A song demo is exactly that – a demo!  This is why they are and SHOULD BE far less expensive than a recording for a CD release.  Therefore, what you want to look for instead of a company promising you a “radio-ready” recording with all the bells and whistles, is a company that’ll be able to provide a clean, pro-
sounding recording to give your song the best possible chance.
 
To find a great song demo service you’ll need to start right in your own hometown!  Take the time to contact and visit studios performing these services in your area, ask to hear examples of their work, and try to establish some type of rapport or relationship with them so they can take you more seriously and
not see you as JUST ANOTHER CUSTOMER.  

There are many studios offering excellent demo services but you have to do much initial legwork to find one that works for your songwriting goals.  This involves comparing several companies before making a decision. If you don’t have any companies offering these services in your vicinity, then as a last resort
you may have to consider an online demo service, but you should proceed with caution.

Demo services are very competitively priced these days and many offer flat rates with optional costs such as background singers, extra instruments, etc.  Starting rates vary from as low as approximately $100.00 to $800.00 per song, and you generally get what you pay for!  Recording is not cheap, and if you’re not a music producer or an arranger, remember, these companies try to provide all of these services as inexpensively as possible in one package! 

Beware, there are companies out there that give legitimate ones a bad name by drawing you in and charging you extra with each visit to cover what they say are their increasing recording costs.  Songwriters and other musicians have found themselves in a bad situation where they’ve literally spent hundreds with no decent product to show for it.  Negotiate a flat fee with a demo service, get it in writing, and stick to it!

Also, when you do find a demo service you want to try,it’s wise to commit to only ONE RECORDING AT A TIME.  Remember, this is a business, and demo companies need your business, so some will try to make you commit to more than one recording because it benefits them! 

Keep total control by recording only one song at a time until its completion-this way, if for any reason you are dissatisfied with your first recording, you can pick up and go elsewhere and you will not have needlessly wasted money on other songs.

Of course, the best possible scenario when recording your songs would be to do it yourself in your own home studio.  Recording setups have become increasingly more inexpensive and if you’re planning on chasing a professional songwriting career, it would be wise to try your hand at production even if it means being able to record only a piano or guitar/vocal of your songs.  By choosing this route you can actually save yourself the $1500 or so you would have spent on a three song demo, and instead use that to build your own songwriting studio in your own home!

Many amateur and pro songwriters have their own little home studio setup with some of the equipment or similar items shown on this page:
http://www.songwriteradvisor.com/build-your-studio.html

The only drawback to having your own studio is it takes few months to really learn your equipment and make effective recordings.  But in the end, it can be the best investment you’ll ever make in your songwriting career-you’ll never have to pay for a song demo service ever again!

In this installment of advanced songwriting tips, I’ll show you how some songs can sound absolutely phenomenal with just a voice and an accompanying instrumentsuch as guitar or piano.  Some songs can come through perfectly with merely arpeggiated chords played straightforward with a simple vocal arrangement, but these are rare, and most songs end up needing that extra special ingredient to make them stand out as worthy songs.

There are many flavorful ingredients you can add to your songs once you have the basic chords and melody in place.  So dust off your songwriting spice rack, add the following flavors, and watch your listeners start to drool with hungry anticipation and delight during your next open mike night as you cook up the place with these tips:

1.  Start your song with a “hooky” melodic intro for a few bars before you get to the first verse.  This will make people grip the underside of their chairs as they smell the unmistakable aroma of an interesting song and hold on for what they believe will be a magical ride! 

You can use the same underlying instrumental part you use in the verse, chorus, any other section, or you can pick out a totally different chord-structured prelude that takes the audience on a musical journey before arriving at the first verse. 

To illustrate one step further, if you play the guitar, hold chord shapes while you fingerpick or flatpick a distinctive melody, or with piano, let your left hand hold chord shapes while you play motifs with your right hand.  Try to make chord transitions as smoothly as possible.  This can take lots of practice and rehearsal but it’s well worth the payoff when you see the crowd appreciate your one man band that sounds like there are two players.

