Songwriting Process
An Insight Into Sting’s Songwriting Process – Video
I stumbled across this old video of Jools Holland interviewing Sting (circa early 80′s) today and it gives a brilliant insight into the way that Sting gathers, processes and demos his songwriting ideas before introducing it to the rest of the Police band members
Even though the video primarily focuses on how he come up with “Message In A Bottle” (one of my all time favourite songs) there are plenty of pearls of wisdom to be had if you listen for it.
Look out for the introduction of Dennis as one of the central characters in his songwriting process.
I loved every minute of this video especially the old recording technology I mean, I used to have one of those Tascam 4 track machines (ahh, memories). I hope you enjoyed it too, let me know what you think.
Until next time, happy writing,
Corey Stewart
Singer/Songwriter/Musician
Keywords: sting, the police, jools holland, songwriting, songwriter, songwriting tip, songwriting idea, songwriting process, songwriting blog, songwriting zen, corey stewart
Egg Timers & The Songwriting Process
Now that FAWM (February Album Writing Month – 14 songs in 28 days) has officially started it’s really important to find ways to make time to develop your songwriting ideas into completed songs. As you would already know, I’m a huge advocate of building a songwriting ideas archive and constantly fine tuning your songwriting process.
For quite a while now I’ve been adding to and maintaining quite a substantial songwriting ideas archive of my own and the challenge I’m faced with now is that I have so many songwriting ideas at my disposal, I don’t know which one to start with first.
I’m becoming paralysed by too much choice. Hmmm, maybe the answer lies in randomness and restriction. Confused? Ok, let me explain.
In my experience, I’ve found that giving yourself all the time in the world to complete something allows the beastie called procrastination and your inner critic to join forces and provide you with (what seem to be) very valid reasons for not doing what your supposed to be doing.
If you restrict yourself to a deadline then your focus becomes much stronger and your procrastination/inner critic dialogue becomes less obvious. That’s the restriction part of the equation now what about the randomness part?
The randomness comes from picking any songwriting idea at random to start with. An example would be that I take a page full of possible song titles (see picture above) and pick one at random. Then, I set a timer for 10 minutes and in that time I start building on the randomly chosen songwriting idea.
Once the 10 minutes is up I determine whether I have sufficiant momentum to keep going. If not I start the process again with another randomly chosen songwriting idea from my archive.
The timer I’ll use will either be one of a few online timers or this wonderful example (see picture below). Whichever way I go it will make for an interesting outcome.
Here are the steps again for you to consider:
1. Pick a songwriting idea from your archive at random
2. Set your timer for 10 minutes and start expanding the songwriting idea
3. After 10 minutes if you’re going with the flow then keep going. If not, repeat process with another randomly chosen songwriting idea
Give it a go and see what happens and if you’re not registered with FAWM yet then consider doing so because deadlines are sometimes good for you.
Until next time, happy writing,
Corey Stewart
Singer/Songwriter/Musician
PS: Feel free to download my FREE eReport “11 Ways To Eliminate (Song) Writers Block FOREVER” if you need a little help getting out of a rut.
Keywords: songwriting idea, songwriting process, songwriting, songwriter, songwriting tip, songwriting help, songwriting zen, songwriting blog, corey stewart
FAWM Is Approaching – Are You In?
“You can’t wait for inspiration. You have to go after it with a club.” — Jack London
It’s almost that time of year again where we sharpen up our pencils, clean out our ears, tune up our instruments, calibrate our home recording equipment and prepare ourselves to test our songwriting processes to an inch of its life.
Yes, it’s FAWM time.
For those who don’t know, FAWM stands for February Album Writing Month and the deal is, to write an albums worth of material in the month of February, which is set at 14 songs in 28 days. You can find out more about this brilliant songwriting concept by going to www.fawm.org.
On the FAWM website it describes the concept in this way:
“This is the club. Each February, FAWM.ORG forges a collaborative
community where thousands of musicians of all walks and skill levels
write an album’s worth of material in the shortest month of the year.
