Name: Lyrics vs Chords: Which Should You Write First?
Uploaded: 2022-09-13T22:26:33.000Z
Duration: 4 min 20 s

I was just interviewed on the Hook and Bridge podcast. It was cool! During the interview I was asked the question: Which do you write first in a song, lyrics or chords? I had a lot to say about this, because this is a great question to unpack, so I made a video going a little more in detail about which I think is best (Hint: the answer may surprise you!)

WATCH: Lyrics vs Chords: Which Should You Write First For a Song?

Here’s why you won’t want to miss this video:
-Gain insight into the pros and cons of starting with one over the other
-How to keep the writing process no matter which you choose
-How this question actually misses the point to an extent and how to remedy that.


Songwriting

What's up! My name’s Avi and I’m committed to getting you to rock your heart out as quickly as possible. My goal is to guide my students and cultivate their interest in music into a life-long passion. Learning to embrace our creativity through music won’t just get you playing and having fun; but can teach us about ourselves, about life, and aid us in reaching any goal that we set for ourselves. Yes – I'm THAT teacher.

	A little about me – I'm classically trained and got my BA in Music and a Specialty in Composition from CUNY City College of New York. With over 10 years teaching experience, my approach is personalized for every student and their specific style and pace of learning.

	As a heavy empath, I'm the kind of teacher who will connect with you to make sure you are understanding and resonating with the material we learn; whether it’s a concept in music theory or learning a new riff. My teaching style revolves around fun and laughter. We tend to remember things that make us laugh, so it’s my goal to make this process as fun as possible.

	My main subjects are Guitar, Music Theory, and Songwriting for Beginner, Intermediate, and Advanced Students. No matter what age or level you’re at, from hobbyist to professional, I can help you reach your goals, or guide you into creating them in the first place!
	
	Here are some of the concepts I can teach you:
		-Developing Technique
		-Practical Music Theory
		-Reading Tabs and Music Notation
		-Improvisation
		-Developing A Personal Style and Sound
		-Lead Guitar and Soloing (legato, sweep & tremolo Picking)
		-How To Write A Riff
		-Developing Your Ear
		-Creating A Quick And Effective Practice Routine
		-Songwriting and Arranging
		-Basic Recording, Mixing, and Mastering

	Styles of music:
		-Rock
                -Indie
                -Emo
                -Prog
		-Metal
		-Punk
		-Classical (composition and theory)
		-Blues
	

	If you have any questions, feel free to ask using TakeLessons' amazing “Ask A Question” feature. There, I can give you personalized answers to start you on your journey to becoming the musician you want to be!

Lyrics vs Chords: Which Should You Write First?

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Music Theory

Bass Guitar

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The American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers (ASCAP) is a membership association of more than 480,000 US composers, songwriters, lyricists and music publishers. The ASCAP is committed to nurturing music makers throughout their careers. 

The Sydney Zolot Graduation Award

The Pro Musica Award

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Bachelors In Music, Specialty In Composition

Teach guitar, bass guitar, songwriting/composition, and basic recording/audio engineering to students. 

Compose, record, and engineer, and produce music for digital media and recording artists.

Owner, Musician / Engineer / Teacher / Composer

An original piece entitled, "Two Songs by William Ernest Henley" premiered at the Master's Recital of Mezzo-Soprano, Yiselle B.

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Metal band with influences like Metallica, Iron Maiden, and System of a Down. Played many shows in the Long Island area.

Composer, Lead Guitarist, and Lead Vocalist

Performed guitar with the Friday Night Live Band at Temple Beth Shalom, including improvised solos and harmonies.

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Cleaned the studio space, performed artist outreach, and shadowed engineers.

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Assist in everyday studio responsibilities. QC mastered projects for clients, bounce files, spectral cleaning, and project setup.

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Teaching 3rd through 6th graders music, folk songs, and traditional chants!

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I teach students from a wide variety of ages and backgrounds all with different goals in mind.

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A music education blog and resource to aid musicians of all levels in the process of playing and writing music, with a side of mental health and staying sane living the artist lifestyle. There's a couple of videos below from the YouTube channel :)

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Is becoming the next great singer/songwriter your dream? Then you're in the right place! 

Get every aspect of your music tuned and prepped. We'll analyze the songs you love to find out why they're so incredible, then we'll apply these techniques to writing your own songs! 

Learn how to write and arrange pop/rock instruments and basic engineering to become a music making machine!

Avi has been very patient over the course of several lessons.

