Songwriting & Beyond…

I tripped on a very inspiring video recently.

It’s Sting going through his songwriting process on his guitar and drum machine. Very cool stuff and VERY inspiring. 

Check it out below.

I think far too many of us get caught up NOT finishing the song we’ve started to write because we’re already worried of it sounding bad. I think it’s only natural for us to start writing a song and then NOT finishing it because apparently, it sounds like crap.

BIG mistake. You and I know that the majority of the best stuff out there didn’t come from a ‘one shot’. It takes time. It takes some editing. It takes some tweaking. It usually doesn’t happen overnight.

Whatever your problem is, whether it’s the melody, the lyrics or the chords, you should try you very best to at least finish the song off. Why create 10 half songs when you can have 5 which are finished?

OK, so I hear you say "what if they sound like crap?", to which I say "so what!"

At least you can enhance what you already have. What are you going to do with 10 half songs? Try to finish them all - and then think they’re crap …so you start writing yet another one? Do you see where I’m coming from?

Don’t worry, be crappy. There is nobody beside you with a knife who will crucify you for a crappy song. All you need to do is work on THAT song, and not start another one.

If you own my course Songwriting Secrets Interview you should know that we hit the point home about this. Striving for something perfect, leaving it unfinished and then ‘moving on’ to create another song is a dangerous move and will NOT help you improve your craft.

In the course we also share some in-depth strategies on how to improve writing melodies and getting lyrical ideas without a ‘writers’ block’.

Hopefully, you will go away after reading this post and try to find those half-finished great ideas and complete these gems

Shamir

Seems like many of you are not utilizing an online rhyming dictionary to help you with your songwriting efforts.

For those who don’t know, you can head over here:

http://www.rhymezone.com

…and rhyme away until you hearts content

Have a great day (or evening depending on where you are).

Shamir
Become A Better Songwriter Today

I actually KNOW for a fact that many songwriters don’t bother to incorporate a ‘bridge’ or a ‘middle-eight’ into their songs. Let’s talk about what exactly they are and if you should even bother with it.

In modern day popular music, a middle-eight would typically sit after the second chorus …and in theory it would consist of 8 bars. Many great pop ballads would illustrate a good use of a middle-eight, such as Mariah Carey’s Hero…

…or Elton Johns I Want Love

Sometimes, the song will have an additional bar at the end of the middle-eight, just to maximise the climax. A great example of this would be Aerosmith’s I Don’t Wanna Miss A Thing.

The job of a middle eight would be to take the listener to new grounds …away from the verse and chorus. It can be to somehow escalate the track while retaining the original feel for the song. A middle-eight also takes away the monotony of the song. This is great if your song has en extremely repetitive chord progression or lyrical/melody line. Which let’s face it, can be quite often!

Now, the middle-eight doesn’t always have to be eight-bars. Like all rules in life, some were just bound to be broken. Music is no exception. Many (if not MOST) songs of today don’t follow the ‘eight-bar’ pattern and often just have just 4 bars - or sometimes odd numbers, such as 5 or 7. This is totally fine.

So what about a bridge? Well, according to Wikipedia, a bridge is a contrasting section which also prepares for the return of the original material section. So, a middle-eight CAN be perceived as a bridge too. This is why there can be some confusion over the definitions.

But I’ll add to that. A bridge can also be a ‘link’ between a verse and chorus. Some of us know this as a ‘pre-chorus’.

So here’s the point. If you aren’t including a middle-eight or a bridge into your songwriting, than you may be doing an injustice to your song. I’m not saying ALL songs must have this …what I’m saying is that many songs come alive because of it.

Are you making the use of these components?

You should start incorporating a middle-eight into your songs, don’t you think?

Shamir

Hey everybody. I notice that many folks out there are a little frustrated with creating original chord progressions. Emails come into my inbox daily about this subject. I’m about to hit the facts in this post HARD.

Here’s the truth of the matter: Nearly EVERYTHING you hear on the radio today is re-cycled chord structures in ONE way or ANOTHER. To find a chord progression that’s 100% original is like finding a needle in a haystack. It’s not even worth going there.

And nor should you try and point one out OR more importantly, try to create one . I promise you if you sit down all day and all night, and try to create a completely original chord sequence, you will drive yourself crazy.

Let me tell you something …do you know where the real authenticity comes from? It’s not from chord progressions. It’s from not melodies. It’s not from lyrics. It’s not from song production or vocal arrangement…

…It’s actually comes from an amalgamation of ALL the above.

If you sit down and focus on ‘being totally original’, you’ve lost the real perspective. I’m a great believer in the philosophy “whatever you focus on expands”, and I believe it’s a mistake to isolate a ‘variable’ (ie. melody, lyrics, chords) in a song and focus on it solely to make it sound as original as possible. Why? Because you’re energy is expanding on the WRONG area.

What you should do, is Instead of trying to create something with total originality, focus on the whole experience you’re tying to give your listener. Remember this: The chords you create are merely a blanket to your lyrics and melodies. They act as an ‘accompaniment’ to your words and tunes - not the other way around.

Now sometimes I have an internal debate in my own mind my as to whether or not I should at least TRY to be totally original. And I can tell you with absolute certainty that when I do TRY to be 100% original with my chords, the songs don’t turn out as good as I’d hoped. Strange? Not really. Remember, whatever you focus on expands. So If I focus on being totally original, I may get something completely original …but it will probably be at the mercy of a average sounding song … see what I mean?

To illustrate my point further, how many songs have you heard that have intricate chord progressions - of which have been massive worldwide hits? In comparison to those with relatively ’simple’ chord progressions, the answer is “not many at all”.

I understand, that some songwriters find it difficult because they feel they don’t KNOW enough chords to do anything remotely different to the songs they’ve already written.

The answer to this is simple: You need to build up a song library and then store it in your brain.

Here’s direct quote from one of my earlier blog posts:

Here’s the thing. Have you built up a song library in your head? If not, build one from today onwards.

Why? Because searching for tunes and chord sequences will be an absolute cinch when you already have a few hundred floating around in your head from songs you have already learnt and played.

And yes, I’m talking about OTHER people’s songs. Whatever style you’re into, you should learn a new song from that genre EVERY WEEK. I’ll say it again, learn one NEW song from the style that you love every week.

Example:

You prefer Rock? >> Learn how to play and sing songs from Aerosmith, Nirvana, Alice in Chains, Green Day, Linkin Park, etc.

You like folk? >> Learn how to play and sing songs from Bob Dylan, Fairport Convention, Neil Young, etc

You prefer pop? >> Learn how to play and sing songs from Prince, Elton John, Phil Collins, Beatles, etc

You prefer R&B? >> Learn how to play and sing song by Stevie Wonder, Boyz II Men, Erykah Badu, etc.

Please don’t scold me over the definitions for these artists above… lol. For me , it’s not even about style and genre. It’s more about what you like, and then learning it (on the piano in my case) and then trying to sing it.

This does two things. One, the chord progressions of other artist and groups get burnt in my memory. Secondly, the melodies are subconsciously recorded in my brain too. So it serves a dual purpose.

Actually, I’ll add a third to that list. You generally become a more competent musician!

This will be crucial to your songwriting success.

Shamir