Archive for the ‘Songwriting Tips’ Category

The Magic of “Live Music”

By Don • Apr 1st, 2008 • Category: Live Music, Songwriting Tips

About the unexpected magical moments within live performances, where songs take a shape of their own and transform into something broader than originally written. The audience, the room, the sound all become significant but your intuition and inspiration even more so.



Question and Response Songwriting

By Don • Feb 4th, 2008 • Category: Songwriting Tips

This article is contributed by Chris Muktar of the blog How to Make it in the Music Industry.
Today we are going to discuss a very simple concept, that is question and response melodies. We are not, in this article, referring the questions and answers with respect to lyrics.
Usually melodies appear in couplets, or pairs, where […]



Who Listens to Music?

By Don • Aug 21st, 2007 • Category: Inspiration, Songwriting Tips

Music fans of course, but they do so while reading a book, dancing, or doing something else. By listening like a musician the songwriter can learn a lot more about their own craft. This article is about listening like a musician, and about how doing so with one particular album helped me to learn things I could use in my own songwriting.



Techniques for Songwriters: The Theory of Appreciative Comparison (Part I)

By Kole • Jul 23rd, 2007 • Category: Songwriting Advice, Songwriting Articles, Songwriting Tips, Songwriting Tools

We are adapting this theory to the Musical realm in a practical way so that we (the artists) can more effectively write music and in turn have the audience recognize, understand, and appreciate our music much more.



Songwriting from start to finish - caught on video.

By Don • Jul 3rd, 2007 • Category: Songwriting Tips

(Editors Note: This fantastic post and video clip was contributed by Steve Guiles of Songwriting Apples. Fantastic video documentation of the creation of a song, from start to finish.)
My kids were taking a bath and I was sitting strumming my guitar with no particular goal in mind, just playing chords and humming. Within a few […]



Songwriting Tip: Let the chords paint a picture.

By Don • May 17th, 2007 • Category: Songwriting Resources, Songwriting Tips

I was reading this article from Jeff’s Songwriting Blog on “Taking Your Listeners on a Journey” which reminded me of a recent co-writing session I experienced. In this session, I played a chord progression I discovered and really liked. My co-writer said when he heard it he pictured “a guy leaving the house in the […]



Songwriting Tip Archive … some highlights

By Don • May 10th, 2007 • Category: Songwriting Tips

Familiar with the Songwriting Tips Group Project? If not head over and check it out. It’s a great way to promote your own work.
Here is an article detailing the project.
Here is the complete list of songwriting tips so far.
Here is the form to submit your own songwriting tip.
Listed below are some of the tips submitted […]



Songwriters: Top 5 Ways to Cure Writer’s Block

By Don • May 8th, 2007 • Category: Songwriting Advice, Songwriting Articles, Songwriting Tips

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 the […]



Songwriting Interview with Mofro’s JJ Grey

By Don • Mar 7th, 2007 • Category: Inspiration, Songwriter Interviews, Songwriting Advice, Songwriting Articles, Songwriting Tips

Florida’s own Mofro plays my favorite sort of groove - a southern funk swamp shuffle that can easily switch to different genres, without compromising their fundamental sound.
Their debut album was deemed one of the “Best Albums of the Decade” in 1999.
Their third - and latest - album is called “Country Ghetto” and sounds like JJ […]



Songwriting Tips Project - An Update

By Don • Feb 21st, 2007 • Category: Inspiration, Site News, Songwriting Resources, Songwriting Tips

The Group Songwriting Tips Project has been a fun project over the last couple of months. We have 50+ tips in the archives right now. You can view the songwriting tips by category, as well as just click through all the songwriting tips one at a time.
Got a songwriting tip of your own? If so, […]