In this continuing series on Capturing Song Ideas, we discuss various methods songwriters keep from losing their great fragments of inspiration.
Using built-in answering machine and voicemail for recording phrases and melodies has become the lifeline for many musicians - especially musicians on the road. In a cramped tour bus, where everyone trips over everyone […]

In this continuing series on Capturing Song Ideas, we discuss various methods to help a songwriter keep from losing their great fragments of inspiration.
Ahh … the notebook. Pure old school. But just like Grandmaster Flash, pure old school genious. Not only is the notebook the most reliable method of capturing lyric, ideas, and song […]

Guitar.com reviews some Traveler guitars. Complete with pics of the Reviewer playing the guitar on the peak of a mountain in full mountain-climbing regalia. Interesting.
In addition to that, the Reviewer points out that when an airline official says you must check your guitar with the rest of the luggage - you can tell them you […]

I often get questions on how I capture ideas for songs. This is a fair question, as I am sure every songwriter has lost ideas - ideas we swore we would remember the next morning.
Like fisherman, we are always afraid the ‘one that got away’ was probably going to be our biggest (hit). Sound […]

I often hear songwriters say that creating those instrumental hooks is the job of the arranger, producer, or studio musicians. Keep in mind that if those are the hooks that sell the song to the public, they’ll sell the song to the producer and artist if you create them first.

Free Range Librarian has a great list of writing tips. There are some obvious ones like “Always carry a writing notebook.”
They have a few I never thought of.
“As you write, keep a scrap file for those out-takes you can’t bear to leave on the cutting-room floor. ”
Something I should do more:
“Schedule your writing. Don’t just […]

I thought this article (Writing Lyrics: Pronoun Problems) deserved a mention, even though I’ll read pretty much anything John Braheny writes after reading his book.
This snippet in particular about songwriting:
“Be very careful about the number of pronouns you use in a song. Without realizing it, you can create a maze in which only you know […]

Don is the founder of the ILM Network and actively writes for all blogs in the network. He is a singer/songwriter and multi-instrumentalist.
His music site is available at www.donmak.com.