Respect the Rough Demo

What is a rough demo?

A rough song demo can be as simple as a guitar/vocal or piano/vocal recording made on an iPhone. Or it can be as elaborate as a concept for a complete track with drums, bass, vocal, keyboard, and guitar recorded on multiple tracks. Whether it’s simple or elaborate, to be truly effective it has to convey the essential energy and feel as well as the complete melody, lyric, and chord progression of the song. (See “U.S. Copyright Office” below for demos without chords.)

Whose Melody Is It?

Question: “After I write a song, how do I know I haven’t copied someone else’s melody? Sometimes I think I’ve heard it before but I’m not sure.”

Answer: That’s a good question! If the melody sounds familiar to you and it’s a nagging feeling that won’t go away, try playing it for friends to see if anyone recognizes it. That’s what Paul McCartney did with the melody of “Yesterday.” Since it came to him easily, he was suspicious that he might have been re-creating a melody he had heard before. He hadn’t written the lyric yet so he used the nonsense phrase “scrambled eggs” where he would later sing the word “yesterday.” No one recognized the melody, so he went ahead a wrote the final lyric.

Build Your Song the ‘Hard Hat’ Way

Let’s say that you’ve decided to build a house. You’ve gathered a big pile of lumber and you’ve got  a hammer and some nails. Good, that’s a start! But if that’s ALL you have, your house is probably going to end up looking very strange. Without a saw, a screwdriver, a level, and the rest of the homebuilder’s toolbox, your house will look very odd indeed. If you try to sell this house, most buyers won’t be interested. For some reason, they seem to like solid construction, square windows, and a door that works.

It’s the same with songs. Your ideas, creativity, and imagination are the raw material from which you’ll build your song. But if you don’t have all the tools you need, your song is likely to end up sounding odd or uninteresting or so strange that listeners can’t find their way in. Songwriting tools can help you create a song that works for listeners, helping them feel the emotion, understand the situation, and identify with the singer. At the same time, the raw material you start with will ensure that the song is YOUR song and  expresses what YOU feel.  So put on your hard hat and assemble your songwriting tools.