Originally Posted by Andrew Dee
Originally Posted by DC Ron
Andrew, as you may know, all my songs start with my brother's lyrics. If there are no lyrics (for me), there is no song. I write all the music by storyboarding the lyrics in my head and seeking to build a supportive musical pathway for the lyrics. Sure, it has to sound good, too. But it's all feel for me, and little analysis.
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Hi Ron! I wasn’t thinking so much about workflow (the ‘how’), but more about primacy of aim (the ‘what’ and ‘why’). But, I recognise your context might not fit my model perfectly. Your brother is aimed at lyrics and (I am assuming, but could be wrong) with the ‘feeling’ sides of my grid, and you - finding a way of supporting and expressing those lyrics musically, so with greatest respect and not meaning to pigeon-hole you, I would place you mid-centre and upper (feelings/story) side of the grid. I am assuming that because you work with your brother’s lyrics, you are highly attuned to what the words are saying in people’s songs, but also understanding the feelings conveyed in music, including instrumentals?

Again, not trying to categorise, but trying to find what makes different songwriters ‘tick’.

Andrew

Hmmm. Well, I'd say I'm in the extreme upper left quadrant of your diagram. As kids, we spent many, MANY hours decoding song lyrics and their meanings. It was just our thing. Seems he mastered the art of lyric composition (in my opinion) while I soldiered on with the guitar, though mostly jazz guitar. It wasn't until over 40 years later that I realized he'd written (literally) thousands of song lyrics, and I was faced with a cool-but-daunting treasure trove of song foundations. Having worked through the 40+ year backlog, we're working on new songs today. But it's still lyrics first, with a musical emphasis on the feeling behind those lyrics...

DC Ron
BiaB Audiophile
Presonus Studio One
ASUS I9-12900K DAW, 32 GB RAM
Presonus Faderport 16
Too many guitars (is that a thing?)