Which came first?

[VacantApparatus]

Song writing or playing? When you write a song, do you create a rythm first, or do you write lyrics first?

[55'gibby]

everybody does this differently.

I start with the lyrics, this gives me the rhythm, then I build from there (theme, then melody, then arrangement, then lastly solos). some folks work backward of me. some start with the melody... to each their own. the best way to write is to have an idea of what you want, then write it. remember, people listen to music differently, some listen to lyrics, some to rhythm, some for melody, some for specific instruments. a good song will cover all those bases.

my personal method is to write the lyrics, then walk around going over the lyrics in my head (over and over again). after walking for a while I'll have the rhythm, tempo, pathos, melody and arrangement worked out in my head. I then go home and get it down (I've created my own shorthand for getting it down quickly) on paper or tape.

all that said... sometimes I just find a cool lick and build a song off that.

[Jason9x19]

I'm the exact opposite. I always play/think of the riff first and then add lyrics later. Sometimes I really have to make myself add lyrics, and other times, I decide to just record leads over it and have it stand alone.

I can't imagine thinking lyrics up first, but that's just the way my brain works. The only answer I can give you is that every individual has to find out for themselves.

[Reality]

Who needs lyrics?

[sweeppicker308]

:cool: instrumentals rock

[popmusic_sux]

Either or could come first, some find it easier to write the lyrics first, others find it easier to write the music. I've got a different approach. I write my music and lyreics separately, go back to both every once in a while and see if I "accidentally" made something that matches. It doesn't really work too well, but meh.

[BrandyCreekG]

Sometimes I really have to make myself add lyrics, and other times, I decide to just record leads over it and have it stand alone.

yeah, that's especially the case when i write stuff with the band. we start arranging the song, fine tuning it, rockin' the s--- out of it, then two practices later someone says, "hey, we gonna have vox or what?".

when i write by myself it most often ends up like popmusic_sux said, and he's right about MY results too :mad2:

I write my music and lyreics separately, go back to both every once in a while and see if I "accidentally" made something that matches. It doesn't really work too well, but meh.

[muchavo]

its all song writing in the end, you just got to start the song out with a riff a rythem, or a lyrics and the rest should write its self, i dont have a cookie cutter method of writing i write alll different ways

[colin22]

This is my song writing method. I keep a journal of basic abab or abac poems in basic four line stanzas. Just little ideas about things for a song. Then I will work on the music and rearrange or reformat my words into the music, this way it doesn't sound like bubblegum pop music and the lyrics turn out kind of disjointed and surrealistic. I like lyrics that arent that linear and say things in a broad, open, and mysterious way. Maybe my method is a little unorthodox or even crazy, but I like it that way. So this works good for me, I mean....the Beatles wrote some nonsensical or cryptic lyrics and John Lennon kinda inspired me to do that sort of thing. I don't like the idea of telling a story. If I want to hear a story I will read a book. The basic thing for me is to have a very cohesive and definite theme to the music, but balance it with some vague and surrealistic metaphor and description. I also like writing lines that stand on their own in terms of meaning. Kind of like an independent clause in a sentence. Sometimes I might have the first two lines stand on their own as statements and then take the next two lines and join them with a conjunction or something.

[ibleedmarshall]

I don't intentionally set out to do either first- whatever comes to me first is what happens first.

[bjurman]

I try to envision my songs in one piece. Away from my guitars or piano or whatever.

[muchavo]

This is my song writing method. I keep a journal of basic abab or abac poems in basic four line stanzas. Just little ideas about things for a song. Then I will work on the music and rearrange or reformat my words into the music, this way it doesn't sound like bubblegum pop music and the lyrics turn out kind of disjointed and surrealistic. I like lyrics that arent that linear and say things in a broad, open, and mysterious way. Maybe my method is a little unorthodox or even crazy, but I like it that way. So this works good for me, I mean....the Beatles wrote some nonsensical or cryptic lyrics and John Lennon kinda inspired me to do that sort of thing. I don't like the idea of telling a story. If I want to hear a story I will read a book. The basic thing for me is to have a very cohesive and definite theme to the music, but balance it with some vague and surrealistic metaphor and description. I also like writing lines that stand on their own in terms of meaning. Kind of like an independent clause in a sentence. Sometimes I might have the first two lines stand on their own as statements and then take the next two lines and join them with a conjunction or something.


i dont think the beatles put them selves in a box like you are doing

the have stories in their songs and they wrote alot of jingles,

i also dont under stand how this makes them aviod the bubble gum pop thing?

