FREE MUSIC&VIDEO DOWNLOAD

Songwriting is one part inspiration and one part perspiration. It doesn’t matter whether you have a lot of ideas and catchy phrases floating around in your head. Unless you get them down on paper, they won’t do you any good at all. I suggest you buy yourself a small pocket notebook and keep it with you at all times. That way you can easily jot down any creative thoughts you have during the day. This should provide you with plenty of material when trying to write a new song.

Developing your listening and observational skills is another important aspect of songwriting. The gold nuggets are out there, sometimes you just need to dig a little deeper in order to find them. They are lurking in the conversations you hear, the road signs you pass, the T.V. commercials you watch, the newspapers and magazine articles you read. John Lennon wrote the Beatle’s song, “Happiness Is A Warm Gun” after seeing a gun
magazine sitting on a coffee table with that headline written on it’s cover. Likewise, The first lines of Roger Miller’s song, “King of the Road”, were written after seeing the words: “Rooms To Let 50 Cents” and “Trailers For Sale Or Rent” on two separate road signs and then reversing them.

As you have probably noticed, people love to tell stories and talk about themselves. As a songwriter, you can use these tendencies to your advantage. Try putting yourself in someone else’s shoes when they’re talking to you. Listen for any repetitive statements they make. Take mental notes. What stands out? What do you remember most about the person? What impression are you left with? Write it down. Fictionalize, exaggerate or minimize the information to suit your lyric.

Real life stories offer great material too. Consider Bob Dylan’s song “Hurricane” for instance. It’s woven around the true life story of a black prize fighter by the name of Hurricane Carter. Carter was falsely accused and then sentenced to life imprisonment for a murder he did not commit. This event sparked a protest movement involving some celebrities who made several unsuccessful attempts to secure his release. Years later, when a major motion picture staring Denzel Washington was created about the story, Bob Dylan’s song “Hurricane” became a natural choice for the background theme.

Words tend to create their own rhythmical pattern according to how they are placed within a sentence or phrase. So, after you’ve collected some good ideas in your songwriting notebook, try to use the material to create a “hook” for your song. Be willing to experiment with different ways of saying something. Listen to the melodic structure as you speak. Take note of where your voice rises and falls. Try singing what you hear. Sing the lyric high, low, fast, and slow. Try it with a country twang, or a bluesy feel. All these things can help spark the intuitive side of your brain.

Even after you’ve tried all these methods however, many songwriters will tell you their best songs come when they aren’t even trying! Now why do you suppose that is? I believe it has something to do with being relaxed and open enough to receive what your subconcious mind has to offer. All your past feelings and experiences are stored in there somewhere. But these resources are often blocked from your conscious mind as a result of tension and stress. And it is commonly understoodthat when a person’s songwriting efforts become strictly mechanical, the results will be generally poor.To prevent this from happening to you, go for a walk, listen to music, or do something else you enjoy for a while. Taking a break can work wonders to refresh your creative spirit!

Becoming a good songwriter will require time, dedication and effort on your part. Learning to listen to others, follow your intuition, and being open to trial and error are some of the things you can do to cultivate your skills. But many gifted songwriters give up as soon as they encounter difficulties. They become discouraged when they hit a mental road block and feel their creative juices have stopped flowing. While other, less talented individuals, go on to have successful songwritng careers simply because they learn to persevere. Do you see problems as stumbling blocks or stepping stones? How you respond to obstacles will make all the difference in becoming the songwriter you dream to be.

FREE Reprint Rights - You may publish this article in your e-zine or on your web site as long as you include the following information:

Kathy Unruh is a singer/songwriter and webmaster of ABC Learn Guitar. She has been writing songs and providing guitar lessons to students of all ages for over 20 years. For free guitar lessons, plus tips and resources on songwriting, recording and creating a music career, please visit: http://www.abclearnguitar.com

Tags: Bob Dylan, creating a song, creative writing, inspiration, John Lennon, songwriter, songwriting, writingBob Dylan, creating a song, creative writing, inspiration, John Lennon, songwriter, songwriting, writing

Share This

There once was a time when you would hear a song and immediately be taken in by the poetical pictures the songwriter created. The great poets and lyricists like Bob Dylan, Cat Stevens, Justin Hayward, James Taylor and many others, seem to be a dying breed. Listening to music nowadays, you’d be hard-pressed to hear any artists that believe lyricism is an art form. Yes, the words usually rhyme and have a semblance of meaning, but for the most part, words are thrown together just for the SAKE of rhyming. With the explosion of internet radio and music sites and armed with an inexpensive digital recorder, anyone can upload their music, regardless of the musical ability they may or may not possess. And with all the millions of songs flooding the net, originality has taken a back seat to being seen and heard. It’s as if independent music sites are nothing more than blog sites. They are certainly becoming one and the same. Anyone can have an opinion and it seems that anyone can upload their music today. Right or wrong. Good or bad.

But there is some hope! I happened upon yet another site that promotes independent/unsigned artists and much to my surprise, I found a few of artists who were not only great songwriters, but they were artists that I would call bona fide poets. The songs that really made me feel and think the most were those of Jerald Wolf. His first solo CD entitled “Winter’s Emptiness” is an emotional journey of heart-felt songs that are deeply thoughtful and a well textured mix of acoustica nd electric. The first song I listened to was “You’re Gone”. I was immediately taken in by the descriptive words and hypnotic tune. The opening lines are:

“Last night when I called you, you were gone;
Gone back to a place you once called home.
You went trying to find the pieces of yesterday’s life;
Trying to find somewhere to call your own.”

From that point, I clung to every word. Jerald Wolf has a diverse and rich voice, full of emotional colors. The twelve song CD “Winter’s Emptiness” is the emerging of a new songwriter/poet. The songs are as poetical as they are raw and sometimes cold. A great CD in all respects.
Other new songwriters/poets to watch for are Anne Davis with her “Temple Of Contradictions”, V.K. Lynnes’ “Black Halo” and Deron Wade with his CD, “Somewhere Out There”. These three artists also show signs of being the next generation of the poet/songwriter. We will always have Bob Dylan and Arlo Guthrie, but it’s refreshing to hear artists like Jerald Wolf, Anne Davis, V.K. Lynne and Deron Wade and to know that true talent exists outside of the major labels.

Today, anyone can give an opinion or have their music on the internet, but there are only some that desreve to be heard.

Bob Ollman is an freelance, online music critic in NYC.

Tags: Bob Dylan, James Taylor, Jerald, Poets, Songwriters, WolfBob Dylan, James Taylor, Jerald, Poets, Songwriters, Wolf

Share This