Guitar to lyrics

[Joefranza]

If this isn't the right place for this topic/question I apologize.

 

I love to write lyric/poems often and have been for years but everytime I go to try playing/put my guitar with the lyrics I write it just doesn't sound right al all. I think most musicians likely write the lyrics second not first like I'd like to do.

 

Is there any way around this or any tips to help me understand how I can make it sound correct to me?

 

Everytime I get riffs going it sounds likely way to heavy metal for what would likely more more of a rock lyric.

 

My problem is putting guitar to my lyrics which I'd like to do. I can feel the lyrics but I can't feel the guitar or sound.

 

Any help/tips is much appreciated.

[theentertainment]

On 5/29/2019 at 8:12 AM, Joefranza said:

If this isn't the right place for this topic/question I apologize.

 

I love to write lyric/poems often and have been for years but everytime I go to try playing/put my guitar with the lyrics I write it just doesn't sound right al all. I think most musicians likely write the lyrics second not first like I'd like to do.

 

Is there any way around this or any tips to help me understand how I can make it sound correct to me?

 

Everytime I get riffs going it sounds likely way to heavy metal for what would likely more more of a rock lyric.

 

My problem is putting guitar to my lyrics which I'd like to do. I can feel the lyrics but I can't feel the guitar or sound.

 

Any help/tips is much appreciated.

Normally people write lyrics first, so your good there. A couple things come to mind, are you writing in a meter? If not do and just a simple one. A lot of songs have the same meter as “Mary had a little lamb.” Another idea is to sing a melody with your lyrics and then work out what chords it should have on guitar. People are inherently good at melody but sometimes starting with a chord sequence before the melody can constrain it too much. Hope this helps!

[lemonstar]

@theentertainmentI've not seen any research that says most people write the lyrics first - maybe there is but I've not looked for it or come across it. I've commented on here before that I improvise my words and music at the same time - for me,  it's an iterative loop - the music feeds off the words and the words feed off the music. Only once, in response to a challenge set here by John, have I ever tried to write lyrics first - that experience opened up the possibility for me to think I could write that way but I'm likely to continue doing things the way I always have - it was never a conscious decision - it is just something I found myself doing and now I accept it as my norm - when I wrote about that here someone else also chimed in with a comment that they worked the same way. My best musician friend,  who lives in the same town as me works in a completely different way - he composes the music and often had it completely recorded to a high standard before ever having an idea about what the lyrics might be. On several occasions (6 or 7) I've taken words from magazine interviews, forum comments, documentary films,  audio from videos friends have sent me or even poems and used them as lyrics and there are probably many other ways that are different to any of the ways I've mentioned to write a song.

 

@JoefranzaYou could try walking round with your words printed on a sheet experimenting with different ways of singing phrases or parts of lines until you find some part of a melody and a rhythm that sounds right to you and then try and grow the melody from that - I think you'll end up changing the words and maybe even the narrative so don't be too blinkered - this is a process and the process of writing words to be sung is, I think,  different from writing prose or poetry. Michaelangelo said every block of marble had a statue inside it and that when he saw an angel in the marble he would carve to set it free - I see the process of finding a song in a set of words to be very similar.

[theentertainment]

9 hours ago, lemonstar said:

@theentertainmentI've not seen any research that says most people write the lyrics first - maybe there is but I've not looked for it or come across it. I've commented on here before that I improvise my words and music at the same time - for me,  it's an iterative loop - the music feeds off the words and the words feed off the music. Only once, in response to a challenge set here by John, have I ever tried to write lyrics first - that experience opened up the possibility for me to think I could write that way but I'm likely to continue doing things the way I always have - it was never a conscious decision - it is just something I found myself doing and now I accept it as my norm - when I wrote about that here someone else also chimed in with a comment that they worked the same way. My best musician friend,  who lives in the same town as me works in a completely different way - he composes the music and often had it completely recorded to a high standard before ever having an idea about what the lyrics might be. On several occasions (6 or 7) I've taken words from magazine interviews, forum comments, documentary films,  audio from videos friends have sent me or even poems and used them as lyrics and there are probably many other ways that are different to any of the ways I've mentioned to write a song.

 

@JoefranzaYou could try walking round with your words printed on a sheet experimenting with different ways of singing phrases or parts of lines until you find some part of a melody and a rhythm that sounds right to you and then try and grow the melody from that - I think you'll end up changing the words and maybe even the narrative so don't be too blinkered - this is a process and the process of writing words to be sung is, I think,  different from writing prose or poetry. Michaelangelo said every block of marble had a statue inside it and that when he saw an angel in the marble he would carve to set it free - I see the process of finding a song in a set of words to be very similar.

 

Obviously there’s no research, but I  know dozens upon dozens of songwriters in real life and mostly write lyrics first.

[Just1L]

There is no right way, and there is no one way to write songs. The absolute most important thing of all ... do what works best for YOU. Ironically I just read an article on Paul Simon the other day. I would have thought he was a lyrics first kind of guy but that's not so. His quote: "The music always precedes the words. The words often come from the sound of the music and eventually evolve into coherent thoughts. Or incoherent thoughts. Rhythm plays a crucial part in the lyric-making as well. It's like a puzzle to find the right words to express what the music is saying."

 

https://ultimateclassicrock.com/paul-simon-songwriter-interview/

 

About the original post. Whenever I use my electric guitar to find music it comes off as really hard rock, almost every time. When I start with an acoustic I get less of a hard edge to the music and come up with music that would work in many genres.

[ccarnucci]

I have a little different perspective.  From my view, songs have several facets:

Chord progression

Style (this means genre, tempo, emotion etc.)

Melody

Meter

Lyrics

Now my songs can start from any one of these being the beginning of the process, but I never finish any one completely first.  For me, that would seem constrictive.  The all are developed together.

 

To specifically answer the topic.....when you begin to layer the guitar over the lyrics, only strum the chord once for each change.  Meaning let it sustain out till you need to change to a new chord for the melody you are trying to design.  This should help remove the style from the equation. (Metal etc)  additionally, if using electric only play clean....no effects.  Basically what this does it develop chord progression  and melody simultaneously but without style. 

 

Hope this helps.