That’s roughly one tune every other day. “Fawmers” are a mix of music
professionals, students, homemakers, and folks who work dayjobs but
rock nightclubs.”
The website is easy to navigate and is very straightforward with its information. My suggestion is that you sign up (it’s free, no catch) and participate. Later on in the year they also run something called 50/90 (50 Songs In 90 Days) but we’ll cross that bridge when the time comes.
There is no real point to FAWM. It’s not a contest and no-one gets judged, it’s a concept which tests us as songwriters. How is our songwriting process? Are we ready to tackle inspiration, the muse head-on?
I’m going to give it a go, are you? Let me know if you do.
Until next time, happy writing,
Corey Stewart
Singer/Songwriter/Musician
Keywords: fawm, 50/90, songwriting, songwriter, songwriting tip, songwriting process, songwriting idea, songwriting help, songwriting zen, songwriting blog, corey stewart
Inspiration Through Change
Just wanted to let you know how things were going with the changing of my work/creative space.
After getting my home office/music room set up the way I wanted, my next step is to reformat both my admin and audio computers.
I have been very busy over the last few days but now I’m at the stage in which I can start working and creating again.
Another resolution I made for 2009 was to attempt to use open source software as much as I can in my working and creative life. I’ve installed Kubuntu on my admin system and Ubuntu Studio on my audio system.
Kubuntu is working fine and I now have my computer looking like an open source version of my old Windows XP install however, what I’m most keen to have a closer look at is Ubuntu Studio.
Ubuntu Studio is a stand alone audio, graphics and video suite that is 100% open source.
It’s its own operating system with a very long list of features and programs included in the package. I promise I’ll keep you all informed on my progress, learning and using Ubuntu Studio.
The reason why I’m telling you this is because, through changing my work/creative environment and now completing the computer reistallations I’ve given myself a new lease of creativity and freedom.
I’m excited again and ready to get back into writing songs again with much gusto.
The old adage of “a change is as good as a holiday” rings very true in my life at the moment but to achieve the same effect in your songwriting process doesn’t mean you have to make any drastic changes.
In her article “Time For Change – Expanding Your Songwriting Process” Andrea Stolpe says that changing your songwriting process often is important because “keeping the ideas fresh and flowing often requires a lot of flexibility. It’s easy to suddenly find ourselves in a dead space, a plateau where all the shimmer is gone from our ideas”
Some recommendations she makes are:
- If you write music first, try words first (and vice versa)
- Try writing on piano instead of guitar
- Let your musicality take over
- Write little motifs, and songwriting ideas
- Get out of your comfort zone
Just as changing my whole way of doing business and being creative (new environment/new operating system) has sparked inspiration and excitement you too can give yourself and your songwriting a fresh start just by doing something a little different.
Inspiration through change. Hmmm, has a nice ring to it.
Until next time, happy writing,
Corey Stewart
Singer/Songwriter/Musician
Keywords: kubuntu, ubuntu studio, open source, songwriting, songwriter, songwriting tip, songwriting idea, songwriting blog, songwriting resource, corey stewart
Using A Thesaurus To Conquer Songwriters Block
I believe that as songwriters we need to do whatever it takes to get our songwriting ideas out of our heads and onto paper.
I started Songwriting Zen to document the many different tips, tricks and techniques that can be used to enhance the songwriting process.
I have written about using a Thesaurus in an earlier post called “Songwriting Tools – Rhyming Dictionary & Thesaurus” however, I came across an article by Orlando Gutierrez from www.songwriteradvisor.com, detailing the way he uses a thesaurus to help him write songs.
The article is called “Songwriting Help For Songwriters’ Block”. I hope you get as much out of it as I did.
By Orlando Gutierrez
Few songwriters use thesauruses during the songwriting process, thinking it’s either a form of cheating, it ruins their natural creativity making lyrics sound forced, or simply because they don’t own a copy of one!
But a thesaurus offers the most songwriting help when it comes to songwriters block and there are actually several techniques on how to use it.
