Songwriting Ready

A blog about the craft of songwriting

[songwriting-ready]

Lyric writing basics - learn how to write a song using the craft of songwriting.

Know Your Audience - Know who you are writing for.  The audience determines the type of lyrics you write, diction, and the style of music you choose

Set the scene - Where is the song taking place? 

Male or Female - Choose the gender.  Think about whether a male or female is expressing the emotion. 

Become the character - Can you become the character and still speak from truth?  Can you portray your emotion or experience in the different gender?

What’s the form? - Which of the song forms will you choose and why? 

What’s the perspective? - Is the song written from I, You, He, She, or They? 

What’s the voice? - Is the character thinking or talking?  Can be alone, or with someone else, or thinking or talking about someone else. 

What’s the time frame? - Is the song written in past, present, or future. 

What’s the tone? - What is the emotional attitude conveyed in the song?  Pick the tone and keep It consistent throughout the story. 

What’s the diction?  - Is your character urban, country, foreign, or classy.  This determines the tone and language you use. 

These are a few items you can check of when writing the first draft of your song. 

Grab my Songwriting Blueprint to follow along:

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[songwriting-ready]

How to write a song. Put your song into these song forms and write like a pro!

Cool! You made it.  Once you get your story straight and simplified, you can plug it into a form that works for your song.  Form is short for formula.  It’s the way a song is structured and organized.

Grab my new Songwriting Blueprint to guide your song idea from start to finish.

The form consists of a few elements:

- The Verse - The verse is where we put the things we’ve learned.  We use the verses to capture our idea, tell the story, and direct the listener through the other elements of the song.

- The Chorus -The chorus is the part you hook with.  It’s where the lyrics and verses lead the listener to and payoff with a hopefully catchy, melodic, groovy hook.  It’s the part of the song your listener will know even if they don’t know the words in the verses.

- The Pre-Hook - The pre hook comes before the chorus.  This element sets up the song for the big payoff.  The goal is to build tension that is released at the chorus

- The Bridge - The bridge is a break in the song usually towards the end.  The bridge musically can lift up or twist the song.  Lyrically it can be the place where the twist or change happens in the song.  Either way, it’s a break from the rest of the song.  It’s a great place to show your imagination and creativity in a tune. 

Let’s look at a few song forms.

Basic Song Forms

AAA - The AAA song form is a classic form used for many folk and country songs.  This form has the title or hook in the first and last line.  You can use this form to shorten a story song by compressing and blending the lines and title.  These songs are usually 3-5 verses long.  Think of “Walk the Line.” By Johnny Cash

AABA - This is a classic song form used mostly by songwriters.  It’s used in all styles of music, especially country.  The title/hook is usually in the first or last line. Think of “Yesterday” by The Beatles or “Just the Way You Are” by Billy Joel. 

VERSE/CHORUS  - Verse chorus form is recognized by chorus repetition and two or more verses to complete the story.  These songs can be structured as follows;

- A - Verse

- B -  Chorus

- A -  Verse

- B -  Chorus

- A - Verse

- B - Chorus

- A - Verse

- B - Chorus

- A - Verse

- B - Chorus

- C - Bridge

- B - Chorus

- A - Chorus

- B - Verse

- A - Chorus

- B - Verse

- A - Chorus

A few thoughts on choosing song form. 

- Song forms depend on the amount of lyric needed to complete the song

- Song forms depend on the song tempo.  Ballads use less form uptempo numbers need room for the pre hook and bridge or lift.

- Set the tempo and number of lines in your song and lock into a form. 

Grab the Songwriting Blueprint:

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[songwriting-ready]

How to rhyme- Try these rhyme schemes to get your songs poppin’

Grab my new Songwriting Blueprint to guide your song idea from start to finish.

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Perfect Rhymes - rhymes in which different consonants are followed by identical vowel and consonant sounds, such as in moon and June. The stressed sound that ends the line is identical. 

