songwriter - guitarist

Why It’s Taking You So Long to Finish Writing a Song

It’s not unusual for songwriters to think back to a time when songwriting seemed a lot easier. Certainly if you look at how long it used to take you to write a song, you may be discouraged to know that what used to take you hours now takes you days, or even longer. That’s not […]

Songwriting - speed writing

A Speedwriting Exercise for Songwriters

The perfect combination: “The Essential Secrets of Songwriting 10-eBook Bundle” and a Study Guide! Dig into the songwriting manuals that thousands of songwriters are using to polish their technique, complete with a study guide to show you how to progress through the materials. If you’re a celebrator of Christmas, you’ve reached that time of year […]

Songwriter with guitar

Spontaneity: Live Performance Vs Studio Recording

I’ve been giving a lot of thought lately to the role of spontaneous musical creation and its role in songwriting. I’ve been writing for many years on this blog about how I believe writing quickly is an important skill in typical songwriting. That’s not at all to say that once you’ve created something quickly, you […]

Ray Charles

The Importance of Silencing Your Inner Critic

You can learn as much about songwriting by listening to bad songs as you can by listening to good ones. And that applies to your own songwriting efforts. In the pop genres, there is something to be said for getting something written as quickly as possible, and then try to figure out if it’s any good. […]

Piano keyboard and guitar

Tips for Songwriters: Avoiding Accidental Plagiarism

Given the few notes within an octave and the millions of songs that have been written using them, accidental plagiarism is a constant companion for most songwriters. Every time you come up with a great songwriting idea — especially something that you really like — you’re immediately wondering if you’ve stolen the idea from an […]

songwriter

However Long It Takes

How long does it take you to write a song? There’s  common opinion amongst songwriters that the quicker it happens, the better it is. Lots of people will brag about how quickly a song came together for them, but there are few who brag about a song that’s taken months or years. In the fairly […]