Songwriting – lyrics or music first?
When writing a song, which comes first, the lyrics or the music? This is a question that is often asked by aspiring songwriters. A simple answer is that anyone of them can come first. It all depends on the songwriter and how inspiration hits him or her. You can choose to write your lyrics first and later on put music to it. Or you can write a melody and later on write your lyrics. Sometimes both lyrics and melody come together.
As for me, lyric and melody come together. Sometimes I even hear chord structures and phrases while I’m writing lyrics and melodies.
Sometimes you start with chords and then come up with a melody, or melody and lyrics at the same time.
Songwriting – Lyrics or Music First?
It’s up to you to simply go with the flow and write down whatever comes to you. If lyrics come to you first, write them down. If you hear melodies first, record them on your phone or any recording device. If you hear lyrics and melodies simultaneously, put them down as well.
Some writers only write lyrics. They are known as lyricists. Others, while they know how to write a great melody, are not so good at the lyric writing side of things, or simply choose to specialize in lyric writing. Writers who only write melodies are known as melodicists. In this case it is often necessary to collaborate; one person writes lyrics and one writes melodies.
There are no rules. Just do what works for you
You will find several songwriting – lyric writing tips, advice and suggestions on this site. Just go through the various pages.
To help you when writing lyrics, we recommend songwriting software like Masterwriter and Lyricist. They make the lyric writing task so much easier. There’s no need to struggle when you can make use of high quality, efficient and tested songwriting tools.
Songwriter – Different Types of Writers