Imperfect Rhymes - a rhyme in which there is only a partial matching of sounds (e.g., love and move ).  I have heard these described as hard rhymes.  They are perfectly acceptable and can really change the course of you song

One Rhymes (masculine) - a rhyme of final stressed syllables (e.g., blow / flow, confess / redress ).  This is where a single syllable rhymes or the last syllable in a multi syllable word is rhymed. 

Two Rhymes (feminine) - a rhyme between stressed syllables followed by one or more unstressed syllables (e.g., stocking / shocking, glamorous / amorous .).  These are two syllable rhymes with the emphasis on the first.  The vowels and inner consonants must match. 

Three Rhymes - These are where the last three syllables rhyme and the preceding consonants differ (e.g., medium/tedium, facilitate, rehabilitate.).

Open Rhymes - Open rhymes do not end on hard consonants.  Try to use these them on notes that are to be sustained (e.g., glow/snow, fly/try.).

Closed Rhymes - These are rhymes that end in a consonant.  You can use phonetics to correct the sounds of closed rhymes when singing into a microphone.  You can pronounce b’s with v’s etc...

Closed rhymes make us close our mouths when singing and can be touch to pronounce when singing. 

Inside Rhymes - Inside rhymes are internal and occur within the line (e.g., that takes the cake for goodness sake.). 

Rhyme Rules

- make rhymes consistent

- use the same rhyme pattern in all verses

- use the same rhyme pattern for your verse and chorus

- use a different rhyme scheme for your bridge

Types of Rhyme schemes

The ABAB - The abab scheme rhymes the first and third lines & the second and fourth lines of a verse)

A - shaking

B - hands

A - baking

B - pans

The AABB - The aabb rhymes the first and second lines & the third and fourth lines

A - tuck

A -buck

B -save

B- rave

The AAAA - The aaaa rhymes all four lines. 

A - poor

A - chore

A - more

A - floor

The ABCB - The abcb rhymes the second and the fourth line

A - best

B - choice

C -  gets

B - moist

The ABAA - Rhymes the first, third, and fourth lines

A- fat

B - blue

A - cat

A - hat

The AAB - Rhymes first and second lines

A - pine

A - fine

B -fly

Final thoughts on rhyme

- Keep it simple - Focus on one idea throughout the song.

- Keep it clear - Use specific pronouns that tell who is doing the talking (e.g., him, her, they, them it.). 

- Keep it tight - Make every word count.  Eliminate empty adjectives adverbs that aren’t necessary.

- Keep it focused- Use short strong one syllable words.  Put the important words at the end of the line. Rhyme the words you want to stress.

- Keep it consistent - Keep the language and tone the same throughout the song.  Keep your themes consistently literal or consistently figurative. 

- Keep it coherent - Make sure every cause or reaction has an effect.  Maintain logical chronology from line to line.

- Keep it specific - Go into detail about your subjects and try to show an emotion rather than tell it.

- Keep it unified - let the elements of time, place, and action blend together into a unified piece. 

- Keep it real - nothing beats the real thing.  Make sure your putting yourself into your songs.  The craft is just a guideline not a substitute for the real thing.

[songwriting-ready]

How to write a song. Try these plot and character development techniques to tell your story.

Grab my new Songwriting Blueprint to guide your song idea from start to finish.

1. The Setup

2. Development

3. Resolution

What is The Set-Up?

The setup gives us the information we need to get our song started.  The purpose of the set-up is to create the spine or direction or our story.  This is where we build our story line.  The set - up paints a picture for the listener.  We need to begin with an image, feeling, or sense of what’s going on.  The goal is to try to paint with words and create a mood for the listener. 

3 Types of Song Plots

Situational - A series of events adds up over time to move us through the story.  Think of “Don’t take the Girl.” 

Story (action) Songs - Story songs have a beginning, middle, and end.  Think of “Coward of the County.”

Emotional - Emotional songs focus on a single emotion or mood - Think of the country song “Amazed.”

