On songwriting
I wanted to share with you my thoughts on songwriting and so this article. I'm defining songwriting here as with words although instrumentals surely are songs as well. For some reason I wrote it directed at beginning songwriters. Why I took this tack I don't really know as I can't even be sure any "young" songwriters ever read the TLH web page or would in any case be interested in how I write my songs. In the end though it has turned out to be an article on how I approach songwriting and that's what I wanted. Certainly I could write a book on the subject and perhaps one-day I shall. I skipped over a lot of information but hopefully here got what was relevant. Read on.
Songwriting: Surely there are as many different ways to write songs as there are songwriters so the one thing I hope to offer you is a glimpse into how I create my own works. From this 'look see' perhaps you can find some little helps for your own writings? Surely you'll know a bit more about me and how I go about doing what I love to do. I understand that not every musician is a songwriter and there is no denying that one needs a proclivity towards the writing to be any good at it. So this article is directed at those of you that want to write songs or already are. It's not because I think I'm such a "hot" songwriting commodity either. I just think shared information can be useful and I'm hopeful that something here will perhaps open up a previously closed door and inspire you for something new. Also the sharing is one of my main reasons for contributing to these pages and for that matter even having a web page. But whether you can or cannot write is not an indicator of your worth as an artist. I enjoy it and the sharing of it is a pleasure and so this article.
Observations and suggestions. Buy yourself some sort of notebook or tablet to keep all your work together. It's fun to watch the thing fill up but there's more of a purpose to it than that. Songwriters always have "dry" periods and by having all your work in one place it will be easier for you to go there in search of an idea or a 'spark' to get you though those dry times. Sometimes I'll flip back through those old notebooks and find just the "seed" I need to get me going again. Also good words that I've written in the past perhaps will suit something I' m working on in the present. It's also a nice reward for good book keeping as well and a welcome shortcut to a new song. I like writing on large paper too. That way the structure of the song is not inhibited by how many words I can fit on one line or whatever.
1. Place. For myself I really like and enjoy my writing desk and so spend a fair amount of time in arranging it and its surroundings to suit my needs. I keep all the tools for writing (paper, pens, songbooks, and ect.) and playing (finger picks, extra strings, guitar tools, tuner, and ect.) on the desk as well as a small cassette tape recorder. My guitars are all within easy reach. A good dictionary and even a rhyming dictionary are handy tools as well (Especially for those of you who use English as a second language a rhyming dictionary can be quite useful. I don't use them a lot but sometimes if you are stuck and can't get out of the 'bird-turd-word' mode one of these books will give you a hand). A comfortable chair, good lighting, privacy and a closable door are all-important elements too I think. I spend quite a bit of time at that desk and being comfortable and feeling secure is essential for me.
2. Speaking of guitars, I usually keep the 12, 6, Dobro and classical guitars out of their cases and on music stands. I find that each instrument inspires me in different songwriting directions and so I keep them handy. I use this as another songwriting tool. I generally am working on a handful of songs at any one time (one or more for each guitar) and by having the different guitars ready at hand, if I get hung up on one song, I can easily shift to another. (I know some of you might only have one guitar but file this for later use!). Making it easy to shift focus (i.e. changing guitars) is a nice thing to do for yourself!
3. Time of day. Time will also shape and color your writing. I find that mornings for me are especially good for guitar practice, reviewing older works and dotting i's and crossing T's on almost finished stuff. Late nights are generally best for serious writing efforts and it's then that I usually come up with new ideas. Afternoons are kinda of a mix between the two. If you have the freedom to experiment do so. You might be surprised at the different energies that rise to the surface at the different times of day.
4. Grease for the wheels. There are so many ways to write that it's a impossible to write about them all for this article but a couple of important things for me: I mentioned before that at any given time I have 6 or 7 songs that I working on to one degree or another. So don't be afraid to let a song "rest". I find that each song has a different arrival speed. Some songs arrive ready made and dressed and require only a little work to get them into shape for the stage (lucky you!) but mostly they take a lot of effort and hard work to get just right. I have easily spent 30 hours or more on one song and expect I'll do so again. Sometimes you just don't know enough about the life to get it finished. Maybe you've just gone down a dead-end road but whatever the reason, I'll put the song away and come back too it later. Often by stepping away from one particular song for awhile you'll find yourself invigorated on the return. An old friend returned too! Be sure to check out your favorite singers and writers. Look at their work closely! Read their words like you would a book. As most of you listen too or study Masters of instruments to learn how to get yourselves better, you should do no less to learn the craft of songwriting then study those Master writers.
