Songwriting Zen

It’s amazing the amount of lyrical ideas we can pick up if we just listened out for them. This concept is explained very clearly in an article by Shamir Rele from his “Songwriting & Beyond” blog called “Songwriting Tips - Listen For Lyrics”.

Personally, I found this article very useful. I hope you do too.

Do you ever have a time where you’re searching for lyrical ideas? I know I do.

Some of you may have already read my newsletter ‘Super-Charge Your Lyrical Ideas’ - and hopefully you’ve grabbed some idea’s from it. Here, I’ll go into it a little bit more.

You should certainly take what is happening in your daily life and try and ‘listen for lyrics’ as they happen to you.

Overheard Chit-Chat
For example, I overheard a conversation at a restaurant the other day (which usually isn’t very difficult) and somebody said the phrase “there’s just no use in me trying”. I immediately jotted it down, came home and starting to write a song based around that phrase.

The song was about a relationship and the girl tried her best to keep it together, but it was sinking situation and the hook (chorus) would sing “there just ain’t no use in my trying”.

This is a very simple yet powerful idea.

Write about your Friends Situation
There isn’t anything like taking ideas from your friends or relative’s life. Of course, if it’s seemingly negative then you may not want to tell them where the inspiration came from

If your friend’s mother just had a heart transplant and the family is going through grief, then why not write a song about it? In fact, why don’t you go one further and make out like the father is cheating with another woman?

Fictionalizing a real life story is often a great way to write a song. Perhaps the father cheating can be a feature of the song.

Yes, this may seem harsh - but look, who’s to say you have to reveal your sources of inspiration? Remember, you are only writing a song here.

Grab the Daily News
What’s happening in the world today? Earthquakes? Tsunamis? Politics? Violence? Racism? Think about the implications of events that are unfolding before your very eyes.

These are the things and the people of the world are listening and watching.

Remember to take things to a new level with your song - meaning think of the depths of these events and circumstances and write from a ‘how this effects us’ stand point.

This is incredibly powerful because people will WANT to sing your song as it effects them too.

Ideas from TV and the Movies
How many times have you watched a movie and have been completely moved by it? This is exactly the feeling people experience when listening to a song they love. It makes them feel validated in some way.

The lyrics are totally congruent with their emotions. Writing about specific situations from TV and films in realistic genres (ie. not sci-fi and horror) will be a route to evoke somebody and then hopefully to like your song enough to want to hear it over and over.

As you can see, the above will surely get your ears listening for lyrical ideas in different situations. Once you make a habit of this, ideas will be flooding in your mind - sometimes non-stop.

Shamir Rele shows us that anyone can learn how to write a song with his ‘no nonsense’ styled approach songwriting tips.

Grab your tips here http://www.SongwritingTipsOnline.com

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Shamir_Rele

Over the last week I have been busy getting everything ready for the next phase of my songwriting. My studio is ready to go. It’s all hooked up and it works.

Having my own space and my own studio to work in has been a dream of mine for a very long time and now, with these tools at my disposal I can explore my songwriting ideas further, pre-produce possible songs for my first CD and record songwriting demos for my band.

I also want to use the studio for producing podcasts. I can see a Songwriting Zen podcast being rolled out very soon

As well as getting my studio hooked up I also purchased a camcorder so I can start producing videos of my music to put up on YouTube and the like. I’m excited by all of this technology however, I’m going to be very mindful not to become a slave to it.

In order to keep myself mindful I constantly remind myself of a friend of mine who, a few years ago, was in the same position as I am in now.

He and I wrote many songs together pre-studio and I always had a lot of fun working with him, no matter what the end result was.

Once we started working together using his studio and not pen, paper and two acoustic guitars the dynamic between us changed dramatically.

Collaboration was starting to become a chore.

A lot of our songwriting time was spent trying to fix studio problems and when we were recording he was more interested in getting the perfect guitar effect rather than putting song ideas down.

Instead of being a songwriter with access to a studio he was becoming an amateur studio engineer and part time songwriter. He became a slave to the technology.

