Music or Lyrics?

[Drum Monkey]

My band members (one guitarist, one bassist) and I are having a disagreement as to what part of a song should be written first, the music part (instrumental) or the lyrics (words). I would just like to hear your opinions on this.

Thanks,

-DM

[ebe9]

Well I imagine that the lyrics would determine the type of song, i.e. ballad, love song, I hate your guts and die song or whatever you want it to be about.

Thus my feeling is that the lyrics will determine the type of music you want to accompany them.

[Bass_swede]

lol, I voted wrong.. I should have voted for lyrics, if there's a nice mod that could change it I would be glad.

[Led_Zeppelin678]

I think it's pretty subjective. There's no 100 percent right or wrong answer.

[Left Shoe]

written separately, then worked together.

[LewsTherin]

I think it depends.

If someone comes up with words, write music to it.

If someone comes up with music, write words for it.

Or just do the cool thing and play instrumentals.

[SixnStones]

You can't have a song with crap music and awesome lyrics that sounds good. But you can have crap lyrics and awesome music and have an awesome song.

Rap has good music, subliminal but good

[Scooch]

Both, if you got a wicked song write the music first, if you got some wicked lyrics right them first.

[:amaze:]

my bands have always done music first, but it really doesnt matter.




:amaze:

[supercalifragilistic]

Or just do the cool thing and play instrumentals.

I <3 a good instrumental, for the moment I'm hooked on Mogwai's 'Glasgow Mega-Snake'

I have come up with a few songs for my band, and it has always been music first, because I find it easier to find words that match the feeling of the music than the other way around. But in the end it is indeed a very subjective thing I guess.

[Napes]

I love instrumentals, especially really epic ones with a bunch of different movements.

Music before lyrics for me but nice lyrics are a good bonus.

[darrell]

Or just do the cool thing and play instrumentals.

...Or you can be really cool and just read poems...







...









...










Nevermind. :p

[Swaye]

Well i dont think there's a which one you SHOULD start with.. it just depends on inspiration and such if the words come to you.. you write the words.. and if you have a beat or tune in your head and then you can work around that.. so my vote is sorta obvious! hahaha

[EADG]

Music first, you need the melody before you can fit words to it.

[PainKiller8191]

-this belongs in the Jam Session forum

-never make desicions about the song before you have anything...if you have music, write lyrics, if you have lyrics, write music, if you have nothing, don't think about it too much and try to have some lead on either side

[PaulR]

Either first.

[TheIdiotBox]

In my band (and personally), either can come first. Me and the guitarist are always jamming on new riffs and getting new ideas, but at the same time he and our singer are constantly writing lyrics. It's just a case of whatever fits with what, really.

[Shuffle It All]

i do both, at first writing around lyrics, as its easier to write music to lyrics than vice versa, although as ive said, both work

[Napes]

I read the question all wrong, if its a decision about what should be written first well thats up to how you're inspired at the time.

In my band we generally tend to write music first, only our guitarist actively works on lyrics right now.

[Sergio]

Well I imagine that the lyrics would determine the type of song, i.e. ballad, love song, I hate your guts and die song or whatever you want it to be about.

Thus my feeling is that the lyrics will determine the type of music you want to accompany them.

It could go the other way though. The mood of the music might determine what kind of lyrics are written.

There's no right or wrong way. Don't think about things like this so much, and just play. You'll know what to do without even realizing it.

[trumpeter]

whatever comes first...if you have a good jam..write out some lyrics...if you have good lyrics, write out some music...its whatever flows.

[kilian]

We've got a lot of lyrics. We write a song and check which lyric fits. Sometimes there is a melody and a few words in somebody his/her head and then we work the melody + words out to a song.

Basically, we write lyrics and music apart from eachother and then combine them again.

[Elemetal]

I think you should write a song and then like the emotion you get out of that song should reflect the lyrics you make. Becuase if you feel that way how you wrote your song then obviously put that into words. Know what im saying. UNLESS your gonna play one of those boring i guess not popular new age songs that suck these days that consist of 4 chords and every 8 counts it changes the chord then write the lyrics but if its a really emotional song write lyrics to it.

