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!

We, as human beings, either consciously or subconsciously tend to fall into routines in pretty much every aspect of our lives because we like staying in our “comfort zones,” and we feel more safe and secure with things that are familiar to us. 

Songwriters are no exception to this rule, especially when they find they’ve written a few solid songs using the same “routine” and “formula,” so to speak.  In songwriting, it is sometimes hard to break free from a proven method of songwriting,  and some songwriters resist change by sticking to “their style of songwriting,” while declaring, “If it ain’t broken, don’t fix it.”

So consequently, as an example, some songwriters stay focused on the classic song forms of verse-chorus-verse-chorus-bridge-chorus, in pop and country music , or verse-chorus-verse-chorus-rap-chorus in r&b with little or no variation.  After a while, songs start to sound the same and you not only risk losing your listeners, but you also run the risk of having music industry people think you’re one-dimensional.

It’s not that difficult to add some variety in your songs and give them a definite boost if you know where to inject them with song form variations.  That’s right!  All you have to do is start experimenting with song forms.  This is the easiest way to lend variety to your future collection of original songs.   

If you find yourself in these songwriting shoes and you want to break free from the “all too familiar” type of song, try using the following song forms to help your songs be more original and stand out in a crowd:

1.  Instead of verse-chorus-verse-chorus-bridge-chorus (ABABCB) format, use:

For rock, pop, r&b, and country music

verse-verse-chorus-verse-instrumental-chorus-verse-chorus
verse-chorus-verse-verse-chorus-bridge-chorus
chorus-verse-chorus-verse-bridge-chorus
chorus-verse-chorus-verse-instr-bridge-chorus
verse-chorus-instr-chorus-verse-bridge-chorus
verse-prechorus-chorus-verse-chorus-instr-prechorus-chorus

also:

try using the rarely-used verse-verse-chorus-verse (AABA) format, and variations such as:

verse-verse-bridge-instr-verse-bridge-verse
bridge-verse-verse-bridge-verse-new section-instr-verse

This list can go on and on–there’s no limit, and this works well for many other genres!
Try making a 2nd verse only half of a verse, or a 2nd chorus a half-chorus—You get the idea! Cut a song section in half and go into an instrumental part.
Don’t always settle for what’s expected. Sometimes rearranging a song’s form can bring out the life you never expected in that song. Big-time music producers routinely and instinctively rearrange song forms to make songs more powerful because oftentimes they’re presented with twelve songs that basically have the same song forms. Why not take care of all that work by yourself by being original in the first place?

These days, to stay competitive and original, songwriters are thinking outside the box far more often than just a few short years ago. Don’t get left in the dust! Always look for new ways to add spice and originality in your songs even if it means rearranging your song form in a small way to add that extra “ooomph,” and you can’t go wrong. Yes, human beings love familiarity, but didn’t someone say once that, “Variety is the spice of life?”