Songwriter Advisor Blog

In Part 1 of this series we learned that songwriters can actually train their minds to create ideas and starting points for songs when they least expect it, in hopes of coming up with original, catchy songs when the inspiration strikes!

Without getting too technical (I might confuse myself) I can tell you our minds filter all the stimulation we absorb through our five senses, and if you’re a songwriter, with proper training and knowledge, you can subconsciously harness all that power running through your mind’s filter and eventually allow song ideas to spring into your head! 

“How do I do that?” you ask.   The answer is less complicated than you probably think.  This is what you have to do, step-by-step:

1.  Learn all the songwriting basics necessary to write songs.  Check out this free beginner songwriting guide, this free step-by-step songwriting guide, or consider a more complete but lengthier songwriting guide such as Six Steps to Songwriting Success, Revised Edition (Due out 10-02-2008): The Comprehensive Guide to Writing and Marketing Hit Songswritten by Jason Blume.

The point here is to learn all the necessary songwriting basics so you have strong knowledge of all the sections used in songwriting. These include; intro, verse, prechorus, chorus, bridge, instrumental, raps, and spoken word parts. You need to train yourself to automatically recognize the different sections that make up songs and how they are used. This takes studying songs and actually writing your own songs (although it’s helpful, you don’t even have to know how to play an instrument to learn songwriting basics).

2. Listen to your favorite songs and pick out the most interesting parts such as the song hook, parts of a verse, a certain rap line, etc.  Now, what you’re looking for is a short catchy line that stands out as being the most memorable part of the song.  As mentioned in Part 1, these are also song areas for you to study and analyze: 

1. a great original song title
2. a catchy melody (usually a short musical phrase)
3. an interesting lyric
4. an infectious rhythm
5. a pleasing harmony
6. any other song component

For example, in Leona Lewis’ smash hit single “Bleeding Love” the part that stands out most to me is, “I keep bleeding I keep, keep bleeding love.”  This is a very short phrase that keeps repeating as the song’s hook.  It contains interesting lyrics and a catchy melody, the most common example as it relates to this exercise.  A great original song title is also there to boot!  This short phrase could have definitely been an idea that just popped into a songwriter’s head!  This sort of thing happens all the time to hit songwriters and you can do it, too. 

3.  Once you know all the songwriting basics and you’re able to recognize different parts of songs, the next step is to really dive deep into writing your own original songs.  You may have already started to compose your tunes by now anyway, but I’m talking about continually and consistently trying to write songs.  You will eventually reach that “zone” where song ideas spring out like water from a faucet!  Many pro songwriters swear they become so consumed by songwriting in phases (usually a few weeks) several times a year because the ideas just don’t stop!    

The trick is to know all the songwriting basics, to know what to look for in songs, and to become really active in your songwriting by continually trying to compose songs. 

The more songs you write, the more experience and knowledge you gain, and before you know it, you will reach that “effortless zone” those pro songwriters seem to reach all the time.  For some songwriters, reaching “songwriting mode,” a condition created by yourself whereby you effortlessly come up with great song ideas, can take a few weeks to several months to a few years.  It depends on how hard you really want to work at your songwriting craft.     

 Be patient-with experience and practice, there’s no doubt you will eventually get to a point where great song ideas stream into your head.  Just don’t try to force the ideas into your head-this will create too much stress, and you’ll actually regress instead of progress.  I know-’cause I’ve been there!

In Pt 1 of this series, we learned how to construct phrases relating directly to the song’s title in order to create captivating opening lines in our first verses.

As I’ve said before, our favorite songs actually contain much valuable information when it comes to learning the craft of songwriting, so the next method of creating powerful opening lines in your verses probably won’t come as a surprise.

An outstanding way to never run out of ideas is to take the first line or two of every song you’d like to analyze, and make a list, describing what the line is generally saying.

 
Here’s an example taking songs from the current top ten on the Billboard Pop Charts:

 <……………………………from Katy Perry’s “I Kissed A Girl”

The two opening lines make reference to “What I didn’t expect,” because the lines say it wasn’t the way I planned it and it wasn’t my intention (it was totally unexpected).  So, using this idea, if I titled a song, “Leave Me In The Dust,” my opening line could be something like, “The shock of your disappearing act hasn’t sunk in yet.”     

Here’s another example:

<……………………………from Rihanna’s “Take A Bow”

You can categorize these two opening lines as “What does he, she, or they look like?” as it relates to the song’s idea or title.   Well in this song, the guy looks dumb as he’s standing outside her house.

As another example, in George Strait’s country song titled “You Look So Good In Love,”  the first lines are, “Oh how you sparkle, Oh how you shine, That flush on your checks is more than the wine.”   In both songs, the singer is setting up the plot of the song by painting a picture of “What that someone in their song looks like.”

3.  So now we’ve studied two opening lines of songs. 
On a lined sheet of paper, title it “Opening Line Ideas” and start listing the opening line ideas on the top line:

 Let’s continue building this list with the following song’s first two lines:

<…………………………….Miley Cyrus’s “7 Things”

Pretty simple two lines, right?  We can categorize this one as “What happens to me (or you, or them, etc.)” or “What kind of feeling do I get?”

 So, if we continue our Opening Lines Idea sheet it will now look like this:

******You can always substitute the pronouns with other pronouns.  I.e., in “What I didn’t expect” you can use the idea ,”What he didn’t expect, what you didn’t expect, what they didn’t expect, etc.  

 As you can see, the possibilities are endless.  Use this article as your starting point and keep building ideas by studying the first two lines of songs, and you’ll never run out of strong opening line ideas!

By the way, this method often generates great song titles, too!