2.  You’ve got to strike people in the chest with the first line of your verse or they’ll turn away, make an excuse to go potty, or worse yet, shout from the top of the bar, “That’s brutal.”  Man, what a tough crowd!

If you’re singing a ballad, play the intro with much feeling and when you hit the first verse, let the song breathe by varying the vocal and instrument dynamics.  Then intensify your song as it reaches the first chorus and seal the deal by almost letting it all hang out when the chorus appears.  Try not to go totally overboard during your first chorus.

You want to save even a little more intensity for the second and third chorus, so you can take your listeners on a mountain climbing journey where they can dream about what awaits them on the other side when you reach the top!  Also note that using intensity doesn’t have to mean you have to sing at the top of your lungs.  It can come in the form of vocal inflection, the meaning of  lyrics in certain parts, or the instruments to name a few.

If the song is midtempo or uptempo, play and sing the verses softer than the chorus if your song calls for it so you can take advantage of contrast, which will help hold the listeners attention. 

3.  During the verses, try using an interesting melodic line with your instrument underneath the vocal instead of merely arpeggiating your chord shapes.  By repeating a certain motif while you sing, you can add a wonderful liqueur flavor to your song that’ll have them begging to taste more of your songs and the bar owner will be jumping for joy in his office behind the one-way mirror!

When you get to the chorus, change up the motif by playing a different line, perhaps in quicker fashion.

4.  If you’re using a prechorus in your song, make sure you arrange your song so that everyone feels the prechorus’s intensity rising.

You can achieve this by adding more chords, by varying the percussive feel, by singing  quicker phrases, etc.

5.  Your chorus can shine if you make use of repetition in certain parts, through louder dynamics, a different harmony and/or rhythm, and by different chord structure.  The chorus must stand out like a big T-bone steak sizzling to perfection in the chef’s kitchen, and you’ve got one chance to really spice it up with your favorite condiments, so don’t waste that chance!

Finally, take the time to work out an arrangement for every one of your songs.  This is the mark of a true professional, or, if you’re an amateur or hobbyist, it’s the mark of a dedicated one.

There’s nothing that impresses most record label executives than a singer-songwriter who can dazzle an audience with nothing but an instrument such as a guitar or piano, and an expressive voice!

Stay tuned for more advanced songwriting tips!

Oftentimes, while writing song lyrics, we’re stuck for coming up with just the right lyrics in a certain area of a song.  We bang our heads against the wall in frustration thinking, “Why is it so difficult to come up with one measly line?”  This really becomes a pain when the producer or band mate suddenly says during a recording, “Dude, that line isn’t working, we have to change it.” 

What this means is in their opinion either the line doesn’t flow with the song, it’s weak, or it’s in a place where a killer line could really drive it home and make the song really special.

For most songwriters, the melody tends to be a little easier to construct because it usually happens without having to think too much; and therein lies the problem!  While writing song lyrics, struggling to come up with that killer line, we usually over-think.

Next time you hit a snag for a certain lyrical phrase, line, or lines, put yourself on the right track by placing focus on these questions and outlining your idea before; what is the song about, what angle can I possibly add to this area that I already haven’t used, and in what direction do I want to take this song? 

For example, if the singer has already expressed how happy they are in a relationship in the 1st verse, how they hope it continues in the 2nd, and now you’re having trouble coming up with a few lines in a bridge or perhaps a little phrase at the end of a breakdown, here’s what you can do? 

Think of a natural progression as it applies in real life, instead of trying to come up with a forced, clever line that doesn’t fit the flavor of the song. 

Off the top of my head, here are the ideas that come to me:

a).  they may have had trouble in the relationship in the past but the singer is glad it’s all behind them now

b).  the singer can’t imagine a life without the other person

etc., etc., the list is endless!

Once you have the idea, take the line or lines before and after the one you’re trying to create, and figure out the rhyme scheme.

