Songwriting Tips

We are all aware that the art (is it a craft too? please comment..) of songwriting, either creating the riffs, chords, beat or the melody as far as the music is concerned, and the writing of the lyrics - the basic techniques, rhyming elements and how to create structure is something you can learn.

Then again, looking at it from another perspective, the business has often been influenced by instinct and gut (i.e. wayward punk rockers like the Sex Pistols) and others who take the industry by storm. I just love this angle, diversity is fantastic, but it's not what I want to talk about today, I think the mainstream media is now taking the spotlight.

In particular it's the Britain's Got Talent, X factor influence - market pressure... the public wants what the public gets! Even in traditional sectors like classical music (I know ELO already crossed that barrier wonderfully in the past). I have to agree with Simon Cowell when he said:
"Escala just turned classical music on its head"
Take a look at this:


Leona Lewis is world class and we should be so proud of her, but I will now stop rambling and leave you with the news to digest... and I would love to hear your thoughts!
From Yahoo News:
Week Ending November 14th 2009
Posted Mon 9 Nov 2009 9:21AM GMT by James Masterton in Chart Watch UK

I don't know why I feel the need to keep apologising for it, but once again the influence of the all-conquering X Factor TV show is all over the UK singles chart this week. Westlife's failure to reach the top last week may have broken the pattern slightly, but for the third time in a row the fate of the Number One single is directly linked to a performance on the Sunday night results show.

Step forward then JLS who bring the two week reign of Cheryl Cole to a slightly premature end. The foursome have already had one chart-topper this year with 'Beat Again', but it is almost certainly thanks to their X Factor performance that the 2008 runners up make it two in a row with brand new single 'Everybody In Love'. Heralding the release of their debut album which hits the shops this week. Musically speaking 'Everybody In Love' is actually a far more appealing pop track than its predecessor and debuts at the top with another six figure weekly sale, the 120,000 copies the track sold last we beating even the 106,000 sale achieved by 'Beat Again' in its first week back in July.

We also should take time to note once more the remarkable number of acts who have topped the singles chart with two different tracks in 2009. The tally now stands at eight, with JLS having added themselves to a list which already included Lady Gaga, Flo Rida, Tinchy Stryder, Black Eyed Peas, Dizzee Rascal, Pixie Lott and David Guetta.

Not that Cheryl Cole has too much to complain about really this week. Another hefty sale for 'Fight For This Love' makes it the seventh single this year to sell over half a million copies and she still reigns supreme at Number One on the album chart with '3 Words'. Her closest challengers in this race were Bon Jovi with new album 'The Circle', the group just happening to appear on a certain reality TV show last weekend to plug their new release. It is the third Number 2 album in a row for the veteran rock band following 'Have A Nice Day' in 2005 and 'Lost Highway' in 2007. They haven't topped the album chart since 2000 release 'Crush'. On the singles chart they fare slightly less well, perhaps something of a surprise given that their new single was the track they performed (in an admittedly bowdlerised form) on the X Factor show last weekend. 'We Weren't Born To Follow' makes its chart debut at a rather lowly Number 25, an improvement at least on the Number 33 peak of their last hit '(You Want To) Make A Memory' in 2007 but a long way short of adding to their impressive tally of Top 10 hit singles. Maybe there is only a limited amount of X Factor magic to go around after all.

Songwriting Tips - Tip 1 - If you don't know where to start:
Writing songs is a very subjective activity, at least initially. What I mean by this is that you should write from the heart the story you are trying to tell, without worrying about rhyming, structure or any details at all. This applies to the writing of the lyrics and also writing the music itself. You can look over the details later on and refine any or all aspects of your work with from an objective perspective. If you do this from the beginning you may be stifling your artistic ability.

Songwriting Tips - Tip 2 - Help with content:
Make sure that you keep all of the ideas, drafts and notes that you have ever done. Whilst you may not use them at this time they may be a godsend when you are struggling for inspiration or needing just a few tweaks to another piece of work in the future. Do plenty of reading and maybe have a go at writing poetry. Work on your grammar and increase your vocabulary. Make use of a dictionary and thesaurus. Most importantly of all, practice, over and over again.

Songwriting Tips - Tip 3 - Self confidence:
Do not be self-critical or think that your song or story may be silly! We all do this, especially when new or trying to gain credibility within the industry, but the thing is that everyone is different and will have a different view of your work. You will never please all of the people all of the time! Besides, take a look at some of the lyrics out there, you know, the successful hit records, it's really quite astonishing when you take away the music and just sit and read the lyrics, some of them barely make sense, never mind tell a story!

Songwriting Tips - Tip 4 - A different approach:
Try something different now and again, a breath of fresh air, just for a change if you are getting bored of the same old same old. This approach would also be very useful for when you have writers block or are truly out of ideas or inspiration. An example is Kate Bush's Wuthering Heights, which was a novel by Emily Bronte. This was a truly wonderful and original song, unleashed on an unsuspecting British public, it was her debut single and stayed at number one for a month!

I have looked at many online courses for learning how to write a song. For my best recommendations click here: Songwriting Tips