6 Free Songwriting Tips That Will “Unblock” The Barriers That Are Holding You Back From Writing Your Best Work
What I’m about to teach you now are six songwriting tips you can make to your songwriting approach that will cause immediate improvements in your songwriting ability. The first in the series is here below (don’t read it just yet)… and I will send you the following next week, then the week after that, etc.
Don’t mistake the simplicity of these ideas for a solution that’s "too easy". Because if you actually try these ideas, you will find they are incredibly powerful.
With that said, let’s get into the seven small changes you can make to your songwriting approach that will have you writing in the flow of creativity, and send the quality of your songs sky high…
Tip 1: Tweak To Success
Tweak number one is to record every second of your creative sessions.
Now there are two important elements to this, so bare with me for a moment.
The first element to this is to use a simple recording device to record yourself as you play your instrument.
When you are searching for ideas, you need to document them, and recording every moment is the easiest way to do this.More importantly though, by recording every second you are eliminating a process that can savagely block your best creativity.
Here’s the thing.
The vast majority of musicians will be creating ideas with their instrument and also TRYING TO REMEMBER what they are playing at the same time.
The problem with this is they are engaging the critical side of their mind, which blocks their creative facilities. The psychology behind this is quite fascinating, but instead of spending extra time going into it, just give this idea a shot and see for yourself as you suddenly become more creative!
Set a recorder running, and then play freely without trying to edit yourself, or trying to remember what you are playing.It’s amazing how freeing this can be, and creating becomes much more fun and effortless.
Ok, so the second part to this tip is to do with lyrics. And here’s what you need to do…
As you are writing a page of lyrics, you are actually documenting them automatically because you are writing them on paper!
But here’s something you can do to increase your creativity and get into a "flow" really easily.
Instead of internally editing yourself… (Have you ever sat there trying to craft the "perfect" phrase, and because of this don’t end up writing a thing?)… write freely with no concern for the quality of what your writing.
Write down EVERYTHING that comes to mind. Even if in the back of your mind you hear a voice saying, "that’s absolute rubbish"!
Writing down every idea that comes to you, just like with the sound recorder technique above gets your creative juices going.
Instead of feeling "stuck", ideas will flow out of you.And you’ll find that the longer you write, the better the quality of your ideas will be.
If you’ve ever been in a "brainstorming session" you will understand what I mean.
In a brainstorming session for a company or some other group, a team will sit around and say out loud or write on paper EVERY SINGLE IDEA that comes to mind.
There is something magical about this process. Because as the team gets deeper and deeper into the session, they begin connecting with their more powerful creative resources and their ideas become more sophisticated, more insightful…… And in some cases, pure genius.
If you’ve ever been involved in a session such as this, you will know that on most occasions the best ideas seem to always pop up right at the end of the session.
It’s the same with writing a page of lyrics. As long as you keep writing every thing that comes to mind onto your page, you can experience this same "building of creative momentum". And then all of a sudden something miraculous will pop into your head, and onto the page it goes!
The key here is to write every single little thing. Don’t edit yourself for a second. Instead of thinking "that idea isn’t worth writing down", simply write it down anyway with the knowledge that it will bring you to something much more profound and inspiring.
Stay tune for Tip number 2 next week.
-Article written by Geoff Williams from Genius Songwriting
September 11th, 2010 at 3:39 pm
Thanks you have just confrimed what I’ve been thinkin about. Lately when I gett in the writing mood i rush to pullout a pen or whatever and just write what ever comes but sonetimes when I’m bout to start writing its hard to start.
September 11th, 2010 at 3:52 pm
Great advice. I can vouch for recording everything as you play. The lyric idea is new to me and equally brilliant. If you think about the two methods, they are really one and the same. Let your creative juices flow and record/write down everything without being critical. Thanks, now I can’t wait to try this technique while writing lyrics.
September 11th, 2010 at 3:57 pm
Well, 1st tip is cool and I already use for a while, I always have my cell phone under
my pillow in the night and in front of me in the day. If new idea comes into
my head then I record it with cell phone using guitar or my voice only,
and these songs were born… from my phone:
http://soundclick.com/share?songid=9607131
http://soundclick.com/share?songid=8789054
September 11th, 2010 at 4:11 pm
The first part of your tip has nothing to do with me- I am a lyricist not a musician, if i were they would be valuable.
The second part of your tip I am already doing. If you check out my webpage you will find I won songwriter of the year from txcma in June for both gospel and country. Having said that, i don’t feel i know all there is about songwriting and lyric writing so i welcome your tips, never too old to learn. thank you-most times in nashville it is who you know not always what you know and having the right promoter. god bless doris
September 11th, 2010 at 4:16 pm
Thanks, good advice is always welcome. I’m looking forward to next weeks tip.
September 11th, 2010 at 4:34 pm
I just want to know if this a right way to start with, about a year i’ve been writing song using other people’s music like example, i like Japanese songs, but i don’t really know much of the meaning cause i don’t study Jap Language but i normally tend to right my own lyrics using their songs rhythm and the way they sing…… is it the wrong way to start with??
Thanks
September 11th, 2010 at 4:53 pm
This is great! When I was in High school, I had an English teacher that taught us very similar. She called it “Free writing”. We would take a minute and write whatever came to our mind and our pencil had to keep writing for a whole minute w/out stopping. If we couldn’t think of anything we would write that . We just had to keep it going. And after we got use to that, she would increase our minutes of being timed to just “Free write.” It kinda forces you to be creative. Thanx, I look forward to the tip!
