The workshop articles, written by former Warner/Chappell staff songwriter Orlando Gutierrez, will focus on one aspect of songwriting at a time using real-time songwriting examples so you can see parts of the songwriting process for yourself.  “It’ll be like having a songwriting coach in your own home through the internet, taking the mystery out of many aspects of songwriting.” says Gutierrez.  ”It’s simply something I wish I had when I was learning the craft of songwriting, and I want to bring the information to my readers to help them achieve success, to thank them, and to show my undying support for songwriters.  It definitely would have made my learning process that much quicker, clearer, and easier!” 

Gutierrez has done rather well with his songwriting website and blog in a very short time by writing informative, enjoyable, easy-to-follow songwriting articles.  “My readership has grown 200% to 300% consistently every month since it began in January 2008, Gutierrez proudly states.  “I’ve had great, positive feedback, but I will not rest.  I have an endless stream, probably a lifetime of helpful songwriting information to offer, and I’m constantly learning and inventing new ways to approach and tackle this craft.  Although I’m still an avid  songwriter, I’ve found my calling and I’m dedicating my musical life to helping and coaching other songwriters achieve success in songwriting.” 

Sounds like a winning plan!

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?!!!!

An autodidact is someone who learns things on their own instead of learning in a school setting from a teacher or instructor.  History has taught us that many genius autodidacts have taught themselves successfully through available resources in a variety of fields.  The list includes Mark Twain, Benjamin Franklin, Thomas Edison and musician Frank Zappa just to name a few.

In songwriting there is formal training available whether through college, private instructors, and online one-on-one coaching.  In my opinion, these are good choices if you want to learn the basics in a controlled, structured fashion.  But this type of training can generally be tedious and limit your immediate creativity because you start clinging to sets of songwriting rules established by your curriculum, and you go at your instructor’s pace.  In other words, this is the slow, sure-fire method to developing solid songwriting skills and is worth every penny for some aspiring songwriters.

The alternative is to become an autodidact and learn songwriting at your own pace through songwriting reference books or otherwise, and the advantage you have is you can quickly start experimenting with your own ideas from day one!  Many songwriters will tell you to become proficient at songwriting you need to write, write, and keep writing.  It is conceivable to get your hands on a complete, great book like Six Steps to Songwriting Success: The Comprehensive Guide to Writing and Marketing Hit Songs by Jason Blume, to read the book in two days while taking notes, and to be writing your first song on day three! 

Now no one’s saying your first song is going to be spectacular but you never know!  

Songwriting is not complicated at all–as I’ve said before;  It is not rocket science!  Songwriting history is chock full of phenomenal self-taught songwriters (autodidacts) from Brian Wilson to Dianne Warren to Prince, and countless other musical icons.      

If you’re a beginner songwriter wanting to learn quickly for free, check out the blueprint:  Beginner Songwriting Tips to Get You Hooked.  If you’re an intermediate songwriter hoping to refresh your mind and learn innovative pro tips check out this free step-by-step blueprint. 

You’ve been so receptive to these tips that our readers as well as subscribers to our monthly newsletter have grown beyond belief for a five-month-old website! 

In songwriting, it doesn’t matter if you have no hits or ten top ten hits under your belt—you never stop learning!  Beginner songwriters need to have the basics at their fingertips, intermediate songwriters are always looking to improve and they’re hungry to for better ways to write songs, and many advanced songwriters will tell you they’re only as good as heir last hit, and they need to keep evolving as songwriters and implementing new songwriting techniques to stay “in the game.” 

This where SongwriterAdvisor.com comes in!

This is, and will always remain a songwriting website and blog for and by songwriters, and as we move forward our goal is very simple–to be the absolute best, free songwriting resource for songwriters of all levels.  There are many great “how to learn songwriting” books available, but the truth is, there is great free information all over the web–you just have to know where to look!

It’s important for me to support the songwriting website community–being a songwriting website owner myself, I know how much time and energy goes in to consistently creating articles for the benefit of songwriters.  Many of you have probably visited some the following songwriting websites, but here are some I admire–they’re full of useful tips that may be helpful to you, whatever your experience level may be: 

The Muses Muse
Songwriters Resource Network
Irene Jackson Songwriting Tips 
The Songwriting Education Resource
Addicted To Songwriting 
Songwriter101.com 
John Braheny.com

Thanks for your support!

Songwriting is one of the few positions in the music industry not limited by age–you can literally write a successful song at any age.  There are plenty of youngsters with gold records by the time they’re 17!  There  are many “over 40″ songwriters starting out and making a great living through their songwriting.  These are usually, but not always, musicians who never ventured into the songwriting aspect of music, musicians who’ve played an instrument and merely dabbled in writing a song or two without ever exposing their work, or simply people who finally decided to chase their dream of learning the craft of songwriting and “giving it a shot.”

Aspiring songwriters are always posing the question, “How do I get started in songwriting?” and “Can I make any money at it?”  Successful songwriters, along with successful music producers, are the real, consistent money-makers in the music industry.  Think about it.  Very few major label recording artists actually succeed, and many come and go, but proven songwriters and music producers are always called upon to provide their services!

Now, I’m certainly not trying to discourage you performing artists from trying to get a record deal, but if you do, make sure you hang on to as much of your music publishing as possible—that is—learn to write your own songs, and accept outside material only when you really believe in a song, not merely to fill up space.  There are just too many great songwriters out there to settle for mediocre songs.

To make a career out of songwriting, understand you have to wear many different hats.  First and foremost, you have to develop songwriting skills—and yes—I assure you, this can be learned.  Some songwriters are extremely naturally-talented, but even those select few learn the craft of songwriting somewhere along the way to maximize their talent.  With proper training, anyone can learn how to write songs as long as they put forth great effort.  Songwriters, also, at least initially, have to have a little business sense and learn how to market their songs by researching who needs what, and by getting out there and networking with people in the music industry.   

You can’t get into songwriting thinking, “Well I’m going to write this great song for artist X, be discovered, and become rich overnight!”  Although overnight success stories can happen, these are few and far between, and many have originated from somebody already being “connected.”  In other words, in the real world—chances are high that nobody’s going to find you.  On the contrary, you need to go out and find them, and show them how talented you are!  This is mainly how rags to riches stories develop–you’ve got to sell yourself and have the songs to prove it!

In an upcoming series titled “How To Build A Songwriting Career From Scratch” I’ll give you a step-by-step blueprint to give you the absolute best chance at becoming a successful songwriter.  Stay tuned.