Great songwriting ideas while playing in the bathroom

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 minutes an idea came to me, so as soon as they were finished I rushed out into the studio and wrote a song. I'd been playing with my digital video camera and making short movies with some of my students, so I decided to make a "How I recorded this song" video/movie to post online.

I think anyone who writes music may find it interesting, embarrassing, enlightening, or entertaining.

Posted by don at 10:10 AM

Songwriters: Find some drama to cure writer's block

My cure for writers block is to get out and try something new. Never spend too much time in your comfort zone! I'm sure everyone has a friend or relative that has the most dramatic life.. go and hang out with them for a while because usually if you're experiencing writers block it's because you have no subject or no inspiration.I like to allow myself to be inspired by the outside world instead of spending too much time in the studio. Theres nothing worse than trying to force yourself to be creative.

Posted by don at 07:16 AM

Some of the best songwriting ideas come when you just let go

So as long as I can be occupied by other things in the world - being at home, working, fixing the car if it's broke - that's when the inspiration comes. It comes when I have let go of music. Let go of the idea of writing a song. Let go of the idea of writing a record.

Posted by don at 01:55 PM

Songwriting Primer for Budding Songwriters

This is a tool that I use to teach people to learn very fast.

Once they know the basic chords in the first position, I show them how to use those same chords sliding up the neck, following the "dots" on the neck, then I tell them there are no rules

As soon as they have a couple of basic progressions down, I turn on the casio, and run thru a lot of different drum patterns, some slow and some fast,...they very quickly begin to get it.

My next step is to teach them how to write their own song, just pick up a newspaper,there's a story on every page

Posted by don at 05:41 AM

Use your songwriting as emotional therapy

Write when you are going through a very emotional time, whether its happy or sad or jealous.

I wrote about my father's car crash and about trouble I was having with one of my guyfriends/love interests and a problem with an ex.

I also find that writing helps me think through problems as well as finding solutions for my problems. It helps with different aspects of my life and great songs come out of it too!! ;]

Posted by don at 08:22 AM

Use your songwriting influences as examples of the change you want to see

"Be the change you want see"
-Ghandi.

He had a point except let me change it some:
Sing/Write the change you want to see.

If you see a problem or a something you think can be done better write about it! You can influence so many people with your music, even people with influential positions can hear your views and might even agree with them enough to change it huge scale.

Posted by don at 08:20 AM

Bloggercise Your Songwriting!

Start a blog. Seriously. Start it with a few other people who will help hold you accountable for writing music.

Some of my fellow musicians (living in different parts of the country) decided that this year, rather than spending too much time in front of the tv or on the computer, we would channel that energy into songwriting. In fact, some of the initial inspiration came from an article here on Blogging Muses, "A song a week, could you do it?"

Needless to say, now I and my compatriots have written 8 songs between us in one month, and we're all pretty darn happy about it.

I think what's really great about this is the accountability, knowing that someone else is checking in on us and is supporting us in the process. Just knowing that my fellow songwriters are going to hear my songs gives me some motivation to keep writing to contribute my part to the challenge.

We each set a monthly/weekly goal and then just push each other to get as close to our goal as possible.

You can visit us sometime and challenge yourself as well or get inspired at http://songwritingapples.blogspot.com

Happy songwriting!

Posted by don at 06:58 AM

How to write song lyrics

Are you curious about how to write song lyrics? I've put together a few tips that might help you. Be sure to go through the free music composition lesson on [the] site [listed below] to gather further information on what will help you grow as a songwriter.

There are many, many approaches to writing a song, and please, don't let yourself be told that you "have" to start with a "title" or a "chord progression" or anything like that. You can start with chord progression, if you like, you can start with a title, if you like. Maybe you already have music and you are singing along to it...allow yourself to begin at what you perceive as the end...and reverse the process. Let enjoyment guide your process.

You can allow a topic to become a song...

Pick something you are very passionate, emotional, concerned, angry, or excited about. It can be something that gives you energy, like love, or it can be something you’re particularly apathetic towards, like “my boring life.”

Let the emotions and thoughts work on your physical, mental, emotional, and spiritual awareness.

Write, shape, rinse, repeat...ok, ok, you can skip the rinse part!

Mumble.

Hum.

Feel the song taking shape...you’re even starting to “hear” the chords, the beats, the accompaniment. Do you hear strings, a band, an orchestra, a wind ensemble? What do you hear? An electric drill run through effects to make it sound like a possessed locomotive haunting the railways? A saxophone playfully “talking back” at the ends of phrases, emphasizing the character of your witty lyrics? What do you hear?

You are using your sonic, rhythmic, and linguistic imagination. You are creating.

Music and words are coming to you from somewhere, not really from you, but through you. It feels very comfortable. It feels powerful.

Are you co-creating?

In a way, you “direct” the “message” of the song. From another perspective, your inner self is revealed to you.

Do you hate? Are you resentful? Are you hurt? Do you heal? Do you wish to heal? Do you help? Do you wish to help?

Read and repeat the lyrics until they taste good in your mouth, until just saying the words feels good, or bad, or "right." There might be some “holes.” You might need to leave the song alone for a while...let it rest...then pick it up later and finish it. You might need to work on the music and watch the gaps fill themselves. If you finish the music, you might need to go and perform the song somewhere and see if the missing words come into place.

If it’s not coming into place, contemplate the following: “If it’s hard, there’s something you’re missing.”

Meditate.

Allow your meditation to reveal what’s missing – or what you’re strengths are regardless of what’s missing. Many great songs have been written by folks who had no idea “how” to write a song.

