Legal Law

Turning a band into songwriters: 10 songs in an hour

That’s right, if you did the math, you quickly realized that the band must write a song every 6 minutes to stay on target and they MUST STAY ON GOAL. That is the challenge. You must enforce that they have to do 10 songs in an hour.

This is how I do it:

I divide the band into groups of two. If it’s three pieces, I’ll jump in and play along. Each group receives a guitar, a small amplifier and a small public address system. I put a wall of gobos (sound dampening device) between them and press Go while recording the guitar amp and vocal mic in each room. One person is expected to sing and the other to play the guitar. After writing each song, they must change.

While this method can go a bit off the wall, it is the best way to get a band to work creatively together. It breaks down a lot of barriers and it is common for around 10% of the songs to be very good. I like this method because it solves a lot of problems. Force the gang to be a gang.

One problem that solves the 10 song in one hour challenge is the notion that the singer has to make up all the melodies. Why? Okay, a singer should be able to sing, but the melody is the whole song in my opinion. The only thing that separates a great song from a shitty song is the vocal melody, in my world. So, let’s have the whole band write the melodies. You’d be surprised how good your drummer could be at creative vocal melodies.

Many guys are shy in front of the microphone. I’ve never recorded any Kansas type band where the whole band can sing. I am lucky to find a band where a boy can sing. So the guy who doesn’t have a clue singing needs to get on the mic and do it. Even when a terrible singer gets on the mic, the intention is usually clear. A real singer would have no problem making their drummer’s melody sound great. So when you force a guy to sing, he usually adapts to his situation.

Force everyone to play the guitar or a similar instrument. This is great. Makes the drummer pick up an instrument he is not used to. If you can’t play it, you have to deal with it. That is part of the process. You can play lines of a note if necessary. I just want a song. Rarely does mastery of the instrument affect the quality of the song.

While there are certainly exceptions, a band that is not used to writing many songs will simply not write many songs. By adjusting to this quick lighting method, the band will understand that no song has to be great. In fact, you need to write some terrible songs on purpose so that your brain is creative enough to do something interesting. Bands play it safe all the time. They feel like every song has to be great. In fact, it’s the opposite. I noticed it more with the pop groups of the 80s that were not going to be eliminated after the first album like now. Sometimes they came up with the most fucked up and stupid songs. Listen to a lot of Human League. They had at least 3 top 10 hits, but then they heard “Black Hit of Space” or “Empire State Human.” You can tell that they have simply messed around. When you’re really being creative and experimenting is when your hits and shit will come to you.

I’m not saying that the 10 songs in an hour method is the best method for all bands. I think it’s a great method for bands that need to come together as a group. It’s a great songwriting tool for any band that just hopes the singer will write songs. No finger pointing. Each member of the band is responsible for writing great melodies in this situation.

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