What Order Do You Write Your Songs In?

[Billy's Little Trip]

Always lyrics first for me. But they start as a story. I need something to focus on when I write. Either an image or a short movie in my head. I know that sounds weird, but it really helps me. I make cool head movies when I'm in an "altered" state and everyone is sleeping. My movie creates the story, then the story expands the movie, then I pretty much just score the movie with my acoustic guitar in hand. Every song I make is written on my acoustic. I've tried it other ways, but nothing else seems to work. The finished song is just snippets of my story and quite often, no acoustic guitar in the final song. But I do love the contrast of brash electric guitars and sweet acoustic. I love mood changes with in a single song.