Songwriter. Sometimes its solely one or the other, but usually somewhere in between. Most commonly it's top-down but working off a hook or a beat created in DAW to find the heart of the song (so dipping into 'bottom-up'). The glimpse into what a finished record might sound like is what will make me wanna then sit down and write it all out on just guitar or piano.
Great input and feedback, Marty! That makes a lot of sense. Like most things in life, it isn't black or white. How much time do you spend re-writing and re-producing after a session?
A lot, haha. I will carry around unfinished songs for months and years sometimes. Not a great workflow but if I force it to be finished the results are almost never good.
I bet it gets harder to finish them the longer time goes on, yes? But then again, perhaps they weren't meant to be finished. I think our instincts drive us forward to completion quickly if we feel we have something really special at our fingertips.
I’m a singer, not a songwriter (yet) and really enjoyed this piece- I didn’t know about top-down vs bottom-up songwriting. Thank you, Erich.
Thank you, Liz! So happy you enjoyed it! I followed you back 🙏
Thanks, Erich!
Songwriter. Sometimes its solely one or the other, but usually somewhere in between. Most commonly it's top-down but working off a hook or a beat created in DAW to find the heart of the song (so dipping into 'bottom-up'). The glimpse into what a finished record might sound like is what will make me wanna then sit down and write it all out on just guitar or piano.
Great input and feedback, Marty! That makes a lot of sense. Like most things in life, it isn't black or white. How much time do you spend re-writing and re-producing after a session?
A lot, haha. I will carry around unfinished songs for months and years sometimes. Not a great workflow but if I force it to be finished the results are almost never good.
I bet it gets harder to finish them the longer time goes on, yes? But then again, perhaps they weren't meant to be finished. I think our instincts drive us forward to completion quickly if we feel we have something really special at our fingertips.