For example, using the same example of the song idea above in perhaps an R&B/Pop Song (I’ll use – (a).  they may have had trouble in the relationship in the past but the singer is glad it’s all behind them now), when we get to the bridge, here’s what it might look like:

————————————————-

I know we’ve run into trouble
………………………………….
I wanna’ take you far away but close enough to make this last

————————————————-

I’m looking for a killer line in between the other two lines to round this out.  Logically, I’m thinking of the obvious idea that comes to me, which has something to do with “putting everything in the past”

So, taking that idea, I get:

————————————————- 

{Bridge}

Although we’ve been struck by trouble before
We’ve held strong and put it in the past
Hold on while I take you far, far away
I’ll keep you close enough to make this last
I’ll be your last…

{Final Chorus}

The words I changed and the line I added are in bold; notice how simple the lyrics are and how nicely the missing line fit into the group.  Also notice how I changed some of the words to make the lines stronger and added another line at the end to make it shine! 

Finally, remember some times the great line or phrase can come out of thin air.  Indeed, some songwriters are masters at coming up with “great lines on the fly.”  By using the tip in this article I have no doubt you’ll get better at this technique while writing song lyrics at a moment’s notice, and eventually you’ll be able to instinctively find the line you’re looking for, without having to think too much!

I know I don’t only speak for myself when I say I can’t live without holiday music this time of the year. There are so many timeless, classic songs written by some of the greatest songwriters ever, and nothing spreads happiness like a holiday tune!

Why not try your hand at creating your very own holiday song whether it be Christmas, Hanukkah, etc.?

Uptempo holiday songs are generally happy (think: Holly Jolly Christmas, Jingle Bells, All I Want For Christmas is You) bouncy and sing-songy; almost corny and cheesy! But hey! This is holiday music; we’re here to spread cheer, and it gives us songwriters a chance to be silly and catchy with our creations.

In holiday songs anything goes as far as chord structure. One common, effective technique is to use the I7 chord right before going into the chorus or another song section (e.g., in the key of G, that chord would be G7).

Here’s a great little word list you can add your own words to, by using the principles outlined in the Rhymezone song word-building guide to create a holiday song.

Happy holidays!

The following is a really helpful article originally published in the October “Tune Sleuth” Newsletter.

If you’re still having trouble learning how to write songs even with so much information on SongwriterAdvisor.com and SongwriterAdvisor.com Blog, it’s probably because you don’t have a clear learning path laid out before you.

Most website articles are usually meant to focus on a solution for one specific area, and much of the responsibility is unfairly left to the reader to piece together and make sense of the information.

For those of you who haven’t yet had success or aren’t happy with your songwriting progress thus far, don’t be discouraged!  Let’s take this one step at a time so we can get you on the right track.

Follow this plan:

1.  First, read our beginner songwriting blueprint at: http://www.squidoo.com/beginner-songwriting-tips and familiarize or re-familiarize yourself with the basic sections of a song.

2.  Now take it one step further and download your free copy of “Beginner Songwriting Made Easy,” as a reference for the following entries below.

3.  Most songwriters get stuck before they even attempt to write anything because they simply don’t know what to write about! So, at this point, think of a simple STORY LINE you want your song to be about and write a sentence outlining your whole song idea.  Make it really simple for now.

E.g.,  STORY LINE = Although I miss you, you hurt me and treated me bad, so it’s time for me to move on so I can be happy.

4.  Now, start with the very first line of the song on a blank sheet of paper.  Use a pencil!!!!  Let’s start with the STORY LINE example above and make the first line grab everyone’s attention by letting them know right away “You miss the other person.

—I don’t know how I’ve made it these last few days without you

Kind of long right?  So, let’s break the line into two and start writing the song by using a line by line structure:

—I don’t know how I’ve made it
—These last few days without you

At this point if no melody has appeared in your head there are several things you can do. You can try singing these first two lines to a beat, you can just start singing the first two lines randomly in your head, or if you’re really stuck, you can take a keyboard or guitar and start playing random notes (one by one) for each syllable. 

If you’re using the random note method, merely take two or three syllables at a time and match a keyboard note to them.  For example, for “I don’t know” I played the notes “G”, “A”, and
“B”.  Voila!  Now I’ll experiment and keep building the first line.