5 Co-write? I don't write with other writers but mostly because I've never really made the effort. I guess there are pros and cons for both sides. I can see the sharing as cool though. Perhaps you're a better wordsmith than guitarist and so joining with another builds a better "one". Lord knows the world is full of great songwriting partnerships.
6. Some sage advice. If your just starting out be easy on yourself. We all want to write as well as a Dylan or a Van Zandt but remember there are only ever a few of those guys. Don't forget that what you write is unique to you and you alone. No one in the whole world can say what you have to say and that makes it important and worth the effort to get it out. I can say don't get frustrated but perhaps that's also part of the process of creation? Frustration can propel you forward. Use that energy and whatever else it takes to get another page down in your book. I also strongly believe that you gotta write bad songs before you get to the good ones.
I have many, many songs that I've spent hours and hours writing and they will never get played live. Usually I think they're pretty good as I'm writing them and it's only later that I use the veto. The writing was important though and it's just another song written to get you closer to the good ones. If you just continue to make excuses about never getting going cause you think you suck or don't have anything to say, your just putting off those bad songs you going to have to write anyway! Why not get going today and start developing those writing muscles that will come along only with practice and effort?
7. Rewrite. And at the end of it all once you do get the song on paper and it's looking pretty good you should be sure to consider rewriting, revising and rewriting again. Don't settle for that cheap sentence or rhyme. Work on it! Move things around, look for the more interesting word that creates the clearer picture. It's easier to change it now than later because once you bring a song to the stage they assume a life of their own and are very difficult to change (though not impossible!). As any author will tell you rewriting is essential! Do it!!
TLH style
The music. I'm pretty much always practicing the guitar and most songs come to me through the guitar music itself. This usually happens in a very relaxed atmosphere. I'm kinda just playing along, letting my fingers go where they want. Happy, sad, blue, busy, slow, whatever - I just go with the flow and then at sometime I'll find that 'one' thing that deserves my full attention and usually I'm there: The Beginning! I use a small tape recorder (a mini disc now actually) that I keep handy at my writing desk to take music notes. I don't keep the recorder running all the time but only reach to turn it on after I've developed an idea somewhat. It might only be a snippet or just a cool lick or 30 seconds of something or even a longer jam but it's all ok. I find doing this keeps more musical ideas flowing through me. In other words I don't have to try and remember any one thing in particular but can move from one idea to the next without worrying about forgetting and I've got the tape to back me up (although I do sometime make chord diagrams if I'm working in an open tuning.
Too many times have I lost songs because I've forgotten how I made those chords. This is especially true once you start acquiring a large catalogue of practice tapes!). Whenever I'm not working on anything especially exciting or new I will review/retrieve those older ideas and work on them more if they are good enough. Sometimes something will sound better today than it did when I first set it down. I try and not be critical of myself at those practices times but just put it all down on tape to keep a record and I'll sort it out later. Not all ideas are good ones and especially at the beginning your gonna have a lot of used up tape. Record it all though. There is always a good reason you were propelled down that musical direction and all those "little" inspirations are important if for no other reason than to get you a little farther down the "getting good"road. After years of doing this kind of "note" taking I've got quite a collection of tapes now and these tapes come in real handy from time to time.
The words. Sometimes I do sit down with a subject and goal in mind but that's not often (when this happens I almost always have the guitar music in hand and proceed from there). Usually I prefer to let the words "bubble"to the surface of their own accord. By this I mean that as I'm playing along on the guitar words come to me from inside the strummed or picked notes. The music itself leads me to the place of the words. Kinda like that old story of the sculpture artist seeing the form of his statue inside the stone itself before he actually starts the work of releasing it with his chisels.