[colin22]

i dont think the beatles put them selves in a box like you are doing

the have stories in their songs and they wrote alot of jingles,

i also dont under stand how this makes them aviod the bubble gum pop thing?


Muchavo...you really need to read things properly... "wrote some" does not mean all of their material. They had many stages of evolution in sound. secondly- I was speaking about their lyrical content not their music. thirdly...ummm I didn't even associate the beatles with my statement about bubblegum pop, I was talking about myself. You need to proof read something if you want to criticize it :(

[sum1]

you shouldnt put rules on what your going to do, the music should just flow out of you... if one day you have a good idea for a chord progression and how to play it.. get to it.. but if you have a melody another day dont try and think of a chord progression first.. just build off what flows out of you... there are NO rules

[muchavo]

sorry man if you took it wrong

i was actually interested in how your song writing method, not the beatles, avaiods the bubble gum pop thing

i wrote it wrong sorry

and my point with the beatles didnt have a strict method for writing

[Dust N' Bones]

I write the music then let the singer worry about the lyrics. But when I do "write" lyrics I usually play the song and just sing words I pick up out of the clear blue sky. If I end up singing something cool then I write it on down. But unfourtunatly, I rarely get a whole song out of this method.

[bassman60]

The music comes first. Just like Pearl Jam's "Ten". That's why it is so legendary.

[BrandyCreekG]

The music comes first. Just like Pearl Jam's "Ten". That's why it is so legendary.
careful there... Vedder had "Alive", "Footsteps", and "Daughter" written, music included, before he joined up with Pearl Jam.

but you do have a point... "Given to Fly" and "Stairway to Heaven". in both cases the guitarist (McCready and Page respectively) brought the completed song to the band and words were interjected later.

[darthvader]

This is my song writing method. I keep a journal of basic abab or abac poems in basic four line stanzas. Just little ideas about things for a song. Then I will work on the music and rearrange or reformat my words into the music, this way it doesn't sound like bubblegum pop music and the lyrics turn out kind of disjointed and surrealistic. I like lyrics that arent that linear and say things in a broad, open, and mysterious way. Maybe my method is a little unorthodox or even crazy, but I like it that way. So this works good for me, I mean....the Beatles wrote some nonsensical or cryptic lyrics and John Lennon kinda inspired me to do that sort of thing. I don't like the idea of telling a story. If I want to hear a story I will read a book. The basic thing for me is to have a very cohesive and definite theme to the music, but balance it with some vague and surrealistic metaphor and description. I also like writing lines that stand on their own in terms of meaning. Kind of like an independent clause in a sentence. Sometimes I might have the first two lines stand on their own as statements and then take the next two lines and join them with a conjunction or something.

I think the Beattles had such a varied catalog because they were so prolific. I don't think they were setting out to do something. Why give yourself rules?
In all my years of judging I have never heard before of someone more deserving of the full penalties of law.
things that were written using a formula usually sound formulaic. to wit, Creed.
Scott Stapp's writing method was almost identical to yours. He told me.




Just kidding. I'm not trying to bash you, either. It's an interesting way of writing music, and I appreciate you telling us about it, but I would not try it that way. I write music based on how I feel in the moment, and I don't try to follow rules, and it all comes out great.
(and in case you're wondering about my band, ever heard of Tool? yeah.)



just kidding about the Tool implication.

[60'sguitarrocks]

In all my years of judging I have never heard before of someone more deserving of the full penalties of law.

floyd rocks