Songwriting Habits: Make Them Work For You

Habits… we all have them. A habit is simply a ‘usual way of doing things’. Good habits, like exercising or flossing, can be help you improve your life. Bad habits—well, they can undo all the good habits and then some.

As in life, so in songwriting. There are good songwriting habits that can help you write better and faster. And there are bad habits that can cause you to write the same unsuccessful song over and over.

WHERE DID YOUR SONGWRITING HABITS COME FROM?

Generally, your songwriting habits are formed by the songs you heard in your teens and early twenties (from age 12 to 22). Research has shown that we recall our experiences from those years more vividly and more easily than those that occur later in life. It’s called the reminiscence bump.

During our teens, music and songs play an outsized role in our lives. They help us express our emotions, establish our identity, and relate to others. The reminiscence bump ensures that we’ll remember those feelings and experiences and the songs we closely associated with them. So we shouldn’t be surprised that the melody, lyric, and chord styles of our teens pop up when we sit down to write songs about similar emotions or experiences now.

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Can You Use AI for Writing Lyrics?

I just want to say right up front… I’m not going to suggest that you use AI to write a song lyric. Period. Why on earth would you want to miss out on expressing yourself through your own creative process? It’s your thoughts and feelings that make a song meaningful and worth writing.

But I am curious to know if AI can be a useful tool. Maybe it can help us pick up our writing speed or reach listeners more effectively. So, I figure it’s worth checking out. Besides, I want to see what everyone is talking about. (Be sure to checkout my update at the end of this post.)

The two top sites for now are Lyric Studio and ChatGPT, so that’s where I went.

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A Holiday Songwriting Tool Kit

Unlike radio hits that burst on the scene then fade away, holiday songs have a long, long lifespan. Every major artist records at least one album of holiday songs. Plus there’s an avalanche of holiday movies and TV shows that need these songs, too. Sure they include the classics that everyone knows and loves, but they need to sprinkle in a few potential new holiday hits, too.

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Where to Find New Songs & Artists to Listen To

Listen to new music to learn new techniques. (Photo by Elice Moore.)

Q: I want to learn more about what kind of music is current. Where do you find new music and artists to listen to? Also I want to pitch my songs to film & TV. Where can I hear artists that are being used in that market?

A: If you’ve been getting my monthly emails, you know that I’m big on listening. I recommend that songwriters spend as much time listening as they spend writing. That means listening to successful songs, current songs, songs that inspire you as often as you can.

But there’s a huge amount of music out there—more every week, every day— so much that it can seem overwhelming. So, how do you find new music and artists to listen to? How do you know where to look and how to focus on what will be helpful to you as a songwriter? Here’s my guide to finding new music that will deliver plenty of inspiration, knowledge, and ideas for your own songs.

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The 7 Habits of Successful Songwriters

I know I give you a lot of advice and sometimes you probably wonder if I know what I’m talking about. (Hey, I wonder the same thing about other people all the time.)

So, in this post, I thought I’d give you songwriting advice that comes straight from the mouths of songwriters and artists with incredibly successful, long-running, world-wide fame and success. I won’t include their bios or track records because you already know who they are. So, here are “7 Habits of Successful Songwriters” straight from the source!

1. DEVELOP A SONGWRITING PROCESS

Your songwriting process is the way in which you approach creating lyrics, melody, and chords. Maybe you’re a lyrics-first person. Or maybe you grab your guitar and come up with a groove and chords first. Here’s how a couple of successful songwriters approach their own songwriting.

Paul Simon
“I work with my guitar and a legal pad…. I get going fairly early in the morning, because my mind is sharp, and start by dating the pad and putting down personal comments, such as how I am feeling that day, so that it becomes a diary of sorts. … The first page might have all sorts of lines that will never be used, but as I turn the pages, a little thought might come forward and suggest potential for development.” (Making Music, book by George Martin)

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