First, I assure you it’s not a form of cheating. Furthermore, when used properly, a handful of related words fished from a thesaurus for a given theme can open your mind up to possibilities you would never think of on your own.
Guess what happens after that? Yep, your natural creativity follows, springing ideas from each useful word you can find.
Plain lines become original and interesting, small ideas turn into larger ones with perhaps alternate story lines or feelings for your song themes, and you ultimately become more and more creative on your own as you write each song.
I call that totally original with a helpful push!
By using a thesaurus correctly, you can actually get rid of writers block forever. Understand, however, that you’re going to have better songwriting sessions than others, but you will certainly not fall into writers block!
Next time you proclaim, “Help, I’ve got songwriters block. I need some songwriting help,” don’t feel so frustrated. We’ve all been there and share your pain.
Use this awesome “use-a-thesaurus-to-get-rid-of-writers-block” tip to get you started on the right track, and you’ll be on your way to getting rid of songwriters block forever:
1. Pick a theme for your song. (i.e., let’s say your song theme is something plain like, “I feel so alive because I’m in love with this person”).
2. Pick an interesting or even bland word from your song theme (i.e., the words feel, alive, and love stand out, so we’ll pick the most interesting one first- “alive”). Don’t worry if the original word is bland. One average word brings others to life!
3. Look in your thesaurus or use an online thesaurus such as Rhymezone, and find related words to the word “alive” while thinking of your theme.
These are the related words I found in Rhymezone: aware, awake, vital, give, exist, breathing, life, remember.
4. Now write down these words in a single column on the left side of a paper.
5. Repeat the process with every single related word retrieved from the word “alive”, starting with “aware”, keep building your word list , and keep writing each word until you have two to four columns.
6. Now you have a worksheet to pick words from, which will naturally spring ideas as they relate to your song theme!
As an example let’s review the original words we found on Rhymezone from the word “alive”: aware, awake, vital, give, exist, breathing, life, remember.
Here are four original, interesting lines quickly sprung from this process:
I keep staying awake
Too aware of my breathing
My pulse is amplifying
Everything I’m feeling
It took less than 1 minute. These lines are definitely keepers and can definitely be the start of a solid song. There are some added words not on the list (last two lines), but that’s the whole idea!
These words naturally came to me by using the other words. Mr. Thesaurus once again to the rescue!
Orlando Gutierrez is a former Warner/Chappell Staff songwriter who dedicates most of his time to his website, www.songwriteradvisor.com, in order to provide innovative songwriting tips and techniques to give songwriters an edge over the competition in an ever-changing music industry.
Look at the free 7-step songwriting blueprint, and sign up for your free monthly newsletter “Tune Sleuth” today at www.songwriteradvisor.com
© Copyright – Orlando Gutierrez – All Rights Reserved Worldwide.
Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Orlando_Gutierrez
I’ve always felt that when used correctly, the thesaurus could be a powerful songwriting tool but after reading this article I now know for sure that a thesaurus needs to be an essential tool to help with your songwriting process.
Just in case you feel a little blocked from time to time.
Until next time, happy writing,
Corey Stewart
Singer/Songwriter/Musician
Keywords: thesaurus, songwriting, songwriter, songwriting tip, songwriting idea, songwriting help, songwriting blog, songwriting idea, songwriting process, corey stewart
My Personal Songwriting Process – A Recap
I held a workshop for SCALA (Songwriters, Composers and Lyricists Association) some time ago about “dissecting the songwriting process”.
From doing the workshop I was able to summarize my own songwriting process into bite size pieces. A very handy exercise for someone like myself who, at times tends to make things more complicated than they should be.
The workshop was also personally beneficial because it gave me an opportunity to hear how other songwriters put their songs together from the initial songwriting idea to the organization of their finished product.
From reading my blog posts you would certainly gather that I am a huge believer of the ‘writing for writing sake’ principle. I’m obsessive about having to get what is in my head out onto paper.
