Whod you rather be...Songwriter or guitarist?

[Diego Ayala]

Not realy sure what is meant by "song writer"...  But I compose songs from thin air.
I have always been a musician first, and I am totaly inspired by my surroundings - people/feelings&emotions/the outdoors/other musicians ---  I am a guitarist-musician, and not a lyricist.  I am self-taught and I am like a sponge.  I am constantly learning and building new progresions.  My melodies are usualy in the form of a whistle/humming --- now that I have my br unit I am learning about instrumentation with other instruments including percussion.  My next step in music is to learn the piano and be able to have 10 fingers to evoke harmony and melody all at once, and get heavy into orchestration and music theory like Bachs Inventions - can't wait till my retirement to be able to devote 8 - 10 hr/day to music. -that is if I can ever retire...

[Ted]

Songwriter.

I had to think about it for about one minute. I imagined both all-or-nothing scenarios:

Being able to perform songs written by other people, never my own.

Or...

Having to sit in the audience while other people performed my songs--if they were ever performed at all.

I became a musician because I wanted to be a musical polemicist.

If there were no chance that anyone would ever hear my songs, I'd probably be the regular kind of polemicist, or just a neighborhood loudmouth.

[OsCKilO]

musician.....


I'd rather be a Musician.........


I dont think you can seperate the creative process like that and have one without the other.....

[Diego Ayala]

I wonder what tuning he is in........

Osck, I think is on drop D - but sounds only like the bass E is droped

[OsCKilO]

I wonder what tuning he is in........

Osck, I think is on drop D - but sounds only like the bass E is droped

Thank you!

[Davo]

That guitarist...wow! 
I enjoy playing music, always have.  I played the violin and saxophone and learned on them long before I picked up a guitar sometime around the start of highschool.
But for me these days, the thrill of writing my own music is where its at.  Arrangments, and reluctantly- lyrics and vocals.  When I compose a new song I feel like Ive made a real achievement.  Even greater is hearing my songs played by a group.
I was recently in a band-The Muthalovas.  Actually a group of friends more then anything.  One day while at a bandmates house I heard his roommate humming a song we had written and I was thrilled from that simple thing-knowing that I had made a song that stuck in someones head.

[Tony W]

Interesting flow I see going on in this thread. From the beginner standpoint, I hear so many great songs that I would love to play. I am just starting to add some expression to the songs I already know. Adding that little personal touch is a great feeling.

I'm just at the point where writing a song is creeping up in the back of my mind. Ironically I still can't sing and play at the same time, so I don't see the point just yet. 

I have a laundry list of things I had never planned on doing, which I am currently doing, so I could definitely see songwriting in my future. Right now I'm satisfied with being a student of life (and 48).

[Greeny]

Interesting flow I see going on in this thread. From the beginner standpoint, I hear so many great songs that I would love to play. I am just starting to add some expression to the songs I already know. Adding that little personal touch is a great feeling.

I'm just at the point where writing a song is creeping up in the back of my mind. Ironically I still can't sing and play at the same time, so I don't see the point just yet. 

I have a laundry list of things I had never planned on doing, which I am currently doing, so I could definitely see songwriting in my future. Right now I'm satisfied with being a student of life (and 48).

The songwriting will arrive naturally. I don't think it's something you can (or should) force. All it will take is a variation on a riff or chord structure you already know to get you started. It shouldn't matter that you can't sing and play at the same time - if you have a base track of music to work from, you can add the vocal part and lyrics afterwards!

[Blooby]

I had to think about this for a while... 

Would I rather play like Robben Ford or write like Pete Townshend?  My answer would ultimately be to play like Robben Ford, so I guess I'm a guitarist at heart.  I would trade any skill or potential skill I have/would have on guitar to be able to sing like Paul Rodgers, though.

Instead, I just pretend to be Tom Jones and throw my skivvies at a full-length mirror.

Perhaps I reveal too much.

Blooby

[launched]

I would rather be a Songtarist, but I think I'm more of a Song 'tardist...