help me!

[roflcopter]

i've gotten to the point where i am satisfied with the music i have recorded...and i like the lyrics i have written. but i can't seem to put the two together.

what are good ways to compose vocal melodies?

[up-fiddler]

I will usually read through the lyrics many times and change where the natural accents fall. These are usually chord changes for me. I change it up and around each time through until I fall into something I like. A melody seems to appear in quite a natural fashion at some point after that.

Ex.
MARy had a LITtle lamb.......
Mary HAD a little lamb.........
Mary had a LITtle lamb.......

You understand.......Then mess with the chord structure and a melody comes at me like magic. It's not as mechanical a process as I describe here but it's hard to put into words. It works for me. Give it a try.

[roflcopter]

that's what i've been trying to do, see if a natural rhythm sort of jumps out at me...but the problem with my lyrics is that they're not exactly in a very rhythmic form, if that makes sense.

when i write songs, i try to say exactly what i want to say, and THEN try to make it more conducive to being sung...i don't know if that's a good thing or a bad thing.

[JTC111]

Originally Posted by roflcopter

that's what i've been trying to do, see if a natural rhythm sort of jumps out at me...but the problem with my lyrics is that they're not exactly in a very rhythmic form, if that makes sense.

when i write songs, i try to say exactly what i want to say, and THEN try to make it more conducive to being sung...i don't know if that's a good thing or a bad thing.

How about this, find the parts of the lyrics that strike you as the most melodic and start building from there with the understanding that you'll have to make some adjustments to the other lines as a melody falls into place.

[roflcopter]

hm...that's an idea.

sometimes i can also make things more rhythmic and flow-y just by adding or eliminating a word or even a syllable.

i tell you, songwriting is a whole science in itself.

[up-fiddler]

When writing and rewriting lyrics I am always conscious of the syllable count in each line. I'm not anal about it to the point I let it dictate what's being said but I try to keep them close in number without feeling "boxed in". It makes the second half of the process much easier for me. Then if the song is too 'fluffy' I will either rewrite with the new melody or throw the darn thing away.

Watch your syllables and the task is less daunting.

[cmhansen]

I can't write the way you describe. I need to write the music first and then the lyric so I really don't have the problem you're having. Or, write both of them at the same time.

Never could write a lyric and then write music to them without having to change them and messing up the entire thing. There are some good suggestions here though.

[Coughmist]

I have a heard time combining music and lyrics as well. But like the excellent mentions above, my lyrics usually change to match the tune. The voice is just an instrument, and it needs to compliment the heartbeat of the tune.

For me, I am always changing lyrics to songs in order to match the rhythm like choosing key words that accent the drums, guitar, etc. I sometimes use a thesaurus for some words that need to represent a specific topic to decrease or increase the amount of syllables in a line. I always find that breaking a song apart (structure wise) on paper always helps me with writing lyrics.