Chords to Lyrics

[hypocracy hater]

I need some help on writing chords to go with lyrics. Anything,

Thanks

[thewolf]

I usually do it the other way around, I usually write the music first, then I add the lyrics. But on to your question- I suppose it would depend on what kind of music you are writing and what type of a mood you are aiming for with the music.

I think you would get more replies with just a bit more info about what kind of songs you are writing (metal, country, folk, pop, classic rock, ect...) and what type of mood (sad, happy, exciting, pure maddness, ect...) you are trying to achieve with them.

If your looking for general theory then you can base your songs around the 1, 4,& 5 chords of the key that your playing in. This is very common in rock, country, pop and folk type styles. Say your song is in the key of C major, you can use the chords C maj, F maj, and G Maj for your chord progression. These are the first, fourth and fifth chords in the key of C major. This is very basic, but it is a start.

I have found that even with all my studies of music theory (that you may want to look into yourself- it will help you in the beginning to make sense of it all) that my best songs still just come to me as if I was on automatic pilot. That is to say I don't rely on any thoery or anything anyone has taught me, I just play, and the songs sorta just flow out on their own. This type of playing usually takes years of hard pratice to achieve though, but as in most things, pratice makes perfect. Good luck.

[theredwonder]

For me, the best way is to sit and read through your lyrics for a while. Maybe try and memorise a few lines, and just run them over in your head until you come up with some sort of melody. Then choose the chords to fit, but let both the music and the lyrics meld around each other (mmm sound more cheesy). Make sure you're flexible and willing to change either the music/lyrics to help improve the overall feel of the song.

That's how i do it anyway. Hope it helps.