Character Development

Who are the characters in your song?  It’s it you?  Is it a fictional character, a lover or friend?  Characters have a lot of influence in your song.  There’s something the characters in your story are after.  This character aspect gives direction to your song.  Let’s look at the character development in you songs

Motivation — Motivation pushes your character ahead in the song.  A physical action, emotion, or conversation might be motivation for the character.  Some ways a motivation might show up to create action would be a memory or flashback, an escape, or a breakup.  The motivation needs to be clear and thought out to give your song the right push. 

The Goal - Depending on the motivation you choose, the character begins to look for a goal.  Is it returning to a lover?  Is it going back home?  What does your character want?  The goal ties the character to the spine of the story.  The story is resolved by the character going after the goal and achieving it. 

Let’s look at how our goal can resolve.

What’s at stake in the story?  What is lost if the main character doesn’t get to the goal?

What’s in the way of the character achieving the goal?

Is the goal set up in such a way that it creates courage, resourcefulness, or determination within the character

Think of “The Cape” by Guy Clark

Action - How does the character achieve the goal?  How to you create strength and stability within your characters?  Your characters have to face adversity and vulnerability so they can build credibility with your listener.  The more your character has to struggle, the stronger the actions.  The more difficult the actions, the stronger the character. 

Song Plot Development

You have four main choices for writing your song plot. 

1. Perspective - What point of view are you using?  First (I/We) Second(You) Third (He/she/they)

2. Voice - Are you using an Internal Voice (thinking) or External Voice (Talking or Action)

3. Place in time - is it Past, Present, Future, or Now

4. The Setting - here and now, a certain place, changing scenes, planes, trains, automobiles

Try to build your story keeping the characters and plot development in mind. 

1 0 types of plot development you can use in your song

1. Conversation - uses a conversation to express the lyrical content.  Could be a duet or a conversation within a song.  Think “Picture by Kid Rock & Sheryl Crow.”

2. Sequence of events - The details of the song happen in sequential order.  Think of someone growing older or a house weathering in a field.  Think of  how you would describe a sequence of events.

3. A Question - The question is presented in the first verse and isn’t answered until the end.  Think of pondering a pressing matter and ask questions in the verses until it is answered in the end. 

4. Scenes - Think of each verse being a vignette paining a series of scenes throughout the song.

5. Puns - Can you make a song out of a pun without using a cliche? 

6. Conflict - Conflict is a great thing to write about.  Who is it with?  Where is it happening?  Why?  See if you can use the methods I’ve given you to write a song about conflict

7. The Twist - The song gives you a plot twist in the in with the spine or characters.  These fit well with a specific song form that we will explore in the next section. 

8. Imagery - Use creative imagery to create ideas, titles, and verses.  Use similes and metaphors to create fresh words.

9. Foreshadowing - Leads up to a plot twist or character twist before it happens

10. Tension - creates tension by creating contrast with a desired reality with what actually is

Grab the FREE Songwriting Blueprint here to follow along:

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[songwriting-ready]

How to write better lyrics using these poetic devices. Try these the next time you want to write a song.

Use these poetic devices to make your songs sing

Grab my new Songwriting Blueprint to guide your song idea from start to finish.

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There are some literary poetic devices you can use to create lines in your song. Let’s look at a few

- Alliteration - the occurrence of the same letter or sound at the beginning of adjacent or closely connected words. "the alliteration of “sweet birds sang”

- Assonance - in poetry, the repetition of the sound of a vowel or diphthong in nonrhyming stressed syllables near enough to each other for the echo to be discernible (e.g., penitence, reticence ). "the use of assonance throughout the poem creates the sound of despair"

- Simile - a figure of speech involving the comparison of one thing with another thing of a different kind, used to make a description more emphatic or vivid (e.g., as brave as a lion, crazy like a fox). the use of simile."his audacious deployment of simile and metaphor"

- Metaphors - a figure of speech in which a word or phrase is applied to an object or action to which it is not literally applicable.

- Allegory - a story, poem, or picture that can be interpreted to reveal a hidden meaning, typically a moral or political one. "Pilgrim's Progress is an allegory of the spiritual journey"

- Personification - the attribution of a personal nature or human characteristics to something nonhuman, or the representation of an abstract quality in human form.

