putting my lyrics to a chord progression

[phil_95]

Hello, I'm new to this forum so I don't really know what reception  ill get here but here it goes

When writing, it's lyrics that come first for me; I'd say my lyrics are pretty unusual, like a blend of morrissey, alex turner and john cooper clarke (the punk poet, you should check him out if you haven't heard of him). Anyways I have pages of lyrics but can't quite seem to put them to music and struggle to create a melody from the words.

Can anyone suggest any excersises or tips which could help me develop a knack for making my lyrics into music on acoustic guitar

Thanks for reading

[digger72]

Hi Phil,

To be honest i tend to work the other way around. What you could try is writing some music without specific lyrics in mind, then try humming/mumbling a melody over it. When you listen back you may hear spots which sound like they may be words that link in to the lyrics you already have written. You may have to tweak your lyrics a little, but perhaps you can develop them around that melody.

Not much help, i know.

Good luck - be sure to post the results.

Digger

[phil_95]

I have tried that in the past, but I can never come up with a melody the satisfies me :/ does that come with lots of practice? And people post their work here?

Cheers

[pt3r]

Thanks for the tip Digger, I came up with a chord progression a week ago that I have been playing a lot since it has changes to the F-chord and this has slowly but steadily evolved to something more consistent, so now I also try to mumble some lyrics over it while playing. Sofar there's not a lot that has stuck though  mostly mumbling.

[digger72]

I think the more you do it the better the melodies can be. You get less self conscious, may be a little more adventurous as times goes on.
You'll find loads of examples in the audio/video section.
Everyone has their own way - and often more than one way.
It's a tricky one. Just let keep throwing mud till something sticks.

[diademgrove]

Hi Phil,

I usually write my lyrics first and then look for music to go with them. Unless I've got something in mind I usually put on a drum beat and start playing random chord progressions over it. I use the drums to indicate the rhythm of the words and see if anything I've written fits the feel of the drums and guitar.

Once you have part of the song done you can look at writing the music for the rest of it.

I go through phases with my practice and sometimes do something similar even if I have no words, usually at the end of the session for a bit of fun.

As Digger says just trial and error.

Hope this helps

diadem
 

[GeeBird]

If you really want to start learning to put music to your lyrics, I recommend two exercises to build the skills:

1) Choose a song you like, in the style you want to write;
2) Write new lyrics using the same melody;
3) Write a new melody using the same lyrics.

Don't worry if it's not good. It's not supposed to be! It's supposed to help you start training your brain to mesh words and music together.

4) Rinse and repeat.

Good luck!
Gee

[Bytron08]

What i usually do is play a chord progression and then hum along until i find a solid verse and then hum until i find a chorus which sounds better than the verses. Then after that you put the lyrics to it. Thats how i do it.

[J.W.C.]

When starting from lyrics, I think about what kind of feel the lyrics suggest. For example, I might think: "okay, I know I want a minor key for this" or I might think "I want a more complex or changing time signature for this; I want it to feel a bit nervous or uncertain..."

From there, I might try several things. I'll often sing the lyrics a couple a different ways, without any accompaniment, just to see where that leads. If I come up with something I like, I'll find a good key to match the melody line or chorus or whatever I've sung. I find singing to create the melody (or whatever) is often a good approach, for me. That said, sometimes I'll write a melody on an instrument. For some reason, that instrument is often piano or a block flute (even if I don't use the instrument for the actual song), but sometimes it's guitar.

If I'm starting from a time signature, I'll usually come up with a drum beat or a riff or rhythm pattern. For example, I'm working on a song right named "Scrupulous" right now. The lyrics come from a pantoum poem I wrote years ago. I wanted a somewhat disjointed rhythm, and I wrote a guitar riff that is structured in beats of 5, then 4, then 3 (making it kinda a form of 12/8). Then I created drums to go with that. Then I sang the lyrics over it to work out the melody line. Then I added bass.

I don't think there's a single approach. Try different things and see what works for you, and for that specific song. You'll probably find that songs will develop in different ways and using different approaches. The key is to keep working at it. Don't wait for inspiration. Let the process of working at it birth inspiration.