So - inside the notes you perhaps will see/hear some words that will lead you into the lyrics for your song. Perhaps when your listening to your tape later you'll see/hear those words in your head during the play back. They might just be there if you listen careful enough. Often while playing I will sing or hum along - perhaps not trying to make actual words but just letting the guitar carry me along and allowing my voice and subconscience to ramble alongside. Later on during a listen I will actually see/hear those lyrics inside those mumbled phrases or tones. It's usually never more than a sentence or two but it's often the foundation that I use to build the rest of the words on. Michigan Weather was started in just such a fashion. It sounds kinda goofy perhaps but it really works and I actually write quite a few songs this way. Once you get the hang of it and, most importantly, learn to trust yourself and your ability to create it's a fun way to get going with a new song.
Method. I mostly I write instinctually with the guitar but I also keep a notebook of written words that I am constantly adding too. I also have a smaller tablet that I carry while traveling and that I'm always jotting down little ideas and notes into which I will transfer into my big book when I have the chance. Some 'line' from a dream, conversation, movie or book or even newspaper article will cause me to take a minute and write a little. If you can train yourself to respond to those moments by taking the few minutes to write it's a great way to keep ideas that you might be able to use later. In the same way that you take time to practice your instrument daily, take the time to write something in your song book daily. Even if you're not especially inspired, make yourself write a page or two. After a time it will become easier for you to go to that little center of yourself where lyrics come from.
I write everything out - good and bad and just leave it there to be reviewed later. After a while you'll start to have a good collection of ideas and you can refer back to your book whenever you come up with a good guitar idea that you might not have a lyrical idea for. Perhaps you can 'shoehorn' your old lyrics into the new idea. It often works for me. The more you use words they easier they become to manipulate, strangle or even discard and with the faith that more of them are just around the corner. Work Work Work I know there are some books written about the "art" of songwriting. There are also creative writing classes you could take at your local school. All of those things and some of what's written above will help you get going.
The parts of songwriting that are about luck and talent you can't do a whole lot about. Mostly though it's about the work and that work will maximize those talents that you do have. Effort, discipline and will power will help you get better. You get the first idea or line and then you build it from there. Start simple. The idea, at least for me, is really the easiest part. Fleshing it out and getting it to "marry" with the music is the challenge and the fun. As much as I enjoy playing live on stage and sharing my songs with folks I get the most pleasure and reward from creating songs. To start from nothing and end up with a song is a wonderful and glorious thing. Trust me when I say that persistence will pay off for you too!
Instrumentals: Not all songs need words. You don't need to fill up all the space with lyrics. Instrumentals are songs too (duh) and are a nice change of pace in a word filled concert (and provide a rest for your voice as well!). Perhaps consider just writing a chorus and leaving out the rest of the words or such combination. If you are creating in instrumental I would advise some of the same common sense approaches that you use with lyrics. Is the song interesting and clear? Does it have direction? Just because a lick is good does not mean you need to play it for 3 minutes. A good lick (though important) does not a song make! I recently did a few gigs with a fellow guitar player and, although he was a good player, his instrumentals though technically good were quite boring because he didn't really take the song anywhere. He just played the riffs 3 times around exactly the same each time. Treat instrumentals as you would a song with words. Loud to soft, easy to hard and back, chorus to verse and back or whatever. You don't need to give it away all at once. Hold something back. Because you are not using words (but only notes) I believe you need to change the notes on your different instrumental verses. You don't sing exactly the same lyrical verse each time do you? Think about it!
At The End: The very last thing to tell you and that I can't recommend enough is to please don't forget to have fun! It is true that music is often times work but at the end of the day if it is not fun you shouldn't be doing it. It's bad for your soul and what you write probably won't be worth listening too anyway! Writing is a wonderful thing as it adds not only to you but also for the listener. It adds to your life because to write about anything in a worthwhile manner you gotta really know the inside of it. So you're a better person with self knowledge and so songwriting adds to your life. Its also a good and healthy way to release all that inside muck and blues that shouldn' t be hanging around in there anyway!! That's it for now I guess. I do hope that some of this helps. This has been fun for me to write too, as I've had to get it straight in my own headfirst! Guess that's the challenge for all of us isn't it! Thanks for reading this far and I do hope you've enjoyed it. Best of luck from your songwriting friend,