Needless to say we worked together less and less over time. Last time I heard he wasn’t writing at all. That’s very sad. I don’t ever want to end up that way.

I’m all for learning new things and expanding my horizons as long as it doesn’t get in the way of the big picture.

I can see that with new technology it can be very easy to get bogged down in all of the small stuff and forget about the reasons why you got the technology in the first place.

Ah, that’s right! To write songs!

I found an uplifting article by Orlando Gutierrez called “It’s Time To Thank A Songwriter”. It’s a wonderful piece highlighting the very important role that a songwriter plays in the lives of everyone.

If you’ve ever felt like the whole world is against you and you feel that your family and friends don’t take you and your songwriting serious enough, then this article is for you.

Enjoy…

Go on, give yourself a pat on the back.

If music makes the world go around then being a songwriter is one of the most important jobs there is because without us the world as we know it, stops.

From one songwriter to another I thank you for being you.

As mentioned in my last post I’m organizing a series of gigs called the Sunday Singer Songwriter Showcase at the Daniel O’Connell Hotel (165 Tynte Street, North Adelaide).

It kicks off on Sunday, July 27th from 7pm, and the first songwriter to be playing with me at S4 is Joe Murphy.

As well as being a songwriter about town and guitarist for local band Twelve Dollar Monkey he also runs an Open Mic at the Lord Melbourne Hotel on Thursdays.

It’s safe to say that Joe is a very busy boy indeed. He did however, take some time out of his busy life to participate in Songwriters Spotlight.

1. Name:
Joe Murphy

2. URL:
http://www.myspace.com/joemurphy1603

3. Main genre:
Acoustic blues and roots music

4. Years writing:
Ten

5. Words or music first:
I started out writing words first and then music but Ive turned full circle. For me the words have to fit to the music. The other way round is too hit and miss!

6. Why do you write:
It’s the true test of musical ability.

7. How do you write:
I mess around with some guitar licks until something happens that I like. I play it until it’s smooth then merge the ideas together. Then myself or my beautiful partner Susana will write some words.

8. What inspires you:
I have never really gone in for the inspiration thing! I find music comes in waves for a while, one day you can have it and then its gone for a bit. I just write as much as possible in those times.

9. Most important aspect of songwriting:
Hooks both musically and lyrically.

10. Advice for beginners:
Listen to all different styles and learn to complete and format songs.

11. Songwriting goals:
To write songs that are varied but have a consistent style.

12. Anything else to add:
Write as much as possible. It’s the best way to get better and a whole lot of fun!

As you might be aware, every Wednesday night I run an Open Mic at the Daniel O’Connell Hotel in Adelaide from 8:30pm until Midnight.

I love running this event because it’s a great opportunity for anyone to get up and have a go and from time to time you find some great musical talent just waiting for a stage to perform on.

The performers list from week to week is a delightful mix of established musicians to first timers. No matter what the skill level, everyone gets along just fine.

As an extension to the Open Mic @ The Dan concept I have organized a series of gigs on the last Sunday of every month at the Daniel O’Connell Hotel starting July 27th called the Sunday Singer/Songwriter Showcase (or S4 for short).

It starts at 7pm with a 1 hour set from yours truly then, from 8pm a special guest performer will showcase their songs with the evening finishing at 9pm.

The singer/songwriters showcasing their wares at S4 are as follows:

July 27
Joe Murphy

August 31
Combee!

September 28
Courtney Robb

October 26
SP and Sarah

November 30
Cal Williams Jr

I will be running a series of “Songwriter Spotlight” posts on these performers and doing what I can to promote S4 on Songwriting Zen.

If you’re living in Adelaide then be sure to get to the Daniel O’Connell Hotel (165 Tynte Street, North Adelaide) and support local songwriters.

If you live anywhere else I will make sure that audio and/or video of the showcases will be available on Songwriting Zen for you to check out.

Here is the press release I’ve put together for S4:

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Sunday Singer Songwriter Showcases @ The Dan

The Sunday Singer Songwriter Showcase (or S4 for short) is a monthly showcase presented by Orangutang Music, DNA Live Sound and the Daniel O’Connell Hotel hosted by award winning songwriter Corey Stewart.

