Oi, Music or Lyrics First??

[Sleddog72]

When I collaborate, I often do it with people who don't play an instrument but they have these good lyrics, but no music. When I write songs I have always had music, then i wrap the song up with lyrics, like a blanket. Is this normal? I mean, I know this is an age old question, but any other guitarists or pianists out there similiar? I think I would have a hard time creating music out of ...I DO have a hard time composing songs around lyrics. it never sounds right. advice needed. thank you.

[Twinky]

some ppl do the lyrics first...some the music. It depends on how you are wired. Some ppl are scary talented and can do it either way. I tend to do both at the same time and sometimes lyrics first. I still struggle with writing lyrics to someone elses melody.

[treymonfauntre]

for full band stuff i usually write the guitar line, create some sort of vocal melody while i'm writing it / piecing it together, add the drums/bass and then finish it off with vocals way down the line.
for acoustic stuff i write rough vocals, i play some guitar along with the vocals to see if i can fit them anywhere, and then eventually i rewrite both of them to flow better.

[Sleddog72]

you guys ever collaborated with females? Well, here's the thing...my lead singer is female. And I've had a brutal time writting songs for someone else to sing. So I have to collaborate and im working with a female song writter(lyricist) and it aint easy. I mean i'm no slouch on the guitar, but i just don't have any soul in the music i put to her lyrics. Even tho she says " oh it sounds good" she aint a guitarist so she doesnt know heh. i dunno...there has to be a better and easier way to write lyrics for someone else. I'm going to try having her "hum" the song. And from there i might get a spark of emotion or inspiration. just handing me lyrics is not working...

[Twinky]

Originally Posted by Sleddog72

you guys ever collaborated with females? Well, here's the thing...my lead singer is female. And I've had a brutal time writting songs for someone else to sing. So I have to collaborate and im working with a female song writter(lyricist) and it aint easy. I mean i'm no slouch on the guitar, but i just don't have any soul in the music i put to her lyrics. Even tho she says " oh it sounds good" she aint a guitarist so she doesnt know heh. i dunno...there has to be a better and easier way to write lyrics for someone else. I'm going to try having her "hum" the song. And from there i might get a spark of emotion or inspiration. just handing me lyrics is not working...

As a girlie myself I have to say it depends on the chick hon. I play many instruments so I can relate to what other musos are trying to put across. Having said that girlies and boylies are wired differently too...that can be a woe sometimes. lol

[wilko]

Originally Posted by Sleddog72

you guys ever collaborated with females? Well, here's the thing...my lead singer is female. And I've had a brutal time writting songs for someone else to sing. So I have to collaborate and im working with a female song writter(lyricist) and it aint easy. I mean i'm no slouch on the guitar, but i just don't have any soul in the music i put to her lyrics. Even tho she says " oh it sounds good" she aint a guitarist so she doesnt know heh. i dunno...there has to be a better and easier way to write lyrics for someone else. I'm going to try having her "hum" the song. And from there i might get a spark of emotion or inspiration. just handing me lyrics is not working...

My singer is a girlie too. At the beginning she wrote the lyrics and I did the music but it didn't work so I do both now. It is funny as I used to write the songs from a bloke's point of view and when they were finished - I change the gender. Now I write the songs to be sung by a girl and it seems to work. Her input is improving the vocal meoldies as I am not a singer (I have been banned a UN resolution ever to sing outside of the shower).My advice is do the music and the lyrics.

[Twinky]

Originally Posted by wilko

My singer is a girlie too. At the beginning she wrote the lyrics and I did the music but it didn't work so I do both now. It is funny as I used to write the songs from a bloke's point of view and when they were finished - I change the gender. Now I write the songs to be sung by a girl and it seems to work. Her input is improving the vocal meoldies as I am not a singer (I have been banned a UN resolution ever to sing outside of the shower).My advice is do the music and the lyrics.

Yeah I heard about that resolution...good thing they got on top of that before something really bad happened aye?!

[wilko]

Originally Posted by Twinky

Yeah I heard about that resolution...good thing they got on top of that before something really bad happened aye?!

Yeah - last week I carried on after I finished my shower but stopped immediately when the balck helicopters started landing and a "peace-keeping" force surrounded my bathroom.........

[Twinky]

hehehhee

[KonradG]

I was a guitar player for 10 years before i just switched to singing four months ago. With that being said,

-When i was a guitar player, i wrote the riffs, the singer took them and ran with it. If a singer cant fit his/her lyrics into a song by revising words and maintaining the original theme, then your going to have a hard time.

-Now that im the singer, i write the guitar riffs for the guitar player to play and i write the lyrics that i sing and play the solos that i write. So that kinda worked out fuckin dandy.

hope this helped

[kt_2005]

Hi there,

I just wanted to say that from experience I can't really imagine making a killer song without writing both the music and words unless you really connect to the topic or you are writing with someone that is part of what you are writing about. To have that thing in your song where it connects with other people it doesn't seem to get through unless everything you've got is put into it. I guess that's why I would think it to be really hard to not do both. For me it's always been the music first and then the words. Just a personal preference I guess.

[ethos]

i write first, but not until recently.
it works better for me to make a beat around the song.

[Sleddog72]

well there's some good and bad news in here. haha. i sing too, but not like the my lead singer. i might try that gender/switch thing....(not an operation either) haha...i'll try writing the lyrics AND the music and switching some of the words around to match my lead singer's perspective. if she wants to write songs she's gonna need to learn an instrument.

[VomitHatSteve]

What order you write in I think mostly depends on how you're writing thinks. Most of the stuff I write myself, I either do chords and then set words to them or I write words, come up with a melody, and match chords to the melody.
With writing music for other people's lyrics, I come up with a guitar part that I can stand and then come up with a melody that matches everything prior.

This is what works for me, but in the end, everyone has his/her own style that works for him/her.