By using a songwriting process gathering ideas becomes an automatic thing, leaving me more time to be creative, not creatively administrative.
Here is the summary of my songwriting process:
1. Have the right tools available
Nothing beats a beat-up tape recorder and an A4 writing pad and pen. The simplest songwriting tools around.
2. Make time to write
Even if it’s 15 minutes a day between finishing breakfast and going to work. Make time!!
3. Have an open mind
Be open to anything. You don’t know where the next songwriting idea will come from.
4. Let yourself go
Don’t become preoccupied with past or future. For the amount of time you have set for yourself to write you are totally “in the now”.
5. Develop a single-minded focus
If you decide that an idea is worth developing into a song and you’re happy with it so far, then focus your attention on creating a song from the idea.
6. Remember, perfection does not exist
It doesn’t have to be perfect. If you need to re-write the draft do it because it needs it not because you have to.
7. Ask lots of questions
Writing lyrics is all about exploring a story or a concept. Ask lots of questions like “does this new idea need to be in this song?” will keep you on track.
8. Walk away if need be
If it’s not flowing, just walk away and come back to the song. There is no rule that says a song needs to be finished in one sitting.
9. Have fun
Go off into tangent, run with a songwriting idea to see where it leads you. If it leads nowhere then reflect on the journey.
10. Practise, practise, practise
Any process needs to be repeated to be made automatic. Practise often.
Your songwriting process can be whatever you want it to be however, if you’re serious about having the ability to write songs, you need to start looking at how you organize yourself.
Until next time, happy writing,
Corey Stewart
Singer/Songwriter/Musician
Keywords: songwriting, songwriter, songwriting idea, songwriting help, songwriting blog, songwriting tip, songwriting process, corey stewart
Expanding On Your Possible Song Titles
As mentioned in an earlier article “brainstorming possible song titles” I brainstorm words and phrases for 30 minutes at a time, making sure that for every list I do I put the date on top so I know which list to look at first.
After doing this exercise 2-3 times a week for a few weeks you should have accumulated a very large list of possible song titles to glean some sort of inspiration from.
Now is the time to start writing some songs. Here’s what you should do with your possible song titles list:
1. Take the earliest lists and look them over again.
Pretend you’re looking at the song titles on the inside sleeve of a CD cover. Say the phrases out loud taking special note of the melody and the rhythm of the words.
Is there anything on your list that shouts at you “I belong in your song”?
2. Once you spot a title, grab the phrase and write it on the top of a fresh page.
You’re now going to start expanding on a random idea of your choosing.
3. Start brainstorming ideas from the word or phrase.
Lets take the example of “Scrambled Eggs”. What does the title remind you of or, what images does the title conjure up for you?
breakfast
morning
waking up
dreaming
family eating together
sun through the kitchen window
the weekend
being glad to be alive
You are starting to make a list of word pictures and associations from the phrase. This will be the beginnings of the skeleton structure of the song lyric itself.
4. Find the story/central theme
Is there a melodic or lyrical hook that you can use to underpin a chorus? Will the possible song title be enough of a hook for the song? Can you see a story or central idea of the song developing from your brainstorming?
From the list above I can see a first verse already.
I wake up in the morning
From a dream that left me warm
Sunlight shines through my window
As I walk into the kitchen
My family eating breakfast
Tells me it’s good to be alive
(Ok, I didnt say it was going to be good)
Can you see how some of the words (or the inference of those words) in the list above made it into a verse?
5. Marry up the brainstorming ideas and the central theme and start creating the song
Continue with the expansion of your brainstorming. Don’t be too concerned with song format as all you’re doing at the moment is fleshing out the songs lyrical skeleton. Aim for completing three verses and a chorus using this method.
Remember, this is still a first draft with no music or melody attached to it.
6. Fine tuning the draft
If, in your lyrical brainstorming you’ve come across a rhythmic motif or melody for your song, you can use as the basis of the song arrangement. If not, then you need to start from scratch.