It will commence on the last Sunday of July and finish on the last Sunday of November.

S4 will feature the songs of Corey Stewart plus talented local Adelaide singer/songwriters such as Joe Murphy, Courtney Robb, Combee!, Simon Peter and Cal Williams Jr.

The showcase kicks off at 7pm at the Daniel O’Connell Hotel (165 Tynte Street, North Adelaide) with food and drink specials happening from 6pm so come on down and experience good food, great company, friendly staff, a warm fire and some wonderful music.

What more could you ask for on a late Sunday afternoon?

****************************************

I reckon with the Sunday Singer/Songwriter Showcases locked in your diary late Sunday afternoons never sounded so good.

Until next time, happy writing,

Corey Stewart
Singer/Songwriter/Musician

Keywords: open mic, songwriting, songwriter, songwriting tip, songwriting idea, songwriting help, songwriting blog, corey stewart

After a week off I’m now back into the swing of things with my guitar lessons. Today’s lesson was in two parts.

The first part was reinforcing what I had learnt from the previous lesson and secondly I was introduced to the concept of shifting lead melodies from one scale type to another.

I tell you, I’m finding all of this lead guitar work a bit daunting at times.

When I started teaching myself guitar I never set out to be a lead guitarist, just to become really good at chords and strumming different rhythms.

I wanted my guitar playing to be focused on writing songs and being able to jam with others at any level. However, by focusing more on my lead playing I’m finding that it’s helping me with harnessing melodic ideas.

The way I see it, is that a song is made of three distinct parts

1. Lyric - What is sung
2. Melody - How it’s sung
3. Arrangement - The rest of it

Over the years of playing guitar I’ve spent most of my time working on the skills needed to produce great arrangements for songs but not enough of that time was spent gaining skills in coming up with good lyrical and melodic ideas.

For a long time I was under the assumption that you have to have a good chord progression for a melody to present itself.

While at the end of day there are no rules to writing a song, one of the things that needs to be avoided at all costs is thinking of your songwriting in terms of “absolutes”.

There is no one way to write a song.

Sure, there are some ways that work for a particular individual more than others but no one way to do it.

My guitar lessons are an exercise in unlearning some bad habits I’ve picked up along the way. This is what happens when you start knowing what it is you don’t know about your craft.

How can you do your process differently? What facets of your songwriting can you unlearn?

Those are the questions you need to ask yourself. Sometimes what you unlearn is just as beneficial as what you do learn.

Until next time, happy writing,

Corey Stewart
Singer/Songwriter/Musician

Keywords: guitar lesson, songwriting, songwriter, writing, songwriting zen, songwriting tip, songwriting idea, songwriting help, songwriting blog, corey stewart

FAWM’s “50 songs in 90 days” challenge started on July 4th and ends on October 1st. It has been running for one week.

I joined up with the view of putting my theories and experiences to the test. I liken it to Songwriting Zen in the real world however, rising up to the challenge has been harder than what I thought.

I’ve only posted one song so far, a love song called “I Don’t Want To Let You Go” but since then I’ve found it a real challenge to come up with something else.

Over the last couple of days I’ve been going through my main songbook. In this book there are many old songs that aren’t finished or need re-writing.

Even so, I’ve found it very, very hard to finish them off. This is the case for three main reasons:

1. My view on these old songs have been set in concrete.
2. My inner critic has been working overtime
3. I’ve been paralysed by trying to choose between too many songwriting ideas.

By doing this challenge I’ve realised that I have a very similar problem to most songwriters out there.

Finishing off my half written songs.

Thankfully I have other ideas I can work on. Some are on cassette tape and some are on pieces of paper and other notebooks somewhere. I’ll leave the songbook and go onto something else.

I’ll keep you posted on my progress however, in the meantime have a listen to “I Don’t Want To Let You Go” and enjoy.

