[Buchanan]

Are you a musician or a poet first. I don't know what got me to think about this but something did. I'm more of a poet personally. Bu tI do love that music!

David
I forgot to make this a poll... GRRRR......

[starsailor]

I think I'm a Poet first Buchanan, I've been writing for years loved it since I was a child, whereas playing music is pretty new to me, when I started playing guitar I then wanted to write songs but soon realized I'd have to write in a different way instead of bringing words to life by speaking in a descriptive way I needed to bring them alive with a Melody and singing, I'd sung before but never tried to write or play my own songs so this was a completely new form of expression for me. I began writing poetry a long time ago so I now see myself as person trying to be a good Songwriter and a person trying to be a good musician I may not achieve either but I enjoy the experience and the challenges, a Poet needs to understand the power of the written word, a songwriter also needs to do this but also needs to understand how to portray the written word with a melody so needs to understand how a musician thinks. Hope I answered your question and that my answer makes some sense, we have spent a few long nights on the forum discussing the merits and differences between Lyrics and poetry, so it's a good question and it will be interesting to see how different people view their craft

[knight46]

Absolutely a Poet first (not a good one, but that wasn't the question ). Like StarSailor I have enjoyed poetry and written poems since I was a child. Later it seemed a good segue to go from Poetry to Lyrics. I just never realized the difficulty in transition (this is apparent from the other threads on this subject). Maybe one day I can make the transition, but until then I can only attempt to make my poems lyrical.

[Buchanan]

I used to just write poetry, but it always had sort of a rhythm to it that my lyrics are nowhere near. I had a couple that one of my friends put to music, but when I'm actually shooting for a song it seems more difficult. It's not impossible though, as many of the writers on here have proven.

David

[allthumbs]

I am a plunker.

[eddiez152]

Music first, words later, or make music to words.

[johnnydoxx]

Musician most of the time.

Sometimes poet - My original songs, I start with a story in mind, then I conjure a melody, then I write words from the story to fit the melody. So that's the poet side.

But since I mostly play covers, I'm a musician at heart. And I enjoy playing much more than writing.

My main underlying interest, way deep in the cerebral cortex, is the intervals and relationships between rhythmic expressions and the intervals and relationships between notes/chords.
I mean quite in a mathematical sense, the 'logic' behind the scenes, almost like the theory of prime numbers or such. This is sort of subconscious, I just like 'feeling' the relationships and pondering their logical attributes. Hard to explain that.

My main surface interest is singing/playing, creating something beyond just notes and lyrics, something that is 'music'. An 'artistic' concept, contrasted to (or maybe part of) the logical thing I mentioned above.

In particular, I like to create the moment when the crowd stops their idle chitchat and starts listening to that guy on the bandstand, thinking 'hey this is something better than I expected to hear'.

Those moments are few these days, since I'm not as good at guitar as desired for that to occur, but they're the neatest feeling when they happen. If they do these days, it's my singing that awakens that in the crowd, so I perform my singing in a manner to hopefully cause that.

Good question, required some thought/insight to come up with the answer.

[Lcjones]

I put finger to string and pen to paper and follow the trail.

**

[carol m]

I aspire to make music - I'm not there yet. I love to play the guitar, and my singing is not good, but I still aspire to be able to put it together at some point. I have written 'stuff' in a few different formats, and sometimes what I write is more poetry than anything else, so I suppose I can call that poetry - and I've done that since I was a kid.

I will never be a 'poet', and I will never be a 'songwriter' but since I have been on this forum I have attempted a few lyrics, and I find that quite easy, but - I have a real problem in putting them to music. As yet my guitar skills are not up to doing anything much more than learning other people's songs, but besides that, I'm wondering if I have the talent to come up with any good melodies of my own at all.

However, I still love music, and making music, and I'm sure if I keep plugging away I will at least improve, even if any songs I do manage to write will never get into the charts. I find it really instructive to see on this forum how members put music to lyrics that are posted. It's a skill I just don't seem to have yet. And then there are those members that can just pick up a guitar, and create a song (music, words, the whole deal). I am, of course, extremely envious of that ability, but they are an inspiration too.

So, whatever it takes to wring out a tune or two it will be an achievement, and fun into the bargain. Anyone who doesn't like it can get earplugs!