You have opened up two different concepts..... one is songwriting, the other is playing parts.

To me, playing parts in a song is not the same thing as writing the song..... yeah it takes some creative effort and skill but it's not the same as actually creating the melody and the lyrics. Most often, musical fills and solos, as you mentioned, are improvised on the spot. No thought is given to them..... although I would argue that point too. As I'm playing a lead solo, I am thinking in an abstract way of what I want to say next.... and if I played that part a second time, it would not be the same as the first.... so it's an ongoing evolution. Only when I put the parts down in a project do they solidify.


Writing the song..... that takes some creative thought, and anyone who says differently is lying to you. To find creative ways to say something that's been sung about a thousand times before, without saying it exactly the same way, takes some creative thinking. Same thing with the melody.

But to answer the questions...... I personally tend to write both together as David alluded too in his post with the two buckets. It's a process of getting a groove that feels right, throw in an interesting idea, and start moving in the direction of a song. Often the lyrics and melody just kind of flow in a Zen-like way.... quickly, and effortlessly. However, I then will often spend time reworking and refining them both into a more polished structure.

That's how I mostly work. I have worked with writers who gave me partial ideas, or even "completed" lyrics which I then disassembled and worked on..... to end up with something that hopefully resembled a song. My song page is littered with the results of such experiments in musical mayhem.

You can find my music at:
www.herbhartley.com
Add nothing that adds nothing to the music.
You can make excuses or you can make progress but not both.

The magic you are looking for is in the work you are avoiding.