How music is put to lyrics depends on the individual songwriter. There is much to-ing and fro-ing between the musical arrangement and the lyrical content with each element of the song making room for the other.
If you need to do more than one draft of your song to complete it, then so be it. At the end of the day there is no right or wrong way to complete a song.
Until next time, happy writing,
Corey Stewart
Singer/Songwriter/Musician
Keywords: songwriting,songwriter, songwriting tip, songwriting help, songwriting idea, songwriting blog, songwriting resource, corey stewart
Songwriting Process – How I Do It
“Writing a song is like fishing. You have to bait the hook to get a bite.” – CS
I thought it was about time I put onto paper how I get my songwriting ideas. What works for me may not work for you but give it a go anyway. If it does work for you then let me know.
Ok, let’s go fishing.
1. Make sure that you have a tape recorder/dictaphone and notepad handy.
You’re about to bait your hook and throw the line in so you better have an audio and written recording device ready when the songwriting idea bites your hook
2. Pick up your instrument of choice, and start noodling.
What I mean by noodling is, don’t play anything in particular just improvise. Let your creative juices start flowing. Dont worry if what you are playing sounds like something else and dont worry if you are playing your favourite chords.
Just enjoy the moments between you and your instrument. You have just thrown your line into the sea of infinite songwriting ideas.
If you feel like singing some improvised, non-sensical lyrics to accompany your noodlings that’s fine too. Engage yourself in the rhythm of the words not the meaning of the words. If some meaning comes out of it, that’s a bonus
3. Pay attention to what you play. Be prepared to go off on tangents.
The more you noodle you’ll notice that what seems familiar at first will become less so. If you stumble across something which makes you say to yourself “ooh, that sounds nice”, run with it, explore it.
This leads to the next step.
4. Stop noodling and start exploring.
You’ve got a bite. A songwriting idea has taken your bait. Now is the time to reel it in and make some sense of it. Play it over and over again. What you’re doing here is formulating a skeleton structure of the songwriting idea.
5. Put it onto tape and write down the chords on paper
Start playing the songwriting idea onto tape. If in your noodling you were singing some nonsensical gobbledigook at the same time and some lyrical hook comes into mind then write that down. If anything, it will enable you to tell one songwriting idea apart from another.
6. Leave it alone and start noodling again. Go back to step 1.
What you’ve put onto tape is not meant to be a completed masterpiece. It is the concrete beginnings of a songwriting idea. Put it down and go onto the next one because the time to refine the idea is not now, it’s later.
When you are fishing you dont catch a fish and then stop everything to prepare it to be eaten. You store the fish and continue. It’s the same with songwriting ideas.
How long you want to keep fishing is totally up to you.
As I mentioned before this is the way I gather my songwriting ideas. It may not work for everyone but it works for me. I would be interested what people think of it so if you have any questions and/or feedback then feel free to let me know.
And another thing, dont be concerned with getting a result. If you start noodling and all you do is noodle then that’s fine. You can always try again next time.
Practice makes perfect but the most important thing is perfecting your songwriting process not the end result.
Until next time, happy writing,
Corey Stewart
Singer/Songwriter/Musician
Keywords: songwriting, songwriter, songwriting help, songwriting idea, songwriting tip, songwriting blog, songwriting resource, corey stewart
There’s Nothing Wrong With Re-Writing Your Songs
Lets be honest here. I don’t know of any songwriter that likes the thought of re-writing their work.
You hear stories of songs that “almost wrote themselves”. Hit songs that were written in ten minutes, in one sitting. I wonder how many times it actually happens that way?
Imagine being an author for a moment.
The average word-count for a novel is between 60 and 100 thousand words. Add to the mix the fact that a writer will complete at least three drafts of a manuscript before submitting it to a publisher . It’s safe to say that there’s a lot of work involved in creating an end result.
And we, as songwriters are worried about re-writing a four minute song.
Let me ask you this? What is the purpose of the songwriting process? It’s certainly not to write a song in the shortest space of time and in the first attempt.