I’ll then start working on the second line and once I like what I hear, I’ll move onto a third and fourth line.

—I don’t know how I’ve made it
—These last few days without you
—But I’ve managed to survive
—The river flooding my eyes
—Now they’re dry, now they’re dry

Hey sounds like a solid start for a cool R&B/pop song!
 

Once you have the first four or five lines with lyrics and melody, you have created a structure for your song’s verses.  You can use the same melody for the second part of the first verse and, of course, during the second verse after the first chorus.

When you’re done with the first verse, move on to the chorus and continue the same methods while referring back to “Beginner Songwriting Made Easy.” 

While you’re completing this exercise, don’t be overly concerned about whether or not the melody in the chorus should contain higher notes, etc. 

Take it one step at a time!  Get one song done (in rough draft form), then begin polishing it with a rewrite by using this guide:  http://www.songwriteradvisor.com/song-rewrite.html

When you’re comfortable with a rewrite, use the checklist at:http://www.songwriteradvisor.com/songwriting-checklist.html
Good luck! 

In pop music, if you’re looking to create a good song, write it using simple, catchy, repetitive phrases in the lyrics as well as the music in many parts of your song. The whole idea is develop a strong “hook,” build your song around it, and let the song take you in different directions leading to other “mini-hooks” in the song.

When you’re trying to build a main song hook, keep in mind the initial ideas you come up with don’t necessarily have to end up in your chorus. Many hit songs have been written by creating a “hook” which eventually were placed in a verse or other song section instead of the chorus.

How To Use Simplicity To Your Advantage

The vast majority of the greatest songs in the history of respected pop music have used simplicity to create their hooks. I.e., from the early days of songs like “My Girl” (Temptations, written by Smokey Robinson, Ronald White,
Mick Jagger) to the present day, “Disturbia” (Rihanna, written by Robert Allen, Andre Merritt, Chris Brown).

Hit songs have historically used easy, sing-songy melodies with memorable, short lyric phrases with great success. The pop writing lesson here: to write a good song, write short melodies and lyrical lines (from one to three notes and words), then let this lead you wherever else you want to go with that particular song.

How To Use “Catchiness,” and “Repetitiveness” To Your Advantage

This one’s easy and enjoyable!  Study some of your favorite songs and try to figure out what it is that attracts you to the song, and invariably the answer will be:

1. The song has one main hook that really stands out.Nine times out of ten that hook will be in the chorus. Take a look at Neyo’s big hit “Closer” and you’ll see the hook is actually contained in the prechorus (not the chorus). Notice also how the majority of hit songs have very repetitive main hooks; this is what keeps the listener coming back for more!

2. The song has a few other repetitive, catchy hooks I like to refer to as “mini-hooks.” Many times these come in the form of an instrumental intro riff (at the beginning of the song) that continues throughout the song whether through chord structure or underlying melody line.

Hooks are the biggest key to creating hit songs!  It’s what you do with the song after you’ve created the great hook (i.e., strong verse writing, song makes sense, song is meaningful, etc.) that earns you either respectability or the dreaded “Cheese Award” and a nomination for one of the worst pop songs in history!   

To create a catchy repetitive hook, you need to play your instrument or sing, and concentrate on 2 to 3 notes at a time until you like a certain combination, then build from there using one to three more notes at a time.

When you’ve hit on a a few notes that contain that certain singable part that makes you go “Wow, that sounds good (or cool)” you’ll know you have something people are going to love!  Now you have the makings of a good song.  Write on!

Once you start writing the rest of the song,try to think of catchy instrumental or melodic phrases to bracket (fill in the gaps) the vocals in certain areas using the same two to three note-finding method as your starting point (described above).

Oftentimes the only thing you need to bring a song to life is to fill in empty spots in your song by inserting mini-hooks, and by slightly changing the melody or words of your hook.

Bottom line is: after you’re done writing the song, if it hits you in the chest with the “wow” factor, it’s going to be a darn good song.  Write away and keep churning out those hits!

