just curious to those of you that write your own songs (lyrically), and this applies to guitar and bass, but do you usually have the song more or less written before you start writing lyrics?
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Songwriting
- Thread starter JacksonsMen
- Start date
Sometimes I come up with a lyric first, so I write music to that. Other times I'll come up with a guitar riff from noodling and everything in the song is based around that. I just pound stuff out until it shapes into something I feel is decent, like a potter with clay I guess. The main thing is that I have to sit down and consciously try to write. It's work for me.
+1 skel
I have no set way of doing it, sometimes I'll be working on something and lyrics or a riff will pop into my head, I will expand, sometimes working on both, sometimes one at a time as I go. However, I always do the bass part first and then write guitar parts afterwards.. easier for some reason.
I have no set way of doing it, sometimes I'll be working on something and lyrics or a riff will pop into my head, I will expand, sometimes working on both, sometimes one at a time as I go. However, I always do the bass part first and then write guitar parts afterwards.. easier for some reason.
Oh, another thing I do is, I'll write music and plug in lyrics from somebody elses song with similar timing, but my melody. It works great to get your music ironed out if you have no lyrics yet.
What my band have done in the past is made quite alot of lyrics up, jam about and see if we have lyrics to fit the tune. May not be the best idea but it works for us, eventually we nail those songs and make up some lyrics and again find something to fit
It varies deepending on the song. I have noticed that whatever instrument I'm holding while I work out the basics of the song will have the most interesting part.
Sometimes I start with the lyrics and figure out a melody to fit them.
Often I come up with a melody or riff and make up nonsense words to get the rhythm down, then I write real lyrics that fit the rhythm of the nonsense.
On one, I came up with lyrics, made up a guitar part to fit them, decided the lyrics were crap and threw them away, and then wrote new lyrics to the melody that I had written for the old lyrics.
It can be odd being me, sometimes.
Sometimes I start with the lyrics and figure out a melody to fit them.
Often I come up with a melody or riff and make up nonsense words to get the rhythm down, then I write real lyrics that fit the rhythm of the nonsense.
On one, I came up with lyrics, made up a guitar part to fit them, decided the lyrics were crap and threw them away, and then wrote new lyrics to the melody that I had written for the old lyrics.
It can be odd being me, sometimes.
I used to write lyrics out then try and match the song to the lyrics, but recently I'm finding more success if I just write a few hook riffs or the music for a song, leave them at that, then I might be talking and say something that just fits one of the riffs, and the next thing I know I've got the hook I need to expand with.
its wierd becaus i kind of do a bit of what everyone said.
does anyone usually have an idea in their head about the way the song should sound...full band i mean. like youve heard the song before even though you just wrote it?
does anyone usually have an idea in their head about the way the song should sound...full band i mean. like youve heard the song before even though you just wrote it?
I used to do that all the time. Unfortunately I basically heard the sound of specific vocalists that I couldn't ever replicate myself, or find anyone who could.
It was only many years later that I heard the voices that I imagined when I wrote. The male vocals sounded like Paul Carrack. The females vocals sounded like Joan Osborne.
It was only many years later that I heard the voices that I imagined when I wrote. The male vocals sounded like Paul Carrack. The females vocals sounded like Joan Osborne.
yeah, i know the voice im hearing is the voice of a friend of mine's whos in a southern rock band (Skynyrd wearing Zeppelin's shoes)
i thought of a trick to help though, i recorded a really rough track with acoustic guitar and a thin bass line. put that in the car and listen to it over and over, the vocals are coming along. once i think i've got it where i want i'll start doing rough takes of the vocals on top of the acoustic tracks to make sure it reproduces the same as it sounds to me.....then move on to finalizing everything
its so handy to have acess to recording gear whenever i want it
i thought of a trick to help though, i recorded a really rough track with acoustic guitar and a thin bass line. put that in the car and listen to it over and over, the vocals are coming along. once i think i've got it where i want i'll start doing rough takes of the vocals on top of the acoustic tracks to make sure it reproduces the same as it sounds to me.....then move on to finalizing everything
its so handy to have acess to recording gear whenever i want it
I do. I'm sometimes frustrated because it comes out not sounding like I thought it would. I'm never as good as I think I am.
I don't write music for my band, but I do compose songs for theater and commerical use with other musicians, usually lyricists. We talk over the mood of the music and perhaps a few key phrases that the lyricist wants to use and then I compose music that (I hope) fits the mood and allows the lyric hooks. I do a rough demo recording and the lyricist finishs with the words. After that I do an arrangement of the whole song with all the other instrument parts and vocal harmonies.
Ya.. I always have a very solid idea of how I want the guitars/bass to sound, and upon listening to it recorded, I get an idea for how I want the drums to sound.
Usually, I write the whole chord progression, then come up with a melody and then the words that go with the melody, so Lyrics come last.
I have too much music waiting for lyrics for me to try anything else right now. I may try different methods once my backlog is cleared.
I have too much music waiting for lyrics for me to try anything else right now. I may try different methods once my backlog is cleared.
This should be someone's sig. It hits a little too close to home to be mine right now. I don't practice like I used to, or really like I should. So I can't play some of my old parts properly anymore.My first band was a Rush tribute. I can't play half of that stuff at tempo anymore.
*heavy sigh*
For me how I approach songwriting depends on whether I'm writing by myself or co-writing (and how wwell I know the c0-writer(s)).
When co-writing we generally start with a story line idea, or hook line/title. Next, work on the chorus, then further development of the lyric / storyline. Finally, then music, occasionally music and lyric will happen at the same time, but very rarely. The process moves fast, generally completing a song in 30 min to 3 hrs. We may go back for some minor rewrites, but the process moves from concept to completion very quickly.
Writing by myself, it's totally random. Some songs are born from a riff or chord progression, others from something I've read or overhead. Once I've got a song started it may take weeks to years to complete it. I know it's not very disciplined, but it's what works for me when writing by myself.
Ive heard and read as many correct ways to write a song as there are writers. The hardest thing is to Know enough to get out of the way of the song. After all its the finished song were after, how we get there is a personal oddesy.
When co-writing we generally start with a story line idea, or hook line/title. Next, work on the chorus, then further development of the lyric / storyline. Finally, then music, occasionally music and lyric will happen at the same time, but very rarely. The process moves fast, generally completing a song in 30 min to 3 hrs. We may go back for some minor rewrites, but the process moves from concept to completion very quickly.
Writing by myself, it's totally random. Some songs are born from a riff or chord progression, others from something I've read or overhead. Once I've got a song started it may take weeks to years to complete it. I know it's not very disciplined, but it's what works for me when writing by myself.
Ive heard and read as many correct ways to write a song as there are writers. The hardest thing is to Know enough to get out of the way of the song. After all its the finished song were after, how we get there is a personal oddesy.
My first band was a Rush tribute. I can't play half of that stuff at tempo anymore.
*heavy sigh*
Ha! I just need to hear myself, then I start practicing my ass off so I can be the musician/song writer I thought I was. Nothing like a rude awakening.
