If you want some great songwriting tips and insight, look no further than this interview from 1988 in Playboy magazine with Tom Waits. Tons of nuggets of inspiration and lots to digest. Tom Waits Playboy Interview March 1988 Most people know singer-songwriter Tom Waits as the poet of late-night metropolitan areas, the bard of smoky [...]
Like a beauty ritual before bed, some people have a few things they need to have in place before they sit down to write a song. What are yours? Here’s mine: I like to do a little meditation before I start – even if it is only for five minutes. Usually my songwriting is based [...]
To do your songs justice when playing in front of a new audience, you owe it to yourself to work on some of your stage mannerisms. Even a great song can end up sounding rather mediocre if the groundwork isn’t laid for the audience to be receptive to your songs. Here are a few tips [...]
(Editor’s Note: Getting a nice bottom end with bass on your songwriting demos can add impressive dimensions to your music. Read on as guest author, studio owner, and working songwriter Bill Timpano offers his experience in successfully recording bass.) Recording a great sounding bass track is not hard, nor is it a black science. By [...]
Writer’s block is the nemesis of songwriters – and even non songwriters. There are tons of suggestions and songwriting tips out there for what might work, and various suggestions on overcoming. These are the top 5 that consistently work for me. Mash random words togetherMany songwriters say that once they have a good song title [...]
Sophisticated music aficionados tend to dismiss mainstream music as all sugar and no substance, and a greater case for such an assumption could not be made than mid-70′s disco superstars KC and the Sunshine Band. Last month (March 2007) we had a songwriting interview with Mofro’s JJ Grey, and some of his quotes on writing [...]
I can’t tell you how many letters I get full of complaints as to how “nobody cares” about writers, art, creativity; on and on. Most writers (artists, acts, musicians, singers, et. al.) feel they have great songs and talent, and just can’t get a break. I get hundreds of letters and CDs from people who [...]
Songwriting books, DVDs, classes and workshops are big money in the songwriting industry. But before you spend your hard earned cash on clinics, try out some of the free resources online for songwriters. There’s plenty that’s already out there: Online rhyming dictionary. Online thesaurus. Great stuff. I mentioned these before, but have since found some [...]
I was reading the latest issue (March 2007) of Electronic Musician and the last person I expected to read about – in an electronic magazine – was acoustic singer-songwriter Ari Hest. In 2005, Ari released his first major-label album on Columbia Records. It was a great album – one that I personally own. From my [...]
I’ve always admired the age old saying, “if there’s no scene, make your own”. Singer and songwriter Todd Burge has done just that. Big things are happening in the little town of Parkersburg, West Virginia. Over email, we did a little interview which explains the concept behind the growing success of their Songwriter Night: Blogging [...]