It’s to create the best song possible at the time with the information and the tools at your disposal.
I used to think that once you finished writing a song, that was it. To me, the concept of re-writing something that came from my heart meant that I had failed as a songwriter.
Not so.
I was introduced to the concept of re-writing songs a while back through a writer friend of mine whilst having a conversation comparing what I did as a songwriter to what he did as an author.
I told him that I would normally spend a decent amount of time getting a song completed and then I would leave it to go onto the next thing I was doing.
Being a singer/songwriter I write songs to perform to my audience. I wanted to come up with something new for every gig. I was having way too much fun being creative to worry about editing my songs to make them more listenable.
What my friend was saying was that there should be an extra step in my songwriting process. The editing stage.
He made the point that songwriters, like authors, should look at their creations as a series of drafts. Some songs will need less editing and some will need more.
This to me made a lot of sense.
Since that conversation, I’ve got out my old songbooks and started to go through every song I’ve written looking for ways in which my songs can be improved or edited down.
It’s amazing what I have discovered through doing this exercise. Things such as:
1. Lyrics that can be changed
For me, there are always one or two lines of a song that can be strengthened. Sometime I read through a song and I notice myself cringing at a line. That is the time to change it for something better.2. Better chord structures that fit in with my melodies
This happens with older songs I have written in which the musical knowledge I have now was much more than what is was back then. I’m using what I have learned along the way to the songs advantage.3. Changing song formating
Some of my songs are crying out for a bridge or a pre-chorus that I had not even considered before. This is the time to write them.4. Songs having too many ideas or confusing messages
Some of my songs need to be simplified and in doing so I have even written another song from that.What a bonus!
When you think about it, your songbook is an aural version of a photographers portfolio. It’s good songwriting practise to look over your completed songs from time to time with a new set of ears and edit and adjust as necessary.
It’s done wonders for me.
Until next time, happy writing,
Corey Stewart
Singer/Songwriter/Musician
Keywords: songwriting, songwriter, writing, songwriting tip, songwriting help, songwriting technique, songwriting idea, songwriting resource, songwriting blog, corey stewart
Don’t Force It! Let Your Songs Happen Naturally
Let’s clarify something here. Having a songwriting process does not mean that you force yourself to write songs.
Nothing gets done if you force things. It goes against nature itself.
In nature, changes happen in their own time and at their own pace. Things grow, evolve, breathe and become whatever they are designed to be.
The problem with us humans is that we try to hurry things along because we feel that nature moves too slow for us.
Its the same with songwriting.
With the songwriting process, all we’re trying to do is to get a constant flow of ideas happening and from there, songs will appear and develop.
We achieve this flow by writing without concentrating on the end result. When we engage ourselves in our songwriting process we are already moving towards completing a song.
This is automatic.
Have you noticed that when you sit down in front of a blank piece of paper and say to yourself “I am going to write a song now” you immediately put yourself under pressure to do just that.
Straight away your inner voice starts talking to you, saying things like “ok, it better be good” or “are you sure you have something to write about” or “don’t you have something more important to do right now?”
More often than not we give into our inner voices and find reasons not to write. This is where the writers block cycle starts.
If you look at each day of your life as a means creating possible songwriting ideas you’ll incorporate songwriting as a part of what you do, just like getting up in the morning.
If, in your day to day songwriting activity you become inspired to finish a song then great. If nothing comes from the activity then, great. You’re still doing what you love..
Can you see where I am going with this?
Don’t force songs to come out, get out of your own way and let them happen and they will appear soon enough.
Remember, it doesn’t matter what you write it just matters that you write. Doing this will allow your songs to breathe, grow and evolve from the ideas that you come up with.
Have faith in yourself because you are a songwriter and writing songs is in your nature.
Until next time, happy writing,
Corey Stewart
Singer/Songwriter/Musician
Keywords: songwriting, songwriter, writing, songwriting tip, songwriting idea, songwriting help, songwriting technique, writing songs, corey stewart
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