Many a great musician has glaring weaknesses as a musician.

Love yourself and love every note. Love every word. You can easily love your song into being. It will be a song of much greater worth than even you could have conceived of.

Love it into being.

Posted by don at 06:20 AM

Songwriting with Inspirational Brainstorming

So you're here to do a bit of inspirational brainstorming for your next music composition eh?

OK...

What makes you mad?

Seriously, what makes you really f-ing mad?

Anyone make you mad recently? Anyone do anything that makes you mad?

What about our air, water, soil, natural resources, peacefulness? Happy about all of that?

Isolate the components of the anger.

Now convert it. Convert it into a piece of music. Dispell the anger. Let it become something beautiful or beautifully ugly. Charge your lyrics with rage...but help others release their rage as you release yours.

Release it.

Release it into the musical work and shape it.

Let it become beauty.

Breathe, relax. Take your time. If the above has stirred some emotions, just ride those emotions and maybe come back another day. Love the opportunity to release yourself and others. Be at peace.
Another take

Here's another angle to finding inspiration.

Be silent. Be silent for as long as you can. Feel joy. Feel incredible joy. Drink in the joy as if you were sucking it into you. Let yourself float, rise.

Think about things that make you feel joy. Think about happy things, happy times, happy days, great weather...anything...good times during bad weather. Kisses, hugs, tearful goodbyes when maybe you were sad, but you actually felt overjoyed that someone cares so much...about you.

Think about when you've been cared for...if you've been neglected, let that sear through you...let it go out, then concentrate on the happiness, on the joy.

Wish others well. Wish the planet well. Wish. Wish deeply and fully. Refrain from any forced musical thought. Don't push, open. Open yourself. Receive.

Allow yourself to sketch...if necessary. Be silent, keep going back to joy. Bring yourself into joy.

Then just wait. Do absolutely nothing. It will come.

Posted by don at 06:17 AM

Zen arts as songwriting

The late Harlan Howard had a songwriting tip to take an existing melody and rewrite the words. Then using the new words rewrite the melody. This is similar to the Zen arts where students model the forms of masterworks.

The good news is that those masterwork forms--after much familiarity through repetition--become embedded in the subconscious. And the subconscious, if you let it do its job, will naturally recombine and alter the forms. This is the long way to say it’s probably a good thing if your work resembles other work you admire. How could the Zen arts and Harlan Howard be wrong?

Posted by don at 03:02 PM

Songwriters - don't limit yourself to one style.

My music education was classic, but I adore Rock and Metal (my favorite bands are Scorpions and Pink Floyd) as much as I adore Bach and Dvorak and ,since I'm Egyptian, I also like my share of oriental music..!! Such a style mix can create the most wonderful ideas, and this is how most songwriters come up with new styles (ex: Pink Floyd's Psychedelic Rock). Always explore and experiment with new styles, if you take a look at the history of any band, you find out that's what songwriting is all about.

Posted by don at 08:09 PM

Listen to music every day

The very famous Suzuki violin teaching method requires that the student listens to a tape containing the pieces he/she learns everyday to "develop musical ability"(Schinichi Suzuki). Guess what? It works. As you listen more you will unconsciously adapt more to music in general and, on the conscious level, discover tricks and techniques in music writing that you didn't know about. Nobody can create music De Novo, it has got to have some roots!!

Posted by don at 08:07 PM

Musical tarot cards for songwriting inspiration

Brian Eno and Peter Schmidt developed a tarot deck called Oblique Strategies, designed to offer ways of getting un-stuck when composing. There are various versions of it on-line.

Here's one: http://music.hyperreal.org/artists/brian_eno/oblique/oblique.html

My favorite: "Look closely at the most embarrassing details & amplify them"

Posted by don at 07:18 PM

Try a different musical instrument for songwriting goodness

I have found that grabbing a different instrument really unleashes some great creativity.

For instance, I have a lap steel tuned to open D. I just grabbed the cheapest lap steel they had over at Musician's Friend and it worked great.

It's great because I just throw the bar across the strings and have different chords. It allows creativity to flow because my hands are in different places than on my guitar. It keeps me just focused on simple chords instead of feeling like I have to come up with some kind of innovative riff on my guitar to impress all the other songwriters when I play out.

Give it a try.

Posted by don at 05:51 AM

Tips on Getting the Muse to Flow

Recently I've been writing 2-3 songs per week. The primary cause is that I have time, but I've been doing the following to encourage the muse to flow.

1. Writing 3 pages every morning (my version of morning pages)
2. Learning new tips and techniques - Taking private instruction, participated in Lyons Song School, reading songwriting information on the internet, and a student at SongU.
3. Quieting my mind through yoga, meditation, hiking and canoeing.

I find that all three of these in combination are the magic elixar. If I get stuck in my writing, I either learn something new or go for a long hike. Last week, I got songs from one hike. Pretty cool!

Since the muse is flowing, I've made it a priority to finish the first cut on each song. I'm saving rewriting for when this creativity slows down.

Posted by don at 05:06 AM

Just focus on the song at hand

Always be focused on finishing 1 song. If you successfully write more than one song at a time, good for you. But if you struggle getting songs finished, narrowing your choices will be more motivating.

Posted by don at 04:03 PM

Write just for the sake of writing

Write just to write. Only edit once you have enough material to work with. Don't try to write the next timeless masterpiece. Just figure out what it is that you want to communicate and then write, write and write some more.

Posted by don at 03:55 PM

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Inspiration
Lyrics Tips
Melody Tips
Song Structure Tips
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