How do YOU write vocal lines and lyrics?

[jon the art guy]

Re: How do YOU write vocal lines and lyrics?

When I attempted musicality I would come up with maybe a verse and back-burner it for expansion. That's about the extent of my muse, so to speak. I'd then write a riff that'd work with the lyrics, or maybe pull a riff out of the old riff box. Then I'd formulate some solo that'd work for the riff and use that as the melody for vocals, then figure out a 4th-based bass thing that falls between there or an octave.
Somewhere I have a bunch of songs written but now I like spartan vocals.

[Matt42]

Re: How do YOU write vocal lines and lyrics?

I'm bad at writing lyrics, which is odd, because I can write fiction very efficiently when I put my mind to it. I would like to improve, but whenever I try to write lyrics, I get about 5-10 lines in, and usually hate what I've written and scrap it all.

[TwilightOdyssey]

Re: How do YOU write vocal lines and lyrics?

Lyric writing CAN be surprisingly difficult; I am finding it a unique mental challenge.

It really helps me appreciate master lyric writers like Billy Joel, Weird Al (seriously), Bob Dylan, Roger Waters, Neil Peart, &cet.

[Securb]

Re: How do YOU write vocal lines and lyrics?

I am a riff writer so I will typically have a hook or a chorus in my head then I build on that.

[TwilightOdyssey]

Re: How do YOU write vocal lines and lyrics?

Here's a taste of the song I am working on right now, Tempest Suite:

Three
Adrift at sea
We must survive
We must keep ourselves alive
Her sails are drawing near
We reach out for life

She
Death on the sea
He, Death in Life
Not one of her crew survived
Now in death they will ride
For eternity

[ex-250]

Re: How do YOU write vocal lines and lyrics?

Melodies just kind of present themselves, I think I'm far better at writing melodies than I am at lyrics. I just kind of vocalize sounds over the music as its playing, then try and fit words to that.

As for lyrics, I keep a little notebook that I write down stumbled-upon lines and phrases in and then expand from there. Probably 80-90% of them I picked out from reading Stephen King and HP Lovecraft. I couldn't imagine writing lyrics about life and emotions and such, its all ghosts and witchery for me.

[Matt42]

Re: How do YOU write vocal lines and lyrics?

Weird Al (seriously)

Seriously. His parodies are genius by themselves, but his originals are actually equally awesome.

[El Dunco]

Re: How do YOU write vocal lines and lyrics?

Why did you delete your t&c threads?

[TwilightOdyssey]

Re: How do YOU write vocal lines and lyrics?

Why did you delete your t&c threads?

I did put my reason for deleting them.

Not happy w the end result. Will repost when the timbre issue I discovered is taken care of. That in itself is a thread lol. Takeaway: I cannot trust my ears when using headphones. For me it's gotta be monitors all the way!

(Maybe post side by side comparisons ...)

[El Dunco]

Re: How do YOU write vocal lines and lyrics?

I did put my reason for deleting them.

Not happy w the end result. Will repost when the timbre issue I discovered is taken care of. That in itself is a thread lol. Takeaway: I cannot trust my ears when using headphones. For me it's gotta be monitors all the way!

(Maybe post side by side comparisons ...)

I know you put reasons, however you did post two versions of it and had decent replies. There's plenty of old stuff I've posted I don't think is that great anymore and rough/incomplete mixes to get feedback because that's part of what this place is for. I don't see why that alone would make you want to delete them.

[AmirH]

Re: How do YOU write vocal lines and lyrics?

I typically write the music first. Occasionally, and I mean really rarely, I'll start writing a song with the intention of adding lyrics later, and that plays a role in determining the structure. I'm really not much of a singer or lyricist, but my collaborator Marc has been coming up with a lot of simple lines for both my songs and the ones we've written together. So what's been happening is he'll try to communicate what he's hearing, and even though he can't really hit the notes, I'll get a very rough sense of how he hears the melody, and basically just try to sing it so it sounds right to me. Sometimes I leave it simple in the spirit of minimalism, but I've also written lyrics by expanding on his ideas, and those have turned out better than when I'm left completely to my own devices. The only way to "cheat" through recording that's worked for me is to break the lyrics into small chunks and harmonize with myself to fill out the sound. I also actively try to project toward the top of my jaw for resonance, and I find that the more relaxed I feel and the less I think about it, the less "forced" it sounds in the end. I also totally agree that headphones can be deceptive!

[SteveAlysis]

Re: How do YOU write vocal lines and lyrics?

My lyrics make absolutely no sense to anyone but myself, and I'm ok with that. Like my music, its a reflection of me and my thoughts/emotions. I generally write about life... ups/downs etc... but its more of a journal. I'm a weird, observant person and sometimes write down random phrases or things I hear out in public. For example, a fews years back, when my grandpa died(we were very close), I was out having lunch with a friend and heard some old dude a few tables over say "It shows to go"(It goes to show)... it stuck with me. So, randomly I have that phrase thrown in a song I wrote about that time in my life.... see? im a weirdo

As far as melodies go... I try to "think outside the box", and do something different... something you wouldn't expect vocally. I'm sure none of this is any help to you, but I feel you should know I find what you do rather inspiring. You know what you want, and you do it. It took me a while to man up and do it all myself. Keep it up man!

[El Dunco]

Re: How do YOU write vocal lines and lyrics?

"It shows to go"(It goes to show)...

Makes sense to me. My Dad (r.i.p.) said "Half of success is just showing up".

[TwilightOdyssey]

Re: How do YOU write vocal lines and lyrics?

I feel you should know I find what you do rather inspiring. You know what you want, and you do it. It took me a while to man up and do it all myself. Keep it up man!

Thanks for the kind words!

I record and mix my own stuff because I have a passion for it (and limited funds!).
I write music because I have to. I think my head would implode if I had to stop writing music!

[Demanic]

Re: How do YOU write vocal lines and lyrics?

You write best about what you know. Don't write what you think someone else either wants or needs to hear. Write what you have to say in the way that you wish to say it. If you can get some others to help you play it, so much the better.