Absolutely amazing teacher. Helped me work out some fundamental issues I had and then moved on to more of theory and workshopping.
Very knowledgeable and very helpful.

Taking lessons with Avi has been a great experience. He has been more than willing to work with my complicated schedule and very obviously cares about teaching. I tried learning guitar off of youtube for a little while but eventually hit a block. Learning with an actual teacher has been a world of difference.

Great first lesson! Super patient and friendly instructor.

Great first lesson with Avi! Really enjoyed it, laid back and fun!

Avi has been teaching me for four months and somehow he has turned me into a semi-decent guitar player.  I didn’t think it was possible to make so much progress so fast but it’s all due to Avi.  I cannot imagine a better teacher.  Knowledgeable, patient, kind and just has a way to take music from a page to the student’s hands.  If I could give Avi six stars, I would.

Awesome first lesson with Avi! Natural ability to connect with kids!

Really great teacher, explains really well.

Just took my first lesson (I am a beginner) with Ari and he was easy to work with; really friendly; totally understands my goals and is not judgmental.    I am really looking forward to working with Ari as I think I'll achieve my goals of learning to play the guitar without a lot of mental strain. I give Ari totally 5+ stars!!

First lesson with Avi was great! I have been playing guitar for about 6 months self-taught and could feel myself plateauing, in need of a teacher. He made things really easy by listening to what I want to improve upon and learn, immediately giving some useful tips on things I had been struggling with, and going over what we could do to achieve my goals. He's very good at explaining things in a way that is clear and doesn't make them seem intimidating, even if it's something I typically have a hard time with. Also, it was a great mix of physical guitar stuff (such as helping me improve barre chords), basic theory to begin with (such as how to form a chord), and also breaking down mental barriers which had previously kept me intimidated by songwriting. I am already much more confident and ready to try new things! Overall, if you are looking to improve at guitar or start for the first time, I recommend Avi.

Avi works with my 8 year old son once a week.  He is prompt, friendly and my son looks forward to seeing Avi every week.  My husband and I could not be happier with this experience.

My son loved the first lesson. He is very excited for his next lesson.

He's a great teacher!  He teaches around students knowledge and ability. It was an awesome lesson

Avi has always been a helpful resource when learning to approach any number of instruments and musical experiments. His encyclopedic knowledge of theory and music technology, coupled with his adaptability to different tastes and approaches and willingness to experiment, makes him a great source of knowledge and an endlessly awesome collaborator.

Today, we're breaking out Ode to Joy's full phrase to see the form Beethoven uses lying underneath. This can be super powerful – not just as a neat formula to try and follow, but also as a way to listen for these forms in other types of music.

Here's why you don't want to miss this:
► Form allows us to further catalog musical phenomena into greater organizations, 
► Which then aids us in recall and internalizing a musical idea 
► Allowing us to more accurately perceive out inner ear!

How Beethoven Writes a Melody with Ternary Form

Today, I'm showing you how to write a melody like the classical composer, Johannes Brahms. I'll be taking his famous lullaby and coming up with a wholly original melody using just musical material from it.

Here's what you learn:
► Why simple melodies are harder to use as inspiration
► How to make things sound different, yet familiar simultaneously
► A simple change that has a big effect on creating distance to Brahms

Arrangement and Composition

How to Write a Melody Like Brahms

Today, I give you three places you can confidently add a harmony to your melody. No fuss, no muss. This is crucial for creating more intrigue for boring moments, or making big moments stand out even more.

Here's what you learn today:
• Three solid places to harmonize your melody, that every melody likely has
• Illustrations of simple third-based lower and upper harmonies
• How to resolve a seventh in a dominant seventh chord

Harmony and melody combine to do some really fantastic things, and I'll start talking more and more about harmony as the year goes on.

Music Recording

WHEN to Harmonize a Melody

Today, when you write a melody, I'm showing you why keeping melodic contour top of mind is imperative. To put this idea to use, we'll look at Debussy's classic melody for Claire de Lune and analyze how he's using contour to make it such a successful and timeless melody.

Here's what you learn:
• What melodic contour is and how to spot it
• How it can help you create phrasal structure in your melody
• The power of intermittent subversion in your contour

This is an often overlooked component of melodies, but once you start thinking about it, you'll notice just how much more flow and logic your melodies will have.

How to Think Like Debussy When Writing a Melody

Today, I'm showing you how you can actually get your lyrics to start writing a melody for you. Yeah, you heard me right – you're not gonna want to miss this one. 

