Vocals-First Experiment

I want to try an experiment; I'm wondering if any of you Wikiloops old-timers can tell me if this is a normal thing to do or not.

The problem: When I upload templates of songs I've written and want to flesh out with a band, I upload them as separate vocal and guitar tracks, so that anyone can replace me on guitar. . . but nobody seems to want to. I'm a shitty guitarist, so nobody wants to contribute to the resulting mix as is, either.

The experimental solution: I'm going to try uploading just a vocal track as a template; instead of a guitar track, I'll simply include a lead sheet with the basic chords over the lyrics.

Do you think this will improve the chances of someone skilled on their instrument wanting to jump in? I feel like nobody wants to replace my shitty, substandard guitar playing because they're afraid they'll hurt my feelings!

Please don't bother trying to encourage me to accept my own guitar-playing as adequate; I'm not suffering from a weak ego and I don't need encouragement. I'm not a real guitarist and I'm not particularly interested in becoming one, or I would already be one.

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ign1704066037 attached the following image:

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Edited by ign1704066037 on December 30, 2023 at 9:06 PM

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vocals-first is a cool idea, doesn't happen too often, but does allow for a clean slate of music to be put down and around it. i thought Shamika's idea to vocals over just a drum track was a cool idea, allowed for some creativity as well - #280821

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That sounds ideal, but I can't play drums and when I'm songwriting from the ground up, I don't want to be constrained to someone else's dynamics.

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most of us play over fixed bpms/click tracks/drums, so i would think as long as you followed some sense of steady time, all should be good :W

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I'm going to try it with a simple, catchy pop song, and see if I can get anyone to back me up.

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I did that with #285433. I edited the drums from #8872 to fit my verses, then uploaded my lyrics alone, without the backing track, as the template. Then I tried uploading the drum track with the lyrics as a remix, (hoping that my poorly edited drums could be replaced by someone playing proper drums) but it didn't let me, it kept forcing me to upload it as a new track. So I deleted it and just left the vocals. The drum track is swing jazz which I wanted. Of course anyone can remix it as they want, so there's a weird bassline there now over my indistinct vocals. Fair enough, weird frequencies ha ha, but just to say that you may not get what you want by uploading vocals as a template.

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In all honesty, I'm not sure if you will easily find what you are looking for. In my (admittedly still limited) experience here, many people enjoy adding something of their own instead of playing someone else's composition. Sometimes it leads to a wonderful mix of things where everyone's had their unique input, at other times it leads to something that sounds... well... interesting? :) I'm not sure this site is a good fit for finding session musicians. Even though it harbors many really highly skilled individuals, to me the culture just seems a little different. Your mileage may vary obviously.

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