Should I Write Or Should I Listen?

Probably every songwriter reading this would answer: WRITE! We all want to spend as much time as we can writing our songs: moving lyrics and melody forward, getting them finished, and starting new ones. Writing feels productive. It feels like you’re accomplishing something.

But listening to songs is just… well, it’s just something you enjoy, something you do when you’re driving, or studying. In other words, something you do while you’re actually doing something else.

But what if I said that listening to songs is as important to your success as writing songs? What if I told you that you should spend as much time listening as you do writing?

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30-Minute Sessions: Solve a Songwriting Problem

We all run into songwriting problems from time to time. Solving that problem quickly and moving on is the key to growing you song catalogue, saving time, and getting your work out there to listeners. You can use the 30-Minute Songwriting session technique to quickly get the solutions you need and get your songs moving again.

Read Part 1 and Part 2 in this series on 30-Minute Songwriting sessions to get familiar with this incredibly useful technique.

Note that in these sessions I suggest that you use hit songs as reference songs to help you find the answers. Don’t copy the hit song. Instead, use the techniques you find and adapt them to your own style and song.

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The 30-Minute Songwriting Workout

Songwriters, do you find yourself sitting on the couch watching TV when you should be writing? Does it seem like too much effort to workout in your home studio? Haven’t got the time to lift your guitar, do a few reps on the piano, or stretch those vocal cords at the mic?

Well, I’ve got the perfect life hack for you!

In just 30 MINUTES A DAY you can have the creative muscles you’ve always wanted. Wishing won’t make it happen. But if you’ve got a half hour a day to dedicate to your creative life, you can get your songwriting in the best shape ever!

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8 Ways to Add Character to Your Songs

Have you ever started reading a novel or watching a movie and instantly found the characters so intriguing that you couldn’t stop? While we wouldn’t dream of reading a novel that didn’t have interesting characters in it, we don’t often think about the characters in our songs. Yet a character is often the first thing that a listener reacts to. Do they like your characters? Identify with a character? If so, they’ll stick around and listen to your song, maybe more than once.

So let’s take a deeper look at how you can create characters that capture the listener’s interest.

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