Irwin abrigo
Member
ItDiesToday321 said:
I would come up with the rhythm melody first in my head along with the lyrics
at the same time that is the way I write my song
Write music first or lyrics first?
- Thread starter ItDiesToday321
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I would come up with the rhythm melody first in my head along with the lyrics
at the same time that is the way I write my song
sterlinglee38
New member
I've been writing songs for 20+ years and it goes both ways for me. I think most of mine have been lyrics first but I also like to start a good riff on the guitar and it gives me ideas. I don't think there is a set way. It depends on the person. Everyone writes differently.
cya,
Lee
cya,
Lee
GoldFalcon
New member
I usually get an idea for a line or a lyrical phrase and work from there. Keep in mind that some of this is genre specific. I write primarily new folk/roots/Americana which place a premium on lyrical content over musical complexity. So, for me, I usually get the "concept" or "storyline" of the song from a phrse that suits me. I then examine that storyline and begin to work with the technical aspects of melody and meter and let the song find itself.
That said my music is more polarizing than I would like it to be. Those who listen for lyrics love my stuff, but they are also the only ones that come back to shows and continue to buy my stuff. Those who listen to music for music find my stuff "hookless" and can describe it as "bland" or "unintersting" becasue the words don't matter to them.
So, in the end it doesn't really matter how you start, but how you finish and what your goals are.
My last album was by choice sparse, lyric-centric, and devoid of meaningless hooks. My album currently in the works attempts to build around the melodies and lyrics and fill in interesting hooks while maintaining my roots music sensibility. Kind of Springsteen's Nebraska meets Elliott Smith's Self Titled.
Regardless, my own personal preference is to favor lyrics over music, but I know a song won't be a "great" song unless I have both working, regardless of how I get there.
That said my music is more polarizing than I would like it to be. Those who listen for lyrics love my stuff, but they are also the only ones that come back to shows and continue to buy my stuff. Those who listen to music for music find my stuff "hookless" and can describe it as "bland" or "unintersting" becasue the words don't matter to them.
So, in the end it doesn't really matter how you start, but how you finish and what your goals are.
My last album was by choice sparse, lyric-centric, and devoid of meaningless hooks. My album currently in the works attempts to build around the melodies and lyrics and fill in interesting hooks while maintaining my roots music sensibility. Kind of Springsteen's Nebraska meets Elliott Smith's Self Titled.
Regardless, my own personal preference is to favor lyrics over music, but I know a song won't be a "great" song unless I have both working, regardless of how I get there.
joro
The Pie Guy
If I am writing lyrics first, I establish the mood by conjuring up the spirits of late and great songwriters.
Once I have established contact with them, (Croce, Chapin, Morrison et al.) I draw blood from my left arm in order to have the appropriate shade of red while scribing (I am right handed.)
This helps to cut-down on errors (I don't want to waste any....ya know?) Once "inspired" to write, I chose the appropriate substrate. For instance, a love song would be written on the inside of a label of a can of Hormel chili (makes absolute sense n'est pas?)
For music, I start by bashing my head against a hard, rough textured surface to the desired beat I am looking for. This establishes what I call the "Throb "TM method. Once established, I have a constant beat to follow (I could buy a metronome....but, why bother.)
Others on theses boards have made reference to using illicit substances to augment the creative process.
Can you believe it? Why? When there are simpler, more natural ways of establishing the mood.
Oh well, to each his own. I suppose everyone is different.
I recommend to only write the lyrics first if you already have an idea of how the arrangement is going to be once its laid down. (key, scale, etc.) Once you know that then you'll know what you're working with. I find it easier to write to an uncompleted track, than a finished "beat". A finished beat is very static and doesn't give you much variation to the creative process.
