Agree On Which Songs Your Band Will Play
So, you've got yourself a band, including the musicians, the instruments, the amps and the practice space. But, what do you play? It doesn't help if all the band members have contrasting ideas of what would make a cool song, but following these instructions should put you on the right track.
Contents
Steps
- Call a band meeting and get everyone settled with drinks and snacks. Give every member a small piece of paper and a pen/pencil. (Don't forget yourself!)
- Instruct everyone to write down their 5 favorite bands or favorite songs on the paper. Don't let anyone else see; it might be wise to all go off to separate corners of the room.
- Once that has been done, sit in a circle, and make everyone pass their piece of paper round to the next person. That person then has to cross off all the songs/bands that they don't like.
- Keep passing around the pieces of paper, crossing off bands/songs, until everyone has their own piece of paper left.
- You should be left with at least one band or song that wasn't crossed off any pieces of paper, and everyone should like it. If it's a band, you can go and learn to play one of their songs, if it's a song, you can play that. Good Luck!
- If there are no songs or bands that everyone likes, then all the band members are very different, and it might be a good idea to expand your musical tastes. Alternatively, you can make an agreement that each band member can pick one song for everyone to play, regardless of whether everyone else likes it or not. Who knows? Perhaps some of you will discover a new band that everyone likes.
- If you would like to make your own songs, then try not to listen to any music for at least 12 hours and then write the lyrics and the tune. This way you don't take ideas from other artists which is bad!
Tips
- If you're a new band, it'll be best to make sure you can play several cover songs before you start writing your own (which is easier said than done!).
- After you get the hang of it start writing your own material.
- Try to choose cover songs people know. When the crowd sings along, it makes it a better show. Plus, they're paying for a good show, give it to 'em.
- Someone should be assigned as bandleader so that you don't have a big scrum for command or control. That way, everyone will listen and you will have a much more productive band session.
Warnings
- Remember, once a song/band is crossed off the list, it stays crossed off. There should be no arguing about who crossed off someone else's favorite song. Just accept that people have different tastes in music.
- Let's be frank. Some songs are bound to be played more often than others. Some songs that never made it to the album may be played less, as well as some great songs in albums that never made it as a single. Though you should switch them up to the play list if you have a longer gig.
- New songs are bound to be played more than older favorites if you are promoting a new album, especially if the band starts to grow a large bank of songs. If you are pressed for time, you may have no choice but to push new and upcoming singles before the older, but popular songs.
