When you have difficulties writing good music, there can be any number of causes. Often we blame our level of creativity when there are other more likely suspects: fatigue, disorganization, fear of failure, and so on. It’s tricky to blame our level of creativity because we’re inclined to believe that creativity is similar to a pool […]
Do you struggle with the same songwriting issues time and time again? The answer may be at “The Essential Secrets of Songwriting” online store. I occasionally make the following statement when I think people might be listening: You cannot learn to be a songwriter. You can only learn to be a better songwriter. I say […]
You might think that songwriters who create a lyric first are likely to be poets, but that’s not always the case. Some poetry works well as song lyrics, but only if: the poem has universal appeal: it speaks of issues and situations that most people would identify with on some level; the poem taps in to […]
When you ask songwriters to describe their songwriting process, the answer you invariably get is, “It depends…” That’s the answer we tend to expect, and of course it really does depend, doesn’t it? If you are like most songwriters, you’ll find that a short fragment of music will plant itself in your brain, and that […]
It’s easy to see songwriting as a kind of problem-solving activity. The problem? Well, coming up with a finished song of course. And every decision you make – in a sense, every problem you solve – moves you closer to the end product: a completed song. But this kind of activity differs from most other problem-solving activities in the sense […]
It’s not unusual for songwriters to get a song started quickly, and then have everything slow down. You might start with a flurry of ideas that all come together with ease, and it can be exciting. But then you’ll notice the excitement fading a bit as you struggle to put things together – to make a final […]
