Songwriting Basics

Don’t obsess Too Much, Just write
A good way to begin your songwriting efforts is to write about a story you’ve seen on the news on television, or read about in a newspaper or magazine. That way you can concentrate on the wording and rhyming of the lyrics without having to worry about thinking of a storyline.  Once you have written the first section or verse, repeat it using different lyrics.  Now examine your song to follow this with a chorus, which should be the catchiest part of the song and it should deliver the main theme or point of the story, the message you are driving home to the listener.

If you are writing without too much of a storyline in your head, once you are writing and the ideas are flowing, don’t stop to critique or question what you’ve written or played, this can be done later, keep it flowing and just write!

Find someone to work with
It can be a good idea to find someone to work with, two heads are better than one, and songwriters very often do this. Sometimes you find that one person contributes more to the music and another to the lyrics, it doesn’t really matter who does what, it just gives you twice the inspiration, ideas and input. Just when you are stuck in a rut and can’t think of any way to move forward, the other person may be on a roll and ideas are abundant, and vice versa.

Keep the song fairly short
A very common mistake that amateur songwriters make is creating songs that are too long! If you listen to current songs in the charts, you will find that most are approximately 3-4 minutes long.  This may be important when starting out in the industry because time constraints will be an issue with regard to airplay, when trying to get your song heard.

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