Everything falls apart when the singer enters

A couple of years ago, a drummer friend invited me to his band’s gig where they were playing covers. The band had two guitars, bass, drums, and female vocals.

I went there to hang out and enjoyed the show because they played well. The instrumental arrangements were close to the original songs, the musicians were tight, and the overall volume felt balanced.

But every time the vocals entered, something fell apart.  I could barely understand the lyrics.

I spent the whole night understanding maybe 20% of the words in every song.

Nobody in the band seemed aware of it either. From their perspective, everything was working. The guitars sounded good, the drummer was solid, the bass player was locked in, and nobody was technically overplaying.

But the arrangements were swallowing the singer alive.

This is actually a very common problem in live music.

A band can sound great instrumentally and still fail at supporting the vocal properly.

When the vocals come in, it reveals a common problem many bands have. Nobody changes dynamics.  Everybody keeps playing with the same intensity they were using during the instrumental sections. Then the singer comes in and suddenly nobody can understand the lyrics.

Dynamics matter way more than most bands realize.  If you're already playing pretty loud during the instrumental sections, where are you supposed to go when you get to the chorus? Crank it to 11?

During instrumental parts, the band might naturally sit around mezzo-forte. But once the vocals enter, everybody should immediately pull back a bit. If the lyrics still aren’t clear, lower the intensity even more.

The thing is, the singer usually has a monitor right there in front of them. If you’re standing next to that monitor playing guitar or bass and YOU still can’t understand the lyrics clearly, you are playing too loud.

And if you’re sitting behind the drum set and you can’t understand the lyrics, you are definitely playing too loud. As a drummer, you also need to understand that you are largely responsible for the overall volume of the band because you are the only fully acoustic instrument on stage.

A lot of musicians think “I can sort of hear the melody, so everything’s fine”…little do they know, the real test is whether you can clearly understand the lyrics.  If you can’t understand the lyrics on stage, the band is too loud.

Even though that night I was only listening and not playing, that experience proved once again how crucial dynamics really are.  You need to identify the essential dynamics.  There are 6 main ones, and most of the time, you will use around four key dynamics.

If you play with the same intensity all the time, it doesn't matter how many techniques or impressive skills you use on your instrument. What matters most is making the song sound better as a whole.

It's also important to understand when not to play. Not all instruments need to play in every section. For instance, in a verse, you can leave one guitar out for half the verse and then bring it back in for contrast. Ultimately, using dynamics properly is what makes the biggest difference.

If a band is having trouble with this, one thing you can do right away to help is make sure the band members know or understand what the lyrics are about. They don't have to memorize them completely, but at least know the song's main message…damn, or at least the title!

You can't just play your instrument and ignore the lyrics.

You need to understand that a song is both the lyrics and the melody. The guitar, bass, and drums aren't the most important thing; it's about everyone playing in a way that enhances the melody and lyrics. This applies to both original music and covers.

Also, learn about dynamics. There are six basic dynamics, but four are essential: mezzo forte, forte, mezzo-piano, and piano. If you can manage these four volume levels, your performance will improve and your songs will sound much better.

L. D. Bonilla

The Band Coach Method