Writing lyrics for a song is only half the battle. Lyrics are important and I do enjoy writing lyrics. But lyrics without melody and chord progressions are not a song.
Recently, my creative juices have been overflowing, which is why it has been some time since I last wrote one of these blog posts. When I finish writing the lyrics for a song, I create a chord progression sheet with enough blank space between the lyric lines to write in chords for a progression. I take the chord progression sheet into my home studio and start playing my guitar and experimenting with different chord progressions. Sometimes I try to sing the lyrics even before picking up the guitar.
Today was a good example of this. I sat down, hit the record button, and sang the chorus of a new song. Once I had a good take of the vocal, I picked up my guitar and started fitting in chords with the vocal. I played the track back through my headphones and experimented with accompaniments with the guitar. Once I found what I was looking for, I recorded the vocal and the guitar chord progression together. This was my start. Then, once I felt good about it, I put it all together and recorded the new song with the chord progressions for the verses, bridge, chorus, and outro. Today, it took three different takes until I found just what I was looking for in a demo. Then I mixed this recording down to create the audio file.
Working out chord progressions is a very important part of the songwriting process. These chord progression workouts are fun and shape the lyrics into an actual song.
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