Taking steps to master your songwriting
Written by QUILLA.
Songwriting can be intimidating but it should be a safe place for your mind. This blog will definitely make you better at songwriting so buckle up!!
The intro
Songwriting can be a pain in the ass!!! especially when you have writers block or when you feel like you’re not being as creative as you want to be. Some people believe that songwriting should be a direct link to poetry, where nearly every line has some sort of metaphor or simile in it…I’m here to tell you that is not necessary. Sometimes songwriting can be simplistic.
Rules (yes, there are rules)
The first rule when you approach songwriting is to be accepting. You have to accept yourself at whatever stage you are at in songwriting. You cannot expect to advance or to suddenly be creative without first acknowledging the stage that you’re at. so for our first exercise, I would like you to write down the strengths and weaknesses that you have when it comes to songwriting. (and you have to be completely honest with yourself) that is the only way you will progress from where you are.
With the exercises that I will provide for you today, try to work on them starting with your strengths and in the next songwriting session, try them with your weaknesses (to turn them into strengths).
The strategy for you
Inspiration for songwriting almost definitely comes from the experience that you’ve had in life, whether that’s travelling, life, social experiences…it could come from something that you have seen yourself or from the media.
What is a prominent event? whether you’ve experienced it or seen someone experience it and has stuck with you, that you’d want to express.
Songwriting is a form of expression where it allows songwriters to get whatever they’re feeling off of their chest so they can allow for more experiences and feelings, emotions and inspiration to come and fill up their minds so that they can write more songs and eventually build up a body of art. Through this, you will find a pattern within your songwriting, your signature!
When I approach songwriting, it’s always because I have something to get off of my chest. So what I would do is find a beat/instrumental on Youtube (originally) that portrays the emotions that I am feeling inside and vibe to it, starting off with humming.I wouldn’t have lyrics straight away, I would literally just hum to the beat and what sticks, sticks. I would IMMEDIATELY record the rhythm I came up with on my phone so I can refer back to it. Eventually I would slowly start replacing the humming with words and build lyrics that way.
The easiest way to get into writing would be
starting from your chorus. So obviously, a chorus is supposed to be catchy, addictive, easy, flowy, harmonic and all of the words! It typically shapes what the rest of your songs, including the bridge, would sound like and what the theme and vibe would be like. So I would advise that you get stuck straight in with the chorus and build the rest of the song around it.
It’s a wrap ( 4 u bby)
So far we have covered:
Write down your strengths and weaknesses (and remember to be honest with yourself about it)
Write down the strongest feeling, event or situation that has happened that you feel in your heart (btw even if you feel like you have nothing to say, still write down “I have nothing to say”, you never know what could be built from that)
You could produce your beat or find a beat on YouTube that portrays that emotion/situation that you’d want to write about and build a chorus from it
Now when you try these three tasks (I will do my homework too lool), we will come back in the next session and share everything we have together and I will share with you my chorus and my strengths & weaknesses too.
I’m soooo glad that we are able to come together to master our songwriting and build each other up on this journey! This is just the beginning and we will have much more fun-packed songwriting exercises to go through next time! See ya! muah x
