Songwriter Advisor Blog

If you’re teaching yourself to learn songwriting or improve your songwriting skills it’s wise to implement some type of structured plan on how to reach your goals quickly. This will ensure you get the most out of every practice or study session.

You can actually create a detailed plan weeks at a time and actually have an idea of where you’ll be as far as progress during a certain time frame. The easiest way to plan what you need to learn is to find  great songwriting books such as The Craft of Lyric Writing (for lyrics) and Writing Music For Hit Songs (for music), and take notes, writing down important principles that make up a song such as “song forms,” “rhyming,” and “diatonic chords in all the different keys.”

For example, if I were a beginner songwriter looking to learn guitar or piano as well as learning songwriting basics, I wold come up with a realistic weekly schedule as follows using 1 hour sessions:

Monday

(Songwriting – Learn song forms) 30 min.

(Instrument - practice diatonic chords in the key of “C”) 30 min. 
The chords would be: C, Dm, Em, F, G, Am, B°

Wednesday

(Songwriting – Learn rhyming basics) 30 min.

(Instrument – learn to play diatonic chords in the key of “G”
The chords would be: G, Am, Bm, C, D, Em, F#°

Friday

Review everything learned in a systematic and productive way, ie., review the key of “C” diatonic chords, then the key of “G” diatonic chords, then start playing all the chords randomly so you can perfect your chord fingerings and so you can begin to get a feel for how each chord sounds in relation to one another. Review “song forms” and “rhyming basics.” 1 hour

The idea is to practice weekly with a purpose, set attainable goals, and be organized as opposed to practicing whatever you feel like on any given day without any direction whatsoever.   This will lead to more productive practice and study sessions, and you’ll reach your goals much quicker! 

Those who learn the guitar can enhance their songwriting tremendously because of the infinite possibilities this instrument can bring through its unique sound and ease of finding new chords to harmonize songs.  But beware:  Far too many aspiring guitarists invest in a decent guitar only to abandon their quest to learn guitar after quickly losing interest.  The reason is usually a simple one:  their guitar lessons frustrate them!

The only way to learn guitar fast is to make it an enjoyable activity, and the easiest, cheapest method to accomplish this is going to surprise you:

Buy a guitar tab/chords sheet music book of your favorite guitar-based artist, learn one song at a time by learning each song’s chord shapes, and keep practicing different scales for finger dexterity and note familiarity.  Huh?  Let me explain!

1.  Start with one favorite song.  It’s important to choose your favorite one so you don’t lose interest.  

2.  Practice fingering the chords with your left hand (if you’re a righty) and begin slowly switching from one chord shape to another.  When you feel comfortable enough, if you have a metronome, start with a slow BPM (beats per minute) and increase it as you go, challenging yourself to quickly change chord shapes.  When you start to stumble, drop the BPM’s back down a few then repeat the process until your significant other starts yelling at you to get off the guitar and spend some time together.  By this time, though, you probably will have become very excited—no, not about your significant other, I’m talking about the prospect of being able to really play the song! 

3.  Next, when everyone’s asleep, go back to fingering your favorite song’s chords, then use your other hand to start either strumming with a thin pick or slowly begin fingerpicking even if you use one finger at a time at first.

4.  Now play your favorite song and try to keep up with the chord shapes while lightly strumming or fingerpicking with one finger.

5.  With each successive practice session (try for 30-60 minutes at a time), the song will become easier to play until you have it down pat.

6.  Move on to the next song and repeat the process.  With each song you learn, the previous one becomes easier to play.  Why?  Because of finger memory (that beautiful connection established between your mind and fingers).

By using this method you will not only learn guitar fast, but you will probably be able to quickly dive into the world of songwriting with your newfound knowledge of song structure and chords even if you’re a complete songwriting novice!

After a while, once you’re fairly comfortable holding the guitar and once you can at least hold a few chord shapes and strum the guitar, you can supplement your guitar playing with an online course or package such as Jamorama, Guitar Alliance, or a few other reputable learn the guitar courses out there.  Using these courses is the closest thing to having a guitar instructor at your side at less than a fraction of the cost, and many claim it’s actually more fun!