Until next time, happy writing,

Corey Stewart
Singer/Songwriter/Musician

Keywords: songwriting, songwriter, songwriting tip, songwriting help, songwriting idea, songwriting resource, songwriting blog, corey stewart

Songwriting Zen reader and good friend Matt Clearing brought up an interesting point in a comment he posted yesterday in response to my Cal Williams Jr Songwriter Spotlight.

He mentions in his comment that:

“…this is the second time I’ve heard something negative about the inner critic on songwriting zen, and I have to stand up for this oft-maligned contributor to the creative process.

I can faithfully attest to my inner critic forcing me to re-evaluate my music and songs again and again, taking songs that were crap and putting them where they belonged (the circular file), fixing lazy songwriting, and generally making my music better than it would otherwise be.

While I agree that it’s important to keep one’s inner critic from becoming a crippling obstacle to any productivity, I owe what meager level of quality my music has to that curmudgeonly naysayer within, and my music would be even lamer were my inner critic not there to tell me when something sucks…”

Reading this got me thinking that maybe I have been too harsh on the little voice we all have inside of us.

Perhaps it would be a good exercise for me to discuss the positive aspects of having an inner critic using Matt’s comment as a template.

It’s my belief that a songwriters process is only as effective as their ability to win over their daily battles with their inner critic however, Matt states that his inner critic actually helps his songwriting process by:

“…forcing me to re-evaluate my music and songs again and again, taking songs that were crap and putting them where they belonged (the circular file), fixing lazy songwriting, and generally making my music better than it would otherwise be.”

We all have voices inside our heads that warn us, caution us, praise us, critisise us and generally keep us honest.

Some people call it their conscience, some say its their intuition. Some say these voices have saved lives.

Getting back to writing songs, whatever you want to call it, the most important thing is that you use this voice to work with your songwriting, not against it.

What Matt’s saying is that he uses his relationship with the voice inside to work for him.

Maybe turning the inner critic into an inner ally is the challenge that all songwriters must rise up to.

You can never get rid of the inner critic but I do believe (after reading Matt’s comments) you can become friends with it. How we, as songwriters do that will make interesting reading in the future.

Until next time, happy writing,

Corey Stewart
Singer/Songwriter/Musician

PS: Thank you Matt for inspiring this post. I really appreciate your feedback

Keywords: songwriting, songwriter, songwriting tip, songwriting help, songwriting idea, songwriting resource, songwriting blog, corey stewart

Today I would normally blog about my guitar lesson with Cal Williams Jr.

However, as I had a four day break without my guitar I wanted to spend another week practising before receiving new information so instead I thought I’d introduce a new category to the Songwriting Zen blog called “Songwriter Spotlight”.

I want to showcase other songwriters that I know or I want to know and ask them a series of questions about themselves, how they got into writing songs and their songwriting process.

It’s my hope that their answers will spark something in your own mind about what you do and how you write.

I know it will for me.

The first songwriter to be put under the spotlight is Cal Williams Jr himself. It’s the least I can do for canceling my guitar lesson with him.

Name:
Cal Williams Jr

URL:
www.myspace.com/calwilliamsjr

Musical Genre:
Folk/Blues

Years writing:
15 years

Words or music first:
Music

Why do you write:
I write because it is natural for me to be creative.

I love the feeling of carefully crafting a song and watching it twist and turn underneath my fingertips. When it is complete I love hearing it evolve and grow independently of me until it becomes a song for everyone.

Songwriting to me is a limitless expression of life’s journey that changes and colours with new experiences. When I make a record it is a record of new friends, new loves and new places.

How do you write:
When creating a song I usually play around with the guitar melodies first and work my vocal lines around the notes I play in the scale or chord. The lyrics are constructed first as working lyrics and then allowed to form naturally at repeated sittings with the guitar.

What inspires you:
My first real songwriting musical influence was the late sixties/early seventies era British fingerstyle folk/blues guitarists such as Nick Drake, John Martyn, Bert Jansch, Davey Graham, Dick Gaughan and John Renbourne. I was also inspired early on by Delta Blues guitarists such as Son House, Skip James, Lightning Hopkins and Blind Willie Johnson.

