Composing your own songs...

Metal_made

Trooper
Aswell as some of you, I have my own band.  We have been arguing though, because I insist it's better to compose first the guitar riffs, then the bass and drums and at the very end, the lyrics, while they insist that it's better to start with the lyrics, and then adding the music.

So what do you think?  How do you write your songs?
 
I am not by any means a musician, however that does not disqualify me from putting in my two cents. I've read plenty of interviews where songs are written both ways. Enter Sandman was written with Hetfield just fooling around with his guitar and The Red Hot Chili Pepper's Under the Bridge started with a personal poem... In other words it is about inspiration, writing shouldn't be mechanical.
 
JUST FOLLOW THESE SIMPLE INSTRUCTIONS:

[1]
Declare your intention to create a 'composition.'

[2] Start a piece at some time.

[3] Cause something to happen over a period of time (it doesn't matter what happens in your 'time hole' - we have critics to tell us whether it's any good or not, so we won't worry about that part).

[4] End the piece at some time (or keep it going, telling the audience it is a 'work in progress').

[5] Get a part-time job so you can continue to do stuff like this.
 
1. I write the lyrics, because it can determine the feel and pace of the song. So that gives me a rough idea of what i want to fit round the lyrics.

2. I write the drums/bass. The bass is usually easiest thing for me to write. The drums, (quite hard in my opinion) i write 3rd.

3. I write a HUGE guitar riff, that fits in with the mood and pace of the song.

A SONG!
 
I used to play lead guitar a few bands, my approach to writing was always a bit different to the other members in the sense of which comes first, lyrics or music. As Jake said, most musicians I know write the lyrics first, but for me, it was always easier and more natural to have a riff at hand.

Back in the day, I would record my riffs on a tape recorder, but nowadays I would record directly to the computer using Sonar 4 (I recently got a copy of Pro Tools but I want to seriously upgrade my present system before I begin playing around with Pro Tools).

It is from the riff and the mood that I get my inspiration for writing the lyrics.

I never tried to infringe on the creativity of the bass player or the drummer as far as what their writing of the piece would be. Once they heard the riff and I explained to them the feel of the song, they would come up with their pieces and I may make suggestions as far as what I envisioned the piece to be like.

I would sometimes use 'Fruity Loops' to create a drum track that I may have in mind for the drummer to emulate.

Once everyone had a feel for the song, it was just a matter of rehearsing, recording and listening back to the track to see where could be improved on, tightened on etc. before a song was ready for the public to hear.
 
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