- Hyperbole - exaggerated statements or claims not meant to be taken literally. "he vowed revenge with oaths and hyperboles"

- Irony - the expression of one's meaning by using language that normally signifies the opposite, typically for humorous or emphatic effect. “Don't go overboard with the gratitude,” he rejoined with heavy irony"

- Antithesis - a person or thing that is the direct opposite of someone or something else. "love is the antithesis of selfishness"

- Characterization - the creation or construction of a fictional character. "he preferred to emphasize characterization and human conflict"

Definitions from Oxford Languages

[songwriting-ready]

Lyric Writing Tips - Learn 7 storytelling techniques that you can use to create unique song ideas. 

Grab my new Songwriting Blueprint to guide your song idea from start to finish.

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The Vignette - A vignette is a mini story.  You can use the this storytelling method in your song to describe a specific event or scene.  The vignette is a descriptive narrative that focuses on the details occurring in one particular moment.  This detailed illustration gives an impression of an idea, character, setting, mood, or object.  How would you describe every intimate detail of someone in their last waking hours?  What would you write about watching a sunset.  What about a bride about to recite her wedding vows?  The idea is to use a camera lens approach and zoom in on all the details to create the vignette. 

Crucibles - A crucible story is defined as a severe test, trial, or extremely challenging experience.  These stories consist of profound personal truths that are broad enough for most listeners to relate to.  Think of how you would illustrate pain and loss in your song.  What would you write in a song about defeat, adversity, illness, or disaster?  Crucibles deal with life or death matters.  These songs might include themes of  hardship, danger, challenge and survival.  Write these songs with music and leave room for silence.  Crucibles have the power to creative emotion and vulnerability for your listener. 

Imbroglio Stories - The imbroglio illustrates an extremely painful or confusing embarrassment or misunderstanding.  You might have to get creative with this one.  How would you write an embarrassing situation into a song?  One example might be Escape, the pina colada song by Rupert Holmes. 

The Minerva Story - These stories are derived from actual events like the legend of John Henry or Delia’s Gone by Johnny Cash.  The Minerva story draws upon wisdom. Think about how you would write about traditional American folk stories or historical cultural event that you know about. 

Credibility Stories - Credibility stories are stories that didn’t happen to you.  How would you write about an international event like the explosion in Beirut or the Syrian refuge crisis?  The credibility story is where you get passionate about real events.  These songs might speak on politics, pollution, global warming, world health crisis etc.  There’s so much going on in the world today that a credibility story in a song might shed some light on a true passion that you might care a lot about. 

Pattern Stories - The first song that comes to mind as a pattern story is “Love me,” recorded by Colin Haye.  A pattern story covers a period of time.  The events in a pattern story can change over days, months, or years.  The circumstances change from scene to scene over time but are written with the use of a repetitive pattern.  These types of stories are great for songs describing children growing up or lover’s growing old.  Can you think of a pattern you would like to write about? 

Instructional Stories - Turning an instructional story into a song requires a little bit of thought?  How would you write a series of steps or sequence of events into a song?  Brian McKnight did it with “Back at One.”  What about “Step by Step” by NKOTB.  Gotcha didn’t I?  There’s definitely something to work with here.  Use your imagination. 

Ok!  so we’ve written some themes and some story styles to work with.  Next we’ll get into rhyme schemes and song form. 

[songwriting-ready]

Lyric Writing Tips - How to write a song title - 5 ideas you can start with to finish your songs.

It all starts with a song. A great song should have a compelling title. When writing a title ask yourself these three questions.

- Is it catchy?

- Is it memorable?

- Does it support the lyrics of the song?

Let the title set the stage for the song. If you have a title in mind, you can pull from the songwriting stories and themes in my previous blogs. When you have an idea for a song, make sure you write it down. One of the best things you can do is have an app on your phone that you can store a quick recording. Let’s run down a few you can use.

