Originally Posted by niteshift
Ditto on the time thing. The lyrical component, time wise, equates to less than 10% of production time. Music, in general, takes ten times longer to learn than lyric writing. There are ten lyricists to every musician. Perhaps it should be stated as the "Ten to One Theory of Songwriting".

cheers, niteshift


Now, I think thats a disrespectful radical standpoint, nite. How many great lyricists do you know? How long did it take eg Dianne Warren to write great lyrics? You can learn to play guitar sufficiently to write songs in two-five years, if you study intensely and have the right attitude.

I will have to differ on this, as I just don't think it's true. Yes, it is a fact than anyone can sit down and try to write a lyric on the spot without any prior knowledge, but that doesn't make that person a lyricist, and certainly not a great one. To be a great writer takes many years of hard study and practice, unless you're blessed with some Mozart like genious.

The fact that musicians often doesn't appreciate or understand the craft in great lyric writing, is a completely different discussion. But to suggest that lyric writing in general is something lesser than the other elements in music, and that lyrics take less than 10% of the average production time, is a very narrow perspective on the effort a great lyric demands IMO