[kilian]

Making lyrics on command is pretty hard.. Most of the lyrics my band thinks are good aren't written on command.

[FunkMetalBass]

What is the emphasis of the song, lyrical or instrumental?

There's your answer.

The "universe" (song) revolves around one specific point - the point of focus in the song.

[Munky_Jam]

I don't think it matters one little bit. Go write some lyrics and put them to the band then come up with music to it. alternately write the song then go away and come up with vocal melodies and lyrics.
However you feel at the time

[Jody LeCompte]

It just depends on how your band writes best. Lyrics being written first will aid a bit if your band lacks structure or order in your song writing.

I find it better to write music first. Lyrics written out of necessity will always lack in comparison to lyrics written by inspiration, firstly. Also, when you have music first, you can tweak and fiddle with your piece until you like it, then write lyrics that will match perfectly. If you write lyrics first, you may write something that compliments the lyrics perfectly and then find a way of playing the same tune a tad bit different that would sound a lot better, but not compliment the lyrics quite as well.

[neal_672]

It all depends, i tend to write music first but with a general feel for the lyrical structure of the song in mind at the time. Makes things easier when deciding the feel of the music.

I find lyrics to be a lot more important, but that's just personal opinion. Simple music + amazing lyrics is a fantastic combination. Whereas i find stupidly solo-ish music with bad lyrics to be a bit boring.

[the_uber_penguin]

I find that lyrics will tend to suggest music, but music will rarely suggest lyrics.

That said, the music and the lyrics should, IMO, be like two cards resting on each other in a house of cards. Both equally important to the final result, but lyrics tend to be written first.

Where I have written music before lyrics, I will normally have to make changes because the of the lyrics, because the structure that applies to lyrics is less important then the musical structure.

[pukeboy66]

doesnt matter.

[TheBassStylee]

LYRICS !
well definatly over music anyway. i guess it doesnt matter, but id do lyrics first (hence my vote).

[fuzzyhair]

hmm I was thinking about this earlier today when listening to The Black Dahlia Murder. It almost seems like one guy goes in a room and writes some riffs, another guy writes lyrics. Then they mold them together. Making each compliment each other.

Dream Theater writes their music first then lyrics. But I think it would be much easier to write lyrics first.

[Drum Monkey]

I realise there is no specific rule as to what should be written first, I just wanted to hear you opinions on this topic...

It was a 2-to-1 today, the guitarists said we should write music first and then lyrics but I completely disagreed. I figure if you write the lyrics first, you can make them into any tune or rhythm (more or less a peom) without being boxed in. My guitarists said that by writing the music first, it's much easier to go all out :rolleyes: Once we start writing some more we'll probably do it both ways, although we'll have to see what our singer says...

-DM

[Efrim]

CHICKEN!!!!!!!
oh wait, right, yeah, it doesn't matter, its just how YOU would lke to write it.

[Drum Monkey]

CHICKEN!!!!!!!
oh wait, right, yeah, it doesn't matter, its just how YOU would lke to write it.
? Never said we were doing it my way... I said we'll probably write both ways.

-DM

[Efrim]

? Never said we were doing it my way... I said we'll probably write both ways.

-DM


no, I mean, it only depends on how you and your guitarist would like to write each song. Just tell him that both ways work quite well. Whichever gives you more creativity, use it.

[full_bleed]

I don't think it really matters. If a vocalist comes up with a melody that he'd/she'd like you to write some music to then do it. If the guitarist or band comes up with a song then the singer should write a melody to that. The thing that I've always been open to that I've noticed some aren't is changing the music to more of what the singer wants. Even if the music sounds really good together the vocals always, IMO, need to be the most improtant part of the song since that's mainly what a listener will be hearing. Good musicians can write both ways and good people know when to comprimise. I almost always change my basslines after I hear the vocals anyways just to make everything gel together better.

[Hardinge]

music

[JBass]

it doesnt really matter...each one will inspire and influence the other if it came first

[BassRevelation1029]

music first. Lyrics can come to fit in with the song. It wont always work if you do it the other way.