Now... if this post helped you out, please be sure to listen to my music @ http://www.soundclick.com/raydio
Now... if this post helped you out, please be sure to listen to my music @ http://www.soundclick.com/raydio
Wonder Boy
New member
I write the music first, the lyrics just come to me after I write the song
neither
i didnt vote. probably because it can vary. if im playing guitar at the time when i come with an idea, its music first, but if out in the street or something and something comes to me, then obviously its lyrics. if i decide to sit down and write, i do both at the same time.
i didnt vote. probably because it can vary. if im playing guitar at the time when i come with an idea, its music first, but if out in the street or something and something comes to me, then obviously its lyrics. if i decide to sit down and write, i do both at the same time.
I didn't vote either, because I am not sure. I think I start with some musical idea normally, but never with a completed tune.
With me, I'm not sure if a song is ever really finished - it just moves to the occasional polishing stage
So, what happens is I am maybe working on one song. I go over it and over it, changing the music and changing the lyrics until I am fairly happy. In doing this, I get to a point where I can't really hear it any more so I play something else. This may be an old song, which can still change. I may try it in a slightly different style or mess around with the words - then keep any improvements. Then I will just mess around.
Out of that "messing around" comes something new. Sometimes this is a riff or a change that I like, sometimes it has a lyric attached. Sometimes it's an old lyric that didn't fit a particular song, but that had something about it. This new thing might become the seedling for a new song.
I will normally have a few "bits" I am working on. A main song. Maybe a tune. Maybe a lyric looking for the right tune. Very, very occasionally a complete song.
I work on these and throw bits away, chiseling and polishing. By the end, I am not always sure where they started because they may have changed a lot - and could still change.
Sometimes I just tire of them and they get dumped. As someone on another forum once said "If you can't listen to your own song 1000 times, why would 1000 people want to hear it once!".
It wasn't always this way. I'm sure I used to be able to simply toss songs out quickly. Maybe they were no good, maybe they were OK. Now, however, I find it harder. And I still don't know if they are any good
With me, I'm not sure if a song is ever really finished - it just moves to the occasional polishing stage
So, what happens is I am maybe working on one song. I go over it and over it, changing the music and changing the lyrics until I am fairly happy. In doing this, I get to a point where I can't really hear it any more so I play something else. This may be an old song, which can still change. I may try it in a slightly different style or mess around with the words - then keep any improvements. Then I will just mess around.
Out of that "messing around" comes something new. Sometimes this is a riff or a change that I like, sometimes it has a lyric attached. Sometimes it's an old lyric that didn't fit a particular song, but that had something about it. This new thing might become the seedling for a new song.
I will normally have a few "bits" I am working on. A main song. Maybe a tune. Maybe a lyric looking for the right tune. Very, very occasionally a complete song.
I work on these and throw bits away, chiseling and polishing. By the end, I am not always sure where they started because they may have changed a lot - and could still change.
Sometimes I just tire of them and they get dumped. As someone on another forum once said "If you can't listen to your own song 1000 times, why would 1000 people want to hear it once!".
It wasn't always this way. I'm sure I used to be able to simply toss songs out quickly. Maybe they were no good, maybe they were OK. Now, however, I find it harder. And I still don't know if they are any good
Freudian Slip
New member
If it's a song that means something to me, it's at the same time.
Latest song was music first but I was just messing around. It's so not me, I wrote it all off the drums because I was trying to learn midi.
F.S.
Latest song was music first but I was just messing around. It's so not me, I wrote it all off the drums because I was trying to learn midi.
F.S.
shedshrine
Member
All three (music first, lyrics first, lyrics+music together) Depends what struck you.
Have minidiscs full of progressions that may never progress further. Load them on the iPod. After weeks, months, years, some of them start taking on a life of their own and the mood or atmosphere starts revealing what the words "are". Can't recommend looping gear enough.
Big "duh" for experimentation. Last weekend alternate tuned my funky Costco nylon stringed guitar and your fingers fall in the familiar places but you get totally new directions. (you play differently too because the slack strings and taught ones require different fretting tension and "pluck" force to get stable pitch and equal volume..but I digress.)