- Apple notepad on your iphone

- Songspace

- Music Memos

- Day One

- Evernote

- Google Drive

All of these apps are great and they all have unique features. Make sure you always have something to log your lyrics, ideas, and titles when they pop. Collecting these little nuggets will pay off over time when you sit down to write. You’ll never run out of ideas this way. When you get stuck, you will always have your song crafting toolbox to work with.

The title of your song should hook the listener. Titles are often repetitive and placed carefully within the song. They can illustrate a person’s name, a place, an event. When you have an idea that you think is a good title, try to build your song from there. Let’s look at 5 types of titles you can run with.

How to find song titles. 5 Songwriting tips you can use for your ideas journal.

1. Steal One - one of my favorite books is Steal like an artist by Austin Kleon. Artist’s are thieves, we just borrow from one other. How many cool song titles are there in popular music. How many ways can you rewrite a title that has already been successful. Grab a billboard chart and start rewriting the top 10 in your favorite genre. See what you come up with.

2. Names - Amanda, Light up my life! Me and Bobby McGee, Kaw Liga. How many cool tunes have you heard of with a name? Try being inspired by someone you have love for. This can be relatives or lovers. What about someone who passed away? Can you tell a story using the name of that person. What about someone you want to be like? Bob Dylan, Willie Nelson. I know a guy who wrote a song about pitching a song to Willie.

3. Your Calendar - What about songs with months, days of the week, or dates? What about Sunday Morning Coming Down by Kris Kristofferson. I always loved Long December by Counting Crows. Days, Months, and Dates can bring up ideas about the seasons, the weather, holidays, and events that happen during the year. Try to think in pictures and jot down some ideas you have about your favorite times on the calendar.

4. Destinations - New York, Japan, California? How many different places have turned up in song titles? Set your story in another place that you have been or dream about. See if you can capture a title from a place. Look at pictures on instagram to spark some ideas for titles.

5. Colors - Purple Rain, The Yellow Rose of Texas, Blue Eyes Crying in The Rain? Colors paint great titles. Try to find some titles with colors and rewrite them with your own experiences. Do you have any ideas for a title yet?

Okay! There’s 5 places you can grab a song title. I’ll put a downloadable pdf file in the post so you can follow along. Make sure for follow me on Instagram at songwriting_ready and check out the podcast if you want to listen along. Happy Writing!

Grab our lyric writing blueprint and learn the craft of songwriting step by step.

[songwriting-ready]

Songwriting Tips - Learn 7 storytelling techniques that you can use for writing better lyrics.

The Vignette - A vignette is a mini story.  You can use the this storytelling method in your song to describe a specific event or scene.  The vignette is a descriptive narrative that focuses on the details occurring in one particular moment.  This detailed illustration gives an impression of an idea, character, setting, mood, or object.  How would you describe every intimate detail of someone in their last waking hours?  What would you write about watching a sunset.  What about a bride about to recite her wedding vows?  The idea is to use a camera lens approach and zoom in on all the details to create the vignette. 

Crucibles - A crucible story is defined as a severe test, trial, or extremely challenging experience.  These stories consist of profound personal truths that are broad enough for most listeners to relate to.  Think of how you would illustrate pain and loss in your song.  What would you write in a song about defeat, adversity, illness, or disaster?  Crucibles deal with life or death matters.  These songs might include themes of  hardship, danger, challenge and survival.  Write these songs with music and leave room for silence.  Crucibles have the power to creative emotion and vulnerability for your listener. 

Imbroglio Stories - The imbroglio illustrates an extremely painful or confusing embarrassment or misunderstanding.  You might have to get creative with this one.  How would you write an embarrassing situation into a song?  One example might be Escape, the pina colada song by Rupert Holmes. 

The Minerva Story - These stories are derived from actual events like the legend of John Henry or Delia’s Gone by Johnny Cash.  The Minerva story draws upon wisdom. Think about how you would write about traditional American folk stories or historical cultural event that you know about. 

Credibility Stories - Credibility stories are stories that didn’t happen to you.  How would you write about an international event like the explosion in Beirut or the Syrian refuge crisis?  The credibility story is where you get passionate about real events.  These songs might speak on politics, pollution, global warming, world health crisis etc.  There’s so much going on in the world today that a credibility story in a song might shed some light on a true passion that you might care a lot about. 

