I played all of the guitars and keyboards for the songs referred to in the comments above and co-wrote the songs with the singer. The way I usually work is like this:
Singers bring in lyrics which may or may not be in song form. I’ll pick a phrase that really moves me and start writing music to that phrase which will usually be the chorus. Then we work together to tweak the lyrics to where the chorus is rock solid. I try and use as many of the original lyrics as possible, but most of the time we make up lyrics on the spot to fill in the blanks left from what we started with and what we need for a completed chorus. You don’t need to bring in a finished song! Sometimes just one phrase unleashes an entire tune for me.
Then we take a look at the lyrics that are left and go through the same process again creating verses, and if needed, a bridge. Then we record vocals to a click track. After we have some rough vocals down, I start laying down rough guitar or keyboard tracks. This takes a few days and gives the singer time to learn the vocal parts really well rehearsing with the rough vocal track we recorded to a click.
Then we come back and get the vocals recorded spot on. The next step is getting our drummer over to the studio to record live drums. After the drums are recorded I start recording the guitar parts that will end up in the master. I wait to finish things up with instruments until the drums are recorded because the timing always changes up a bit with the drummer.
Response to songs I’ve written and produce has been amazing – people are loving the songs I produce far more than I ever dreamed of. I write and produce a lot of rock, but have written and produced lots of pop and singer/songwriter style songs as well. My song count is getting close to 200. If you’d like me to write and/or produce some music for you, shoot me an email at thomas@appellvoicestudio.com.