Coming home from work and cut off twice by the same dufus. Suddenly, words come to mind
lyrics like "as your car rolls down the mountainside, boulders crushing all inside" The tongue in cheek nature will fit perfect with the aforementioned alt tuned progression.
Unexpected stuff. Visiting hometown, old girlfriend in car ahead of you at stoplight. You make eye contact from her rearview mirror. Your wife is sitting next to you. Words come out of nowhere.."a wolf in tigers clothing, a grin, blonde on white. My chagrin, well I couldn't let her in, not on my horizon..." And the chords are moooovin.
dreams are obviously fantastic song/lyric fodder, but I can never get them down quick enough not to forget the vivid parts of the damn things that made them so compelling to write down in the first place...
wait, what was this thread about?
Have minidiscs full of progressions that may never progress further. Load them on the iPod. After weeks, months, years, some of them start taking on a life of their own and the mood or atmosphere starts revealing what the words "are". Can't recommend looping gear enough.
Big "duh" for experimentation. Last weekend alternate tuned my funky Costco nylon stringed guitar and your fingers fall in the familiar places but you get totally new directions. (you play differently too because the slack strings and taught ones require different fretting tension and "pluck" force to get stable pitch and equal volume..but I digress.)
Coming home from work and cut off twice by the same dufus. Suddenly, words come to mind
lyrics like "as your car rolls down the mountainside, boulders crushing all inside" The tongue in cheek nature will fit perfect with the aforementioned alt tuned progression.Unexpected stuff. Visiting hometown, old girlfriend in car ahead of you at stoplight. You make eye contact from her rearview mirror. Your wife is sitting next to you. Words come out of nowhere.."a wolf in tigers clothing, a grin, blonde on white. My chagrin, well I couldn't let her in, not on my horizon..." And the chords are moooovin.
dreams are obviously fantastic song/lyric fodder, but I can never get them down quick enough not to forget the vivid parts of the damn things that made them so compelling to write down in the first place...
wait, what was this thread about?
Gorty
New member
ItDiesToday321 said:
My procedure will always vary, I used to write the lyrics with the drummer in my previous band and sometimes we had music or even some riffs pieced together to use as an inspirational source. Other times we might pick a particular subject or topic and write lyrics and then adapt them to some music we would come up with.
I always write them together! In fact I'm hearing a sick riff as I write this!
No, seriously, I find the music comes to me first, then I listen to what it is telling me. However, on the rare occasions that I put music to words, either my own or somebody else's words, I find my style is always different. I think it might depend on the structure of the words, how many lines to a verse, etc., and this drives the music. Once I've written the music, the words usually come very fast, like, a couple of hours, but lately I've been suffering from writers block. It's so frustrating when the tunes keep coming but there are no words. Any lyricists out there?
V
No, seriously, I find the music comes to me first, then I listen to what it is telling me. However, on the rare occasions that I put music to words, either my own or somebody else's words, I find my style is always different. I think it might depend on the structure of the words, how many lines to a verse, etc., and this drives the music. Once I've written the music, the words usually come very fast, like, a couple of hours, but lately I've been suffering from writers block. It's so frustrating when the tunes keep coming but there are no words. Any lyricists out there?
V
Lyrics first
I write the lyrics first to get the feelings out..then I put a melody to it. I'm not a musician, so I have to work with a musician at that point and edit the lyrics as necessary to fit the music. Occasionally the lyrics and melody come at the same time. I'm a lyricist VGreen if you need a collaborator. You can check out what I have produced so far at www.broadjam.com/berniseever but they're far from perfect yet.
I write the lyrics first to get the feelings out..then I put a melody to it. I'm not a musician, so I have to work with a musician at that point and edit the lyrics as necessary to fit the music. Occasionally the lyrics and melody come at the same time. I'm a lyricist VGreen if you need a collaborator. You can check out what I have produced so far at www.broadjam.com/berniseever but they're far from perfect yet.