Pattern Stories - The first song that comes to mind as a pattern story is “Love me,” recorded by Colin Haye.  A pattern story covers a period of time.  The events in a pattern story can change over days, months, or years.  The circumstances change from scene to scene over time but are written with the use of a repetitive pattern.  These types of stories are great for songs describing children growing up or lover’s growing old.  Can you think of a pattern you would like to write about? 

Instructional Stories - Turning an instructional story into a song requires a little bit of thought?  How would you write a series of steps or sequence of events into a song?  Brian McKnight did it with “Back at One.”  What about “Step by Step” by NKOTB.  Gotcha didn’t I?  There’s definitely something to work with here.  Use your imagination. 

Ok!  so we’ve written some themes and some story styles to work with.  Next we’ll get into rhyme schemes and song form. 

Download my FREE songwriting blueprint to help you with your lyric writing:

 

Grab our lyric writing blueprint and learn the craft of songwriting step by step.

[songwriting-ready]

How to write songs. Get 10 fresh ideas for writing your next song.

They say it all starts with a song, but where do songs come from? In my case they come from the ether. I watched an interview with legendary songwriter John Hiatt last night. He described songwriting as kind of like steering a car when someone else is driving it. That’s one way to put it. Have you ever had an idea that you thought would make a great song line or song title? Have you ever wondered where the great songs you love originated? It all starts with an idea. It all starts with a song. So if you’re short on ideas, where do you find them? This is where creativity comes in. Set your intention on capturing ideas and get ready to capture them. Let your inner child be like a kid with a butterfly net chasing ideas for songs. It’s all about fun. Get too serious and you quiet the muse. I use a few technical tools to capture ideas. Nowadays everything is on your phone. You can download anyone of these and use them to capture your voice or notes for ideas. Here’s a few I like.

1. Evernote

2. Day One

3. Google Drive

I’m not gonna get into a product review. You only need one of these to get started and that’s what I want you to do. Start writing! I use the Google Drive for cataloging mostly finished songs. I’m always rewriting them and you should too. I use Evernote for my ideas and blog posts and choppy writing that no one sees. I love it. Day One is where I put my nightly inventories to keep my head straight.

Now that you’ve got a place to organize your ideas. Let’s look at where ideas come from. I’m going to give you a list of themes to write about. I’m going into themes and storytelling first because I want to get the ideas and creativity flowing before I start boring you with rhyme schemes and song forms. Let’s just paint a picture in our minds of what our song will be about and we will fill in all the technical aspects later. Like the song says, you gotta listen to your heart, ya know?

Here’s a few themes you can use to get song ideas. I heard someone say there’s 5000 ways to write a song. Pick one and write it. So here we go.

Keep in mind when your making your ideas journal that your song should include

- an authentic idea

- a title that stands out

- an intro that grabs the listener and sets the scene (who, what, when, where, how)

- a direction or plot progression that leads the listener

- a melody that works with the lyrical content

10 themes you can use today. Make sure to subscribe for more songwriting tips.

1. Protest - a lot of people are scared and pissed off right now. A protest theme can send a message in a time like we’re living in. Think back to the 1960’s and how prevalent protest songs were. Think about the issues going on in the world right now? Can you get inspired to send a message in the form of a song?

2. Spirituals - Are you faithful? Can you write about hope, strength, seeking meaning? These types of songs lift people up and give them strength when no other things can. There’s power in a song, especially if it touches your listener on a spiritual level.

3. Time - thinking back to the past or fast forwarding to the future can inspire some great ideas. Think of songs that visit a conversation from the past or look to the future. I’m thinking of Simple Man by Skynrd or I can see clearly now by Johnny Nash. Songs mark our place in time. Memories spark ideas. Longing sparks ideas. Can you think of any right now?

4. Places - What about places you’ve been or travel? I spent 5 weeks in Thailand once and wrote a really cool song about being sad in paradise. What about mountains and rivers? Think of the places you’ve been that inspire you and make them into a song idea.

