Songwriter Advisor Blog

One of the most frequent questions I inevitably receive when I’m in a group of friends or in a family gathering is, “Hey Dude, I heard you’re into songwriting.  How’s your blog coming along?  What’s the best way to learn songwriting without spending too much?”  These questions usually come from folks who’ve been closet songwriters, dabbling a little here and there, secretly hoping they can write the next Beyonce hit without any guidance or training whatsoever. 

It’s a mistake to try to tackle songwriting without any basic songwriting knowledge.  It’s kinda’ like blindly walking into a snowstorm hoping you’ll eventually survive and come out the other end, still alive.  Well, maybe not that drastic, but you do need to know what you’re doing and facing so you can have the best chance at continually improving.  You can accomplish this by studying the basics of your songwriting craft and eventually knowing how to gauge your work as well as other songwriters’ work for your improvement. 

It’s true, in pop music, virtually anyone can pull a hit out of a hat but I guarantee you the majority of those one-hit wonders with no training had a tough time placing a second song.  I don’t know anyone in this music industry who’s wanted to be here-today-gone-tomorrow!       

For those of you who’d like to but are unsure about whether or not you can become good songwriters, believe it! Songwriting is a little part natural talent and a whole lot of craft through uncomplicated training. It’s more about getting out there and just doing it than wondering why it is that you’ll never have the talent to blow people away like John Mayer.  How do you know if you haven’t tried?

The training I’m talking about is through websites and blogs like this one or the ones listed in this blog’s footer (see Network Links below). All you have to know is what to look for. There’s plenty of information on how to write songs out there so I’m going to give you the keywords to get started.

To start quickly learning, aside from “songwriting,” “write songs,”, “how to write songs,”, and “songwriting help,” these are the terms and songwriting principles you can type into your web browser:

1. song hook
2. song verse
3. song chorus
4. guitar chords
5. piano chords
6. song bridge
7. song forms
8. rhythm
9. harmony
10. melody
11. how to write lyrics
12. Prechorus
13. rhyming

For example: I took the first entry “song hook,” typed it into the google browser and the first entry was Hook (music) – Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.  This entry pretty much explained the whole concept of what a “song hook” is.

Take each term and read as many website entries as possible and before long you’ll have a pretty good understanding of basic songwriting principles.  Little by little, you’ll see how the pieces of the puzzle start coming together.

Remember, these keywords are merely a starting point and should definitely get you going in the right direction.

Learning the craft of songwriting is very much about gathering information bits at a time, applying it immediately whether you sing or play an instrument, and figuring out where and how you can progressively make improvements. It is conceivable for a newbie songwriter to be creating pretty darn good songs within a year of songwriting training.  As far as writings for Beyonce, I don’t know, maybe that’s a longshot (not impossible).  Hey, does anyone have connections with Beyonce out there?!!!!

The best way to get over your fear of beginning to play and sing in front of a live audience is to progressively work your way up to a large audience.   Consider using these tips as a guide:

1.  Once you’re comfortable enough playing your instrument while singing in your bedroom or practice area, and you have a few cover songs and perhaps an original one in your repertoire, start playing in front of a small audience such as your significant other and maybe 1 friend.  The idea is to initially keep your audience small so you can gain confidence and immediate feedback.

2.  When you become confident playing in front of that small audience, graduate to playing a few songs at a small family gathering or a setting with a few more people when the time is right.  Be careful with family members though, because they will call you out onto the stage in their living room moments after uncle Charlie and his family of 23 people walk through the door, tired and in a bad mood after a horrible 5 hour flight from Minneapolis.

The point is; don’t let friends and family pressure you. You have to make the call on when the time is right. When you do play your songs, make it a short set-3 songs at the most! This is because after 2 or 3 songs 10 minutes will have probably elapsed and people generally have an attention span of 10-20 minutes before their minds move onto something else unless you’re absolutely phenomenal!    

Even if you eventually stink up the place, you’re making progress because you’re actually performing in front of a live audience, you will have finally gotten it out of the way, and you’ll be more and more comfortable with every performance. 

3.  Know when to stop!  Whenever you play, if you have 3 killer original songs and 2 “so-so” songs, don’t play the last 2 originals!   Instead, play a couple of cover songs that people know and love if it gets to the point where they want to keep listening.

4.  You’ll know when you’re ready to finally perform in public.  You’re consistently getting a favorable reaction while playing in front of your friends, you’re comfortable playing in front of them, so the next logical step is–yep!  You guessed it.  Invite all the people you’ve been playing in front of, to an open mike night.  It’ll be almost like playing in front of them once again, only this time with a few invited guests (the bar patrons) at an unfamiliar but friendly house!

There’s nothing worse than getting up on a stage unprepared only to fail miserably!  Prepare yourself logically, by working your way up to finally playing on a stage.  An audience clapping in approval will inspire you like nothing else on this planet to continue making music!