Songwriter in the studio

Coming Up With a Songwriting Troubleshooting List

Once you’ve written a song, do you have a list — even just a mental one — that you go through to assess your song? I have mentioned often that troubleshooting a song should really only be done if you’re noticing something about your song that isn’t really working, but you can’t identify what that […]

Dua Lipa

Thinking of Songs as Musical Journeys

Every once in a while on social media you’ll see debates on the topic “What is music?” These are usually frustrating interactions, because no one is going to be fully satisfied with the answers they read, and maybe that’s the point of the question in the first place. It’s a little like asking someone “What’s […]

Guitarist on Stage

Some Thoughts on Songwriting and Uniqueness

This morning I retweeted a great article by producer/engineer Bobby Owsinski, “It’s Getting Harder And Harder To Write A Song Without Committing Plagiarism.” The article makes the point that because the judicial system now considers similarity of the basic feel of a song to be considered in a plagiarism case, along with melody and lyrics, […]

Home studio

What You Listen to Informs How You Write

It’s easy to think that the great classical composers — Mozart, Haydn, Beethoven, etc. — were born with an innate ability to compose — that they were born with what some might call a “God-given talent.” There’s probably something genetic about musical ability, to be sure, but I truly believe that the great composers were […]

songwriting partnership

Five Ways to Know You’ve Found a Good Songwriting Partner

It’s not unusual in the pop music genres to partner up with one or more others to write songs. For many of the songs you see on the Billboard Hot 100, they come about as the result of a well-established songwriting team working together in a very formulaic way. Those songwriting teams can involve many […]

ROOMFUL OF TEETH

Adding Colours to Your Musical Palette: Roomful of Teeth

Trying to get a handle on writing song lyrics? Discover the benefits of making a lyrics-first method your new go-to process with”Use Your Words! Developing a Lyrics-First Songwriting Process. It’s FREE right now when you purchase the 10-eBook Bundle. Hopefully you don’t need to be convinced, as a songwriter, of the importance of daily listening […]