September 11th, 2010 at 5:50 pm
i am very happy that i stumbled upon this insightful resource. Geoff, you are really a Genius. i will also recommend this site i found to your wonderful readers http://www.jncmusicworld.blogspot.com/
September 11th, 2010 at 5:56 pm
THIS IS A TRUE STATEMENT!EVERYTHING YOU HAVE SAID IS TRUE.THE MORE YOU TRY,THE HARDER IT BECOMES TO HAVE IDEAS.YOU HAVE TO LEARN TO LET IT ALL GO,LET THE IDEA COME FREELY.IT WILL BE AS YOU SAID,THE LESS YOU THINK OF IT THE MORE THE IDEAS FLOW.THANKS ,I FORGOT ALL OF THIS AND HAVE BEEN FORCING IDEAS.JUST LET THEM FLOW!
September 11th, 2010 at 7:18 pm
This is great stuff I am definately going to try it. Thanks.
September 11th, 2010 at 8:48 pm
Thank you so much for sharing your creativity.
September 11th, 2010 at 9:48 pm
Hi Shamir,
Awesome tip. I just started doing that last week and now I read this. It’s really awesome. What I find really hard is when you wrote something and recorded it, is to let it go and look at it critically and rewrite stuff, melodic and lyricwise… Hardest thing with your creations is to let em go I guess
Thanx mate!!
September 11th, 2010 at 10:23 pm
Hi Shamir…..
Brilliant….I tried both technics with just the music and just the Lyrics and was amazed of the first time result.
It just came flowing continiously out of me in both instances, with me not thinking at all and yet what came out was far superior of what i ever created by thinking very hard and endless hours to get something good.
This totally changed my approach now and it is even GREAT FUN doing it.
Thanks ….Roland 74
September 11th, 2010 at 11:45 pm
Hi There, I currently study a lot of resources on songwriting and they mostly perscribe this type of teq, re confirmation of these exercises from various sorces ingrains the process and I come up with more content to build my writing, more ideas to build the plot and so forth. I remember my friend and I would say for years… what was that we just played? If only we pressed record… It might be a simple Idea but a profound one at that.
Cheers for the tip, I look foward to the next.
Regards Damian.
September 12th, 2010 at 4:48 am
Thanks for this. I am writing lyrics and music in between being a full time student so this should get me writing (lyrics and music) without having to think too much about it. I’m looking at getting more quantity at this time while I study then I’ll go through it for quality when the semester is over.
September 12th, 2010 at 8:34 am
Shimir, U mentionmed some thing like this about ayear ago. I have since adopted this trick. Am greatful because i have writen many songs in a short time since. Thanx so much.
September 12th, 2010 at 10:56 am
Thanks for taking the time! I will try this and comment back with my results!
September 12th, 2010 at 3:09 pm
Hi Shamir,
I will try as soon as I will find a time for. I go work every day from Monday till Friday for livin so have not much time to do what I love, the music. Anyway this help from you gives me an inspiration, so please keep going. Thanks
September 12th, 2010 at 4:31 pm
having reading and writing issues i find a dictor phone priceless, if i write i cant keep up with the flow from my brain as I have to keep stopping to spell or write correctly then I lose the tread and get annoyed because i know i had something good but have lost it due to dyslexia
September 12th, 2010 at 6:37 pm
Thanks for sharing the examples. I have some troubles writing lyrics and I’m stuck. This really helps.
September 12th, 2010 at 7:39 pm
Thanks for this article.it really empower my creative writing
September 12th, 2010 at 11:24 pm
Thanx a lot for the tips.
September 13th, 2010 at 2:59 am
Shamir THANKS A LOT for your help!! always!!!!!!
September 13th, 2010 at 3:29 am
I use this same approach in the office (I am an architect) and have started them in my music studio a few months. We use a large white board 24″ rolls of paper for brainstorming sessions.
These tips are great and I find that with each one I read, my skills improve. Thanks for all the help!
September 13th, 2010 at 9:25 am
Thanks heaps for your help. I find it hard to write lyrics and you are the only one that has helped me get started. Thank you. (:
September 13th, 2010 at 11:11 am
Yes its true! I’ve experienced it since I started composing my own song in Pilipino our national language here in the Philippines. But your tips gives me more inspiration to continue writing and composing a song in English. Thanks a lot you help me move on and back in my own confidence. GOD BLESS!
September 13th, 2010 at 11:35 am
Thanks for the tips. I currently use both methods. In addition, if I am traveling and ideas pop into my head I don’t always have pen and paper handy. As a result, I started carrying my MP3 player with me. In keeping with the theme of this tip, I record whatever comes to my lips. Then sort out my thoughts later. I am looking forward to next weeks tip.
September 13th, 2010 at 12:39 pm
this is so creative i think i’ll try it out…thanks men
September 14th, 2010 at 8:00 am
wow this is what i do in the solitude
with my flstudio i record everything
howsoever damn it seem to be
you r doin a gr8 job
also helpfull for RAP
September 17th, 2010 at 8:56 am
For me method one is a bit difficult coz don’t have a recorder.I’m working on getting a recorder.What i do is just play and then if i like what i’m playing or singing i then write it down or actually try to understand what i was doing!
September 19th, 2010 at 11:53 am
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September 20th, 2010 at 12:07 pm
Thanks for your advice, you are truly a wealth of knowledge.
September 21st, 2010 at 2:44 pm
Very good advice! I really appreciate your tips. It’s given me a lot of inspiration! God bless!
September 24th, 2010 at 1:10 pm
I read this article after reading Tip 2. We definitely underestimate our own abilities to be creative (well most of do) and just getting the ideas out like this really helps a lot. We can also think that the writing process needs to be structured and disciplined and that this kind of free expression won’t get us anywhere. Having the discipline to write is different from writing in a disciplined way, which can stifle creativity a bit in my experience.
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