Question:
umm. I wasn't sure if this was the right place, because all I see on the first page are lyrics, but I suppose if this is in the wrong place, it can be moved, right?
how do you set your lyrics to a melody? like, I have words. where does the music come in? how do I know I'm not singing to myself something someone else has already written?
what do you guys do to come up with music for what you've written? does it just randomly come to you, or come with the words, or do you have to write something and then determine whether or not it fits?
Answer:
Oftentimes when I'm writing I have a melody in mind. In fact, I have trouble writing without a melody as I need it to set down the rhythm and such. Somtimes it's a melody from a song I've been listening to, sometimes it's something completely original. In any case, it usually changes drastically for the end product. Sometimes I'll write a little melody on the guitar and use that as the basis for the rest of the song, but most of the time I figure out an interesting chord progression or riff and sing the lyrics to that, making up the melody as I go. Not the most scientific way of going about things, but it's what works for me.
Answer:
i do pretty much the same thing.
as i write the lyrics i generally have a melody in mind. and i worry about what notes exactly later on.
Answer:
Most of the time, i will have something on guitar written already, but kinda of just sitting there....I usually write with a melody in mind, but it almost always gets changed to fit a pre-written guitar part. Thats just how it works for me, as I am a better guitarist that lyricist, so guitar stuff comes out all the time.
Answer:
For me personally...my system is a bit different
I have one notebook full of guitar parts and stuff I've figured out on guitar and another notebook filled with poetry and what I've written...
Whenever I write lyrics I usually don't think too much of the melody because I usually write it as poetry and then I take that and add it to music I've already written...Thats just my wacked out little system though...I've written the way you guys are talking about though...its just whatever I happen to be feeling...
Answer:
Like Skeeter said, I have the guitar part usually laid out, and I come up with words for it. I have tons of cool chord progressions/riffs/ect.... I just never have any words to put to them. Oh well.
Answer:
My method is very similar to Opie's. I just kind of do mine in small chunks. I always carry 2 notebooks with me wherever I go -one lyrics book and one tab book. Whenever a lyric or riff or something pops into my head, I write it down. In the end, I spend about 6 days to a week piecing together all of the relevant lyrics together and patching up spots. It takes me anywhere from 11 to 20 days to compile all of the music together. That's just my method though.