Even the best songwriters of the wonderful craft we call songwriting continually work on their songwriting skills with one simple goal in mind; to become a better songwriter.

They know not only that they’re sometimes seen as ”only as good as their last hit song” in the eyes of many music publishers, but that they need to stay on top of their game by studying and implementing new songwriting techniques whenever possible in order to compete with others in the ever-changing business world of songwriting.

If you think your songwriting is a little stale or if you’re in a rut, you can usually break free of this by reviewing songwriting basics and learning a couple of fresh songwriting techniques.  In other words, go back and read your songwriting books, go out and watch some live acts performing original songs, and re-connect with your instrument of choice by practicing.

If you’re serious about continually becoming a better songwriter, use this as a starting point:

1.  To become a better songwriter, you should periodically review the songwriting basics, from song forms to rhyming techniques to chord structures to everything in between.

For example, reviewing songwriting basics might look something like this:

(a).  Reviewing the function of each song section (verse, bridge, etc.), and how each one is used to create a song.  I.e., the bridge adds a whole new dimension to your song by changing the melody, rhythm, and harmony before going into the final chorus.  If you know basics like these, you can bend the rules far more easily and you can put yourself in a better position to be more creative and original.

(b).   Reviewing basic chord structures and formulas for working in any key and expanding your chord knowledge by learning at least 1 new chord every week.

For example:  I, IIm, IIIm, IV, V, VI, VIImb5   in the key of of G his would be: G, Am, Bm, C, D, Em, F#mb5   also sevenths:  I7, IIm7, IIIm7, IVmaj7, V7, VIm7, VIIm7b5 would be G7, Am7, Bm7, Cmaj7, D7, Em7, F#m7b5.  We know that for any given key we could use a combination of any of these 14 chords as a starting point.  There are many more chords we can use for any song but that’s a lot of territory to cover, so I will dedicate a whole new article about it sometime soon! 

2.  You should listen to other songwriters’ songs and try to analyze what makes them successful.  I.e., why are there two extra lines in the 1st verse?  Why does a particular song begin with the chorus without sounding cheesy?  What is the rhyming scheme of the song?

3.   If you play an instrument or if you sing, practice!

4.  Finally, continually seek out new ways to improve your craft either through songwriting workshops, buying new reference books, and keeping yourself up-to-date with the many informative and “cutting edge” websites like this blog and the ones listed below in the “links” section.  Hint: Many Pro songwriters admit to constantly seeking out fresh articles on the web to inspire their songwriting!

If you want to become a better songwriter, the shortcut to success lies in how much effort you want to put into your craft.  The information is available, and mostly for free; go out there and grab what’s yours!

One of my favorite songwriting lyric tips and tricks is to use inner rhyming to my advantage by continually finding fresh ways to use this type of effective rhyming.  Inner rhyming has a tendency to build momentum in any part of your song, so if you’re looking to add life to your creations, this method of rhyming is an outstanding, contemporary choice.

Next time you’re using inner rhyming in a song, try not ending any verse line with a usual rhyme.  Instead, use inner rhyming on every line until you get to the chorus.  

For example, this technique really works well in r&b or pop songs which are beat-driven, but you can definitely use it in any song genre. Keep in mind I’m just making up lines that come to my head in real-time just to show you this example:

I’ve never mentioned this to you before  
But the more I talk to you
The more I’m sure you know
I’m trying to go slow but I’m having trouble

I get puzzled by the way you say
You’d like to stay but you gotta’ go
Hey, I know you should command respect
But i feel like a wreck on a deserted island

Cause with you I’m finding
I may be heading where nobody will ever find me…..

{Chorus}

This is a fairly decent first draft that would take some rewriting but you get the picture.  I like the way the first verse ended but the first few lines need a little work!

Notice in the 2nd and third lines:

But the more I talk to you
The more I’m sure you know

The last word you is not really inner-rhymed because I intentionally placed it close to the end of the following line before the word “know.”  This is actually a common advanced songwriting lyric writing technique where the songwriter can actually control the rhythmic momentum of a song by not rhyming two or three lines, then rhyming the following lines thereafter, creating more excitement after the non-rhymed lines.

