Hello, my Darling. 

Just like there is more than one way to skin a cat, there are multiple ways to write a song, but first, we must ask ourselves. Who is skinning all of these cats? And why are they doing it enough to know that there is more than one way? 

I’ve been stupid busy writing a lot of songs lately. Mostly because I have nothing but time now that someone decided to play Jumanji and not finish the game. 

I wanted to share some tips I’ve found to help expedite the songwriting process and stave off the dreaded writer’s block. Obviously, there’s no one sure way to write a song. But these tips have helped me and countless others write songs.

Collaboration

Sitting in a room and pounding out the song is one of the best ways to finish a song. I don’t want to make it more complicated than it is. It’s nice to have someone to keep you on track, someone to help you! If you’ve had bad experiences writing with someone else in the past, that’s okay! A lot of us have had an experience like that before! It just means you don’t work well with that person, and you need to move on and stop wasting your time with them (obviously, don’t phrase it that way).

Most people try to keep lyrics close to their chest. That makes sense. But if you struggle with writing lyrics, find a lyricist! They don’t have to be musicians. Some people just have a knack for writing words!

A big fear for a lot of songwriters is sharing credit or royalties. Well, let’s take a look at the board real quick…

You have made less than $100 from your entire catalog. You don’t need to worry about sharing the wealth. Once you’re big and famous, you can worry about that stuff. Right now, we’re just trying to get on the board. Stop worrying about sharing credit with others and realize that a big reason you’re not breaking through is that you are refusing (or not trying) to collaborate. 

Write a shitty version of the song – The Dory method

There is a time to edit, and there is a time to write, and those times rarely convinced. Has this ever happened to you? 

Don’t answer that aloud, I know the answer is yes. 

You’re cruising! You’ve written three lines in a song, and right when you get to the hook, you get stuck. Instead of stopping and focusing on that line, keep that flow and energy rolling through and write another line. Don’t stop, just keep going. Put a place holder if you must. Just keep swimming, swimming, swimming… what do we do? Just keep swimming 

You will come back, you will fix it. Stop trying to be perfect the first try, stop waiting for that perfect line to come to you at your convenience. It rarely does, and while we’re waiting for it and it’s taking it sweet ass time, we can write the rest of the song.

Learn and implement a new chord 

I wrote a song called “Next Fix” entirely inspired by one chord I just happened to learn! All it takes is one chord to spark something interesting.

This website has a lot of cool chords you can learn at (almost) any level of proficiency.

or use this cheep website 

The pressure you have to write a great song is created by you

We put so much pressure on every song we write. It’s easy to lose sight of what you really need to be doing here. Cranking out material. Not everything you write has to be heard. You can go back and fix it later. We have to keep writing often! Don’t let the search for a great song stop you from writing a good song! 

Have the “I’m going to write 100 songs” mentality. I’ve been told by many a producer that this is how we get picked up. More often than not, the song an artist was “sure to be a hit” ended up crashing and burning, and some joke song ended up connecting with others on a deeper level. 

If it makes you feel better, you can keep working on that “hit” song while you work on other material. Are you one of those people that can only work on one song at a time? Well, that’s a bad habit, and you need to break it. It’s not something to be proud of, and you can change! 

Song Exploder

Echo introduced me to this a couple weeks ago, and it has changed the game for me! It’s an awesome podcast where artist breakdown how they made their songs. I love it for production ideas. These episodes are short and introduce you to a lot of great new music. Check it out here!

I’m always trying to find some new ways to keep the wheels turning and to get that high of finishing a song. Please comment on how you write (especially if it’s a weird way), and I’ll write a post on it! 

And please like, share and subscribe to this little website! It goes a long way for me! Thanks for the love!