its not even that good.

so what im after is some tips on writing songs.

also feel free to post about your own bands and how great they are etc.

If you want to write songs, try writing alternative lyrics to a song that's been released. It's good fun as well. :^D

I'm in a band with mates at school. We're called Second Breakfast. We have a problem in that we're all interested in different directions, so we have to fuse blues, metal, indie-pop and punk-emo together.

The Bivan Brother's band. We play weddings, funerals and even some songs. We also don't do comedy and have good hair.

My brother touched me once.

im writing something at the moment that you might like.its not my typical song type i dont generally write rock songs,its called "THE DEVIL BY MY SIDE" i just wrote it without thinking really.god knows how im going to put it to music.

Its called Big Day Out.
I wasnt sure if it was any good but the rest of my band liked it and we've put some music to it now.

whats your song called

FLOCKHART wrote:
> considering what you play id suggest writing the music first. also be
> wary of conflicting styles, outkast and led zeppelin dont really mix

We only played outkast cos i was messin about playin the bassline and the others joined in.
We put in a big zeppilin-esq solo!!

considering what you play id suggest writing the music first. also be wary of conflicting styles, outkast and led zeppelin dont really mix

Easiest way of writing a song for me is to come up with a title and a theme, such as love or hate or whatever.

Then write a chorus with the title in it. Now use verses to turn it into a story as it were.

If you do have a good idea then you can write something rather decent fast. That is your lyrics sorted. After that I would figure out what it sounded like in my head and then try to write a riff that matched it. Generally from the lyrics you know if you are going for an all out rock song, or a ballad or an acoustic number.

But you also have to play around with it. Sometimes you find that what you do come up with doesn't quite suit the style you thought of. Something that didn't seem quite right when a rock song might sound good acoustic, so don't scrap the song straight away. Or play with the tempo, something a bit faster might help a song have more energy.

Things like guitar solos come last. Not every song needs a solo or a fill. Some do. But trying to build a song around a great lead line just doesn't work.

That's the way I (used) to do it. Give it a shot, it might work for you.

FLOCKHART wrote:
> who do you sound like, what are your influences and what covers do you
> do

we all like different stuff so its a bit of a mix really. the lead guitarist loves led leppelin, and pretty much anything with big solos in.
we do a bit of rage against the machine, the darkness, jet, no doubt, green day. We even tried doing hey ya by outkast.