Which comes first, the music or the lyrics?

Which comes first, the lyrics or the music?

  • write the lyrics first

    Votes: 35 19.8%

  • write the music first

    Votes: 142 80.2%
  • Total voters
    177
S

Senor Cactus

New member
Just a little curious how it works with everyone else. Do you write the lyrics first and then the music or do you write the music and then come up with lyrics?

I absolutely have to do the lyrics first. It always bums me out when I come up with a cool lick on guitar or keyboard cuz I know there's no way in hell I'll ever come up with words for it.
 
music first, then lyrics, then lick the salt, squeeze the lemon, and do a shot

Well, I've been writing songs almost 20 years now and I've always come up with a tune first, then added in lyrics. I play guitar as my main instrument, and it's always been easiest to find a new interesting progression, then hum or sing whatever comes to mind, let that crystalize into a few verses, then figure out a chorus, then keep fixing it here and there till it feels right.

So it's more like music, then lyrics, then more music, then more lyrics, then tweak.
 
Well if you do a search you'll find the answer's without having to wait for responses; I know there has been almost this exact thread before.
 
It just depends on what im doing when inspiration hits. Music is something that comes first when im playing an instrument. any other time its lyrics, unless im humming or something.
 
Usually as Im getting the lyrics in my head, they come with a melody...Ill pick up a guitar and feel out the basic progression or if Im not around a guitar I can still hear the progression in my head...later I may do some alterations of the chords to get a more interesting feel......

Its a rare time for me to write just lyrics or just music without the other....it just doesnt feel natural for me....Ive tried to write just music, but as im going thru chords my head starts to hear a melody and then the melody starts turning into lyrics...by the time I finished the music most of the lyrics were there.....I should stop listening to the voices in my head....
 
Zoetrope pretty much nailed it for me. I almost always come up with a riff or progression first. Then build on it fron there.

However, I do have a couple songs lyin' around that seem to have sprung forth whole.

I
 
Mostly what the Z man said, altho, when I am driving, sometimes the rythm of the road will inspire my creative juices, and some words will appear based on the experiences of the day..

Don't know what you were askin for, are you havin trouble writing, or just curious...??

:D



Upstate:D
 
Some of the best stuff I've done hit me at some of the most awkward moments. I mean doing something so far from the realm of music, like trying to change a flat on the side of the raod.
But come to think of it, for a songwriter there is no such place away from the realm of music, is there?

George
 
No George, there isn't.

My mind is constantly filled with music, whether it's someone else's, or a raw rhythm, or anything. Usually, what comes through is kinda mundane and not really worth the effort of putting down on guitar..

Most of the time the routine for me is to come up with a musical theme, then try to match it with an idea or concept I had filed in my memory, and the lyrics come last because if I try to throw prepared lyrics to the song, they never stick.. It has to feel right when sung.

Cy
 
I agree Cyrokk,

The music and lyrics have to go together like peanut butter and jelly. One thing I never do is to rush a song. If it's not right, I put it on a shelf and wait until something else comes along and makes it right. You may not believe this but one song I wrote was almost ten years before it came together.

George
 
I'd say, 90% of the time, I pick up my guitar, run through some progressions till I find my mood, then the words come.
About 5% of the time, I have a lick, intro, an idea, a few words, then 'work' at it to get the song put together.
The other 5% I'll leave open, cuz I don't know. For instance, Woolton Church. Someone suggested we write a song with a title already in place. I'd have to put that one in the open catagory.

Now back to that 90%. If you'd say the chords are the music, then music it is. But this is how it works for me most of the time. I find some chords, match the tempo and picking to my mood. The funny thing is, when the words come, so does the melody. Of course, there are adjustments to make, words to change, maybe use a sus instead of that 11th, stuff like that. Another thing, when I'm wirting a song, I usually don't know it until it's started. I don't set down to write anymore. It just happens, so, when ever I pick up the guitar, I tune it, then press the record button on my cassett player. I just never know.
 
Badgas, the easiest way for me is on my keyboard. I play guitar, bass, and keys. But my passion is the keyboard. I just find that I can express what I'm feeling better on the keys. I have lots of patches for my keyboard. Sometimes different sounds will trigger a new progression. But once it happens its gonna be an all nighter.

Writing music isn't difficult for me, neither is writing lryics. It's just a matter of finding the two that were made for each other. Thats where the nuts and bolts come in.

George
 
Wow, I'm surprised how many people have said "music first" or both at once. I knew I was an oddball, I just didn't know how odd.

I guess I kind of do both at once whenever I actually write. I still have to start with lyrics, but usually as soon as I start writing them a melody line presents itself. After I have the lyrics done I just pick up the guitar or keyboard and find what chords go with the melody line.

It's not that I have a problem writing music, I write a lot of instrumental stuff. Maybe that's part of it and whenever I start with the music, I have to make it an instrumental. It's like some kind of one way street-- I can travel one direction fine but there's just no easy way to go the other direction.
 
i find it easier to write lyrics to the music, however i try to avoid this as much as possible because when i do this my lyrics never seem to mean anything.

i write a lot of lyrics and i prefer to take my pages of (related) lyrics and play around with them to fit the music.
this way i think i get the best of both methods - the easier (for me) way of putting lyrics to music, but at the same time i'm not WRITING lyrics TO a melody (which as i said usually renders them meaningless).

-matt
 
chicken or the egg

If I write for my good band Ijust write music then let the vocalist write somthing that they want to sing. If on the other hand I'm writing for my c.r.a.p. (Country.Rockers.And.Proud)band then its just however the idea comes like if I do a fart and it smells then theres a song in that for me.
 
I recently had this discussion with my bass player and he insist that lyrics should come first, though I seem to work the other way. When I seem to write lyrics first and build a song around my melody, the song always sound more sterile and structured.
Just my 2 ....
 
DEFINATLY Music first,then the babble of sounds that seem to have no meaning,then certain vowels and words appear.
After that I usally have an ideal how I want them to go.Lay on the couch,open my mind's eye and let them flow thru.....
 
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