Hmm...Lyrics Before Music, or Music Before Lyrics? Welp, I Have The Answer:

Don't we all hate it when we get in that rut...I do, or, did at least. Well, It's actually quite simple. And I tell this to so many people and it actually helps. So listen, it's all about how you write the dang song. Nobody else is writing it but you, and the more people writing it, sometimes the more you get tangled in the power lines; and mostly fry for that matter. Everyone writes or composes differently. People all to often forget that it don't always have to be complexed either. So...write it the way you imagine it to be. I did and it helped me so much that I even came up with a new quote that here I'm well known for, "Your Focus Determines Your Reality". It's true. If you really focus on how you want it, the reality will be so much more real than what you make it. Anywho, I got to go. To be continued in the chatroom............

Interesting Righty. Not bad advice for a songwriter. Moved your thread to the right section of the forum.

I always just tell people this.

Sometimes an event or mood will inspire me to write lyrics
Sometimes a song by another band will inspire me to write lyrics
Sometimes a riff i've made will inspire me to write lyrics

Sometimes an event or mood will inspire me to make riffs
Sometimes a song by another band will inspire me to make riffs
Sometimes lyrics i've written will inspire me to make riffs.

Some people do work differently and always use their lyrics as a starting point for a song or vice versa, but for me the most organice way i go about the creative process is as above.

Truth. I've always followed and believed that the "truest" and most self expressive music comes forth from the unconscious or when it's entirety has been heard within your own mind.

As much as it seems obvious to me now, it wasn't until I realised this that writing songs came naturally. Now I always write it out in my head first, and write what I hear there.