Take this example and use variations such as rhyming the first two or three lines of a verse, then going into total inner rhyming to speed up and bring excitement to your song.  The possibilities are endless!

In a previous post I talked about the wealth of free songwriting information on the Internet and how webmasters put forth great efforts to make this available to you! 

What you’ll need is a large, 3-ring binder with dividers, and access to a decent hole-puncher.

To begin creating your personal songwriting guide, research the following topics on the Internet, print out the pages you believe can help you, punch holes in them, then use dividers to categorize each of the following topics:

1. How to Create a Melody
2. Rhyming Tips And Techniques
3.  Song Verse Development 
4.  Pre-chorus Tips
5.  Chorus Development
6.  Second Verse tips
7.  How to Write a Bridge 
8.  Song Forms (how to choose, etc.)
9.  Song Title (how to create, etc.)
10.  How To Create a Song Hook

These are just the basics to start! If you take the time to make your own songwriting guide, you’ll be forced to read every article before you choose one, and you’ll expand your songwriting tremendously! Even advanced songwriters stand to benefit from this by picking and choosing advanced topics such as “songwriting tips to create contrast,” “creating powerful opening verse lines,” etc.

The fun part of building a songwriting guide is you’re able to access many different “point of views” from many different resources.  So, although many articles will contain similar content on each topic, you will definitely find some gems of information that you would never have found if you hadn’t taken the time to read articles on the same topics by different authors.

Enjoy!

For example, the recent hit “American Boy,” by Estelle, an English hip hop singer, featured rapper Kanye West doing his thing while will.i.am. produced and also co-wrote the song.

If you’ve ever been a rapper or a songwriter enlisted to write rap parts for a song, you know it appears easier than it actually is! It actually takes much practice and talent to pull it off.

Rap has been known to cross over into many genres over the last several years. Jazz rap was huge in the late 80’s and early 90’s, but can you imagine how cool and refreshing you can possibly make a song if you feature a rap part on it? For example, take a straight-up, powerful rock song, and depending on the feel, see if you can write a rap part and sing it yourself, or feature a local rapper on the song. I believe you’d be amazed at the results. This goes for any music genre, too!

To get yourself off to a good start, here are a few tried and trusted tips from pro rappers to help you sound professional:

1.   Listen to few songs from well-known or favorite rap artists such as Kanye West or 2Pac, and study the rhyming scheme they use.

For example in American Boy, Kanye raps:

Just another one champion sound
Yeah Estelle about to get down
Who the hottest in the world right now.
Just touched down in London town.
Bet they give me a pound.
Tell them put the money in my hand right now.
Tell the promoter we need more seats,
we just sold out all the floor seats

What can we learn here?  Kanye used one of the most common rhyming techniques, which is to;  rhyme lines two at a time, and sometimes use the same words in the rhyme.  Notice how he rhymes sound with “down” “now” “town”, etc.

2.  Let your lines breathe!  For example, using the beat you’re working with, it gets tiresome to hear the same amount of syllables in every line.  If you’ve just rhymed 4 lines with the same general meter, vocal delivery, and rhymes, change it up the next 1 or 2 lines to add interest. 

3.  One of the marks of a truly great rapper is the ability to match rhymed syllables in a fresh way. To do this, after you get a rough draft of your rap, start with the word at the end of each line and try to emulate the following example:

Look at West’s first 4 lines and notice how smooth the endings are in all 4 lines. 

Just another one champion sound
Yeah Estelle about to get down
Who the hottest in the world right now
Just touched down in London town

champion sound flows seamlessly with about to get down, and
world right now flows perfectly with London town

4.  Focus on what your song’s topic is about and try to flavor it with whatever desired effect you want it to have!  For example, if the song were titled, “I Need More,” and was about a person needing to see more of their  lover for the relationship to survive, you could approach the song either as an outsider telling the person to forget about the person or as the lover trying to fix the relationship.