Category: SONG STARTERS

Getting started can be the hardest part of songwriting. Here’s where you’ll find ideas for themes, titles, chord progressions, melodies, and more.

Song Starter: Write a song about a place.

There have been many successful songs written about places: New York, Paris, San Francisco, Chicago, and foggy London town.  In these songs, the big city often provides a backdrop for a love affair or nostalgic memories.

But small towns and rural locales can also be inspiring. Jason Aldean’s “Tattoos on This Town” is a great example of a vivid lyric about growing up in a small town. Classics like “Blue Bayou” and “Rocky Mountain High” evoke the feeling of a place.

LYRIC STARTER: Think of a place that holds emotions or memories for you and write a song about it. Paint a picture so your listener can see and feel the place as you do. What is it you remember? What stands out? Why do you feel the way you do?

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Tip: Stockpile Ideas for Songs

Problem: You don’t have big chunks of time to spend on your songwriting. (Not many of us do.)  So when you finally do get an afternoon to work on your songs – or at least a couple of uninterrupted hours – you need to get the most  from it. You don’t need to be spending the first hour or two just trying to find an idea you want to work on.

Here are three BIG songwriting tips that can help you avoid wasting hours!

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Go Ahead – Collaborate on a Song

I regularly check through the top songs in the Rock, Country, AC, and Urban genres and, guess what… in all four genres a majority of the hits are collaborations. In the Country genre, in fact, ALL of the top songs are frequently collaborations!

Collaborating (co-writing a song with one or more other songwriters) has so many benefits that it’s worth putting some real effort into learning how to do it and finding compatible songwriting partners to work with. It may take some time, maybe a few false starts, but it can more than repay you in the long run.

REASONS TO COLLABORATE

  • A collaborator can offer new ideas and nudge you out of old habits.
  • If you fall in love with a line that isn’t working, a collaborator can point that out and keep the song moving forward.
  • Working with a collaborator gives you added motivation, energy, and goals to meet.
  • The cost of demoing your song can be half what it would be if you wrote it alone.
  • Chances are you’re stronger in one area (lyrics or music) than another; a collaborator can add strength where you’re weak.
    Continue reading Go Ahead – Collaborate on a Song