YOUR BEST SOURCE FOR USEFUL SONGWRITING STUFF
There are times when you may find yourself feeling stuck. Your dream of being a songwriter doesn’t feel like it’s going anywhere while time just ticks away. But you can use that time to create something that will pay off later. If you do one thing that could get you closer to your dream, you can make the best of your downtime.
Here’s a list of 9 songwriting tasks you can do on your own or with cowriters. When things pick up again, you’ll be glad you did them.
Are there songwriting tasks you find frustrating? Do you dread doing lyrics? Are melodies a miserable muddle? You’re not alone. Everyone has their songwriting trouble spots. I certainly have mine. So, I decided to take a poll on my Facebook page to find the biggest bugaboos. I got 180 responses which, I think, gives a fairly good idea of what songwriters are thinking.
The question was “What do you think is the hardest part of songwriting?” I started out with just four categories —Lyrics, Melody, Chords, and Song Structure—the usual suspects. I asked people to vote for the ones that were hardest for them and I invited them to add their own categories which they promptly did! They added challenges like getting started, writing contemporary songs, writing in a genre, and more. They’ll get no argument from me. These are all difficult aspects of songwriting and I’m always looking for ways to make them easier. So here are the results of my unofficial poll.
I got a question recently from a songwriter who is torn between two very different song genres —Pop and Contemporary Folk. He loves both and sees the strengths in both. But because he can’t decide which to focus on, he’s having trouble getting started and working on a song. Which style is it going to be?
The whole question of choosing a song genre can be frustrating, especially if you’re drawn to a couple of the big ones – like Pop and Folk. Every style—from Pop, Country, and Rock to R&B, Folk, and Blues—has a different approach to melody, lyrics, and production. Veering between two styles within a single song can be a disaster. And working on a Pop song while wondering if maybe it should be a Folk song can distract you from the things you should be focusing on.
Targeting a song genre helps you build an audience and gives you an edge when it comes time to market your song to the music industry. It’s an important issue and one that every serious songwriter has to confront sooner or later. So, what do you do? How do you choose? Here are some ideas that might help.
At one point in my career, I had to write three to four songs a week for a television series. Writer’s block was simply not an option. If I failed to turn in my songs on time, the show came to a swift and expensive stop! Early on, I learned an important lesson: Writer’s block is not about a lack of creativity; it’s about identifying and solving a problem so you can get on with things.
There are few things more intimidating than starting a song. Maybe all you have is an idea or a theme. Every time you think about getting to work on it, you feel overwhelmed. next thing you know, you’ve got writer’s block. Solution : Break down the initial process into a series of steps and do them one at a time.
Look for short phrases that resonate emotionally for you. You don’t have to make it up out of thin air. Watch TV shows and films, listen to people talking, take down phrases from news shows or the Internet. (Try the “Title Generator” in the links section at the end of this newsletter!) A short one-to-five-word phrase that grabs your attention should do it for you.
Today’s melodies and many of the great melodies of past rely on a handful of tricks to create that special something that makes them insanely catchy and memorable.
Here are three tips that will help you make sure your melody has everything it needs before you launch it into the world.
If your song has a VERSE / CHORUS structure, make sure listeners know where they are by creating plenty of contrast in the melody between these two sections. Melodic contrast grabs attention and keeps your melody from sounding like it’s wandering aimlessly. Listeners like to have a sense of “place” in a song. They want to know where they are.Â