Here's what you learn:
• The one thing that connects linguistics to music
• How to line up our lyrics to a time signature using its pulse
• How using this can get you crazy far in setting your lyrics to your music

This can be a serious game changer, because it's really common to run into challenges when matching your chords and rhythms to your lyrics. This technique guarantees a great result, every time.

How Lyrics Can Write A Melody FOR YOU

Let's use Enter Sandman by Metallica to learn how a song chart is a huge help in organizing and keeping track of song sections. Not only will this help you learn and perform your favorite songs, but is immensely useful when writing your own songs, too!

Here's what you learn:
• What a song chart is and how to make one using tools you already have
• How to organize repetitions to keep things easy to follow
• Avoiding easy mistakes to make when doing this on your own

I routinely use this method to help me organize my own song ideas, and I recommend you do the same. It's way to easy to get stuck in our heads when writing a song, so having something on paper other than just lyrics is hugely helpful.


Music Performance

Song Charts Help You WRITE and PLAY Songs Like Metallica

Have you ever been writing music and everything’s going great – then suddenly you just lose it? No prob you know a little theory, even just some basics, so you try to use some of that only to come up with boring and grossly generic music. We’ve ALL been there, promise. 

Today I’m answering the question: Should you think about music theory when writing music? After that we’ll also talk about how you should be using theory when writing, if you do find yourself wanting to pull it out.

Here’s what you learn today:
►A definitive answer to this common question
►WHEN to use music theory during your writing process
►HOW to use music theory yada yada yada you get it

Should You Think About Music Theory When Writing?

How Lyrics Can Write a Melody FOR YOU

Today, I'm teaching you how to write a mini melody – even if you have zero inspiration whatsoever. This is a great exercise because it gets you thinking in much shorter musical terms, taking some serious pressure off of your ear.

Here's what you learn:
• What a mini melody is
• My crazy simple technique to start writing basically anything without any inspiration
• Why this is a game-changer for your writing practice.

These mini melodies can also be the genesis of entire pieces. It's like we're capturing just a single musical moment or idea.

How to Write a Mini Melody

Today I'm showing you something cool – I'll show you how you can find the chords in your melody. Yup, you heard me right. Sometimes our melodies are telling us exactly what chord they want accompanying them – and I'll show you how to find it.

Here's what you learn today:
• A new way to find the harmony for your melody
• The secret to knowing how to pick it out in music notation
• Knowing when the chord changes for your melody

This is some really powerful stuff if you don't already know it. Your melody might actually map out the chords it wants right there in it. Let me know what you think.

How to Find Chords INSIDE Your Melody

Let's discuss a powerful mindset which helps you use music theory effectively when writing music... 7 Ways To Write A More Effective Melody FREE 30-min Video Training ►► https://justwritemusic.com 

Here's what you learn in this video:
• The one mistake most musicians make when using theory and analysis to solve a writing problem.
• How to avoid that generic "theory sound" when applying theory to your original music
• A quick reminder of when to use theory in the first place.

If music comes from our inner ear, why should we care about theory at all? Well, because theory allows us to better understand the music our inner ear reveals to us. When we engage with it enough and internalize these sounds and concepts, the process I show you in this video becomes second-nature, which is the coolest part of all.

Your Probably Using Music Theory Wrong

Today, I show you how to write a melody like Mozart. One of the most renown composers of the last few centuries, being able to write a melody like Mozart means being able to write a melody that stands the test of time.

You'll learn how to take a few things you like about a melody and make it into your own. The one technique that always sounds good that I'm a lush for. And, how to dial in that Mozart-y feel.


Avi B.

Lyrics vs Chords: Which Should You Write First?

Avi's Songwriting videos

How Beethoven Writes a Melody with Ternary Form

How to Write a Melody Like Brahms

WHEN to Harmonize a Melody

How to Think Like Debussy When Writing a Melody

How Lyrics Can Write A Melody FOR YOU

Song Charts Help You WRITE and PLAY Songs Like Metallica

Should You Think About Music Theory When Writing?

How Lyrics Can Write a Melody FOR YOU

How to Write a Mini Melody

How to Find Chords INSIDE Your Melody

Your Probably Using Music Theory Wrong

How To Write A Melody Like Mozart

Teacher Reviews (20)

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What Makes a Song Great

Finding the Right Artist to Collab

Digital Audio Workstations

Distribution Essentials, (Ep. 1): Copyright Registration Basics

I want to help YOU with Melodic Improvisation

Things Songwriters Use to Get Ideas

The Importance of Inspiration

Why Learn to Write Songs?

What Is Songwriting?

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