Literature wise I am a huge fan of 1950’s beat poets such as Jack Kerouac, Alan Ginsberg, Gregory Corso and the writings of Kurt Vonnegut and Charles Bukowski.

I find I also gain incredible songwriting inspiration from classic seventies road movies such as Paris Texas, Vanishing Point, Five Easy Pieces, Midnight Cowboy and Easy Rider.

Inspiration for me also comes in the form of train journeys, sunsets, oceans, conversations, good friends and late nights.

Most important aspect of songwriting:
The most important aspect in any kind of human emotional communication is honesty. Songs that are written purely from the heart achieve more longevity as they are sincere reflections of a particular emotion and/or experience.

Advice for beginners:
My advice for anyone starting out on the road of being a songwriter is to stay focused.

Songwriting is a craft that evolves with experience and the more you write the better you become. Songwriting is very much about the journey and not the destination.

Keep challenging yourself with new chords and tunings and musical genres. Absorb as much music as you can and learn how great songs are made.

Never compare your songwriting progress with any other songwriter. We are all on the road travelling at our own pace and in different directions. Comparison will only lead to negative emotions such as jealousy and inferiority.

Protect your creative mind by avoiding negative and unconstructive criticism and controlling your inner critic.

Feed your creative mind with a healthy diet of books, poetry, music, art and film and avoid watching too much T.V.

Always write from your heart and enjoy the process of creating a song that you are proud of. The true rewards of being a songwriter have nothing to do with monetary gain.

Songwriting goals:
My songwriting goals are simple. Keep on writing.

There are so many musical avenues to explore as a songwriter that the possibilities are literally endless. As I have said, songwriting is the journey not the destination.

The moment you feel that you have ‘arrived’ at the best song you will ever write and feel you have exhausted all songwriting directions is the day you stop being a songwriter.

Fortunately for most of us that day will never come. There are always new chords and scales and tunings and poets and books and music to discover that will take your songwriting in new directions.

At the moment I have released seven albums of original songs.

I love seeing them sitting on the shelf as they are all testaments to different stages in my life. I remember the subject matter, where I was, the musicians I recorded with, the studio and how I was feeling at the time.

Those memories are now sealed inside each and every song I have written and I enjoy looking back and remembering how I felt.

My goal now is to write the next album. And then the next and then the next.

Anything else to add:
I would like to leave this conversation with an excerpt from a poem by Charles Bukowski. I was introduced to his work by a good friend in Leeds, England who I met whilst busking and travelling in the U.K.

This poem is one of three main poems that have inspired me at different stages of my songwriting career. The other two being ‘Song of the Open Road’ by Walt Whitman and ‘Essentials of Spontaneous Prose’ by Jack Kerouac, both of which I highly recommend seeking out and reading.

I’ve just come back from my four day break and I feel all inspired again. It’s amazing how getting away from it all makes you want to get back into songwriting even more.

While I was away I did give my answering machine a bit of a workout though. I manifested six songwriting ideas and they were all waiting for me when I arrived at the office this morning.

Having four days without looking at a computer or using a mobile phone is quite a liberating experience. I didn’t realise how attached I was to my toys until I was without them.

After half a day I experienced all the hallmarks of withdrawl symptoms. I was worrying about who I needed to call, what plans I was making next week, what I needed to do. The chatter in my head was becoming unbearable.

Once I caught myself out I forced myself to stop worrying and start enjoying, and enjoy myself, I did.

What I’ve learnt from the last four days is that I should take a week off at least every three months. I’ve said that to myself in the past but this time I’ve blocked out the time in advance and nothing will stand in it’s way.

Sometimes, you just need to distance yourself from your work.

By giving yourself a well deserved rest you’re telling yourself that you’re loved and validated by the most important person in the world. YOU!

And besides, absence really does make the songwriting heart grow fonder.

Until next time, happy writing,

Corey Stewart
Singer/Songwriter/Musician

Keywords: songwriting, songwriter, songwriting tip, songwriting help, songwriting idea, songwriting resource, songwriting blog, corey stewart