5. Loss - Some of my saddest moments have been from loss. There’s some powerful emotion in the theme of loss. I like to think of my granddaddy me fishing and how much I missed him when he was gone. I wrote a crazy amount of songs after a breakup. What about losing money, or friends, or a pet? There’s great songwriting in loss if you dare to revisit those emotions. It could very well lead to some great art.

6. Family - Oh family? It’s the holidays. Don’t you want to write a song about you’re Uncle Ned getting pissed on the egg nog? What about a sibling and the fun you had as a kid? How about mama? Mama has made an appearance in many a great country song. Family is a good one to write about.

7. Winning - Not my strong suite. I just think of Rocky, or We Are The Champions. Maybe I should write I a song about winning. Even the losers get lucky some time. What does it feel like to be winning at life. Winning a war. Winning a battle with yourself. Can you write a song about that?

8. Conflict - The struggle is real. Conflict is my best buddy? What’s your conflict with? Finances, a lover, alcohol, politics, you can get deep on the theme of struggle. I like to write songs for the working man. The struggle with man. The world is your oyster with this one.

9. Friendship - Aw buddy! I love you man. It’s hard to find a friend by Tom Petty, James Taylor/Carol King - You’ve got a friend, Randy Newman - You’ve got a friend in me. Friend songs are the coolest. Can you think of an idea based on friendship? Can you describe your ideal friend? There’s some great ideas here.

10. Love- yeah boy, I couldn’t leave this one out. A good old fashioned love song. This can take many angles and our list wouldn’t be complete without it. Have you been in love? Do you want to be in love? Think of some things you can write about love. I bet you can.

Phew. That’s it. We’ve got some stuff to work with. I’m gonna make you a list of theses themes you can download and record it on the podcast. Make sure to subscribe and join the mailing list. Once I get all these things together I’m going to make a songwriting course for the masses. Thanks for reading.

Grab the free guide below to become a true song maker!

Grab our lyric writing blueprint and learn the craft of songwriting step by step.

[songwriting-ready]

5 Tips to rock an open mic night

How to get on stage with confidence and make your first open mic night a big success at your first songwriting show!

I’ll never forget that night. For months I had hoarded songs and practiced them relentlessly in my living room.  I was all alone in my apartment when I had the thought “ I think it’s time to try an open mic night.”  

It was time to slay the dragon.  I was all alone and the only thing left to do was to force myself to get on stage.  If you want to be a songwriter, you have to do it.  I was 38 years old with a book full of new songs and nothing to lose.  I grabbed my nice shiny guitar and headed down to 6th street in Austin, Texas to Maggie Mae’s bar.  The same place where back in the day, the famous Stevie Ray Vaughn himself stayed the stage with his virtuoso talent.  

My nerves were on fire.  There was a room full of people and the host called my name.  He made a comment about my Martin guitar and how I must have a day job to have a job like that.  I got on stage and that’s when It happened. He introduced me, I strummed the first chord, and the most god awful buzzing sound came out of my guitar.  

It wasn’t music!

The host looked up and said “your battery.”  The battery was dead in my shiny new Martin.  It wasn’t a cool moment.  I was freaking out.  He graciously handed up his worn out box and said “you can play mine.”

I hit that box and out came the songs.  The strings were hard to play and I remember the lights from the stage hitting the end of that guitar.  I was hooked

There was no turning back!

Now since this is a blog to help songwriters, especially new ones learn what I’ve learned.  I’m going to share a few tips to help your open mic run a little more smoothly than mine.  These are just a few observations I’ve noticed from going to open mics.  I hope yours goes great and  hope these tips help out. 

Here we go. 

1. Any decent sounding guitar will do, but I would recommend a new set of strings and a fresh battery.  I always keep a spare battery because it sucks when your battery goes out on stage.  This happened to me on my first open mic night. 

2. Make sure to take a minute to tune your guitar before you go on stage.  It's a nervous thing right before you go up, so It's easy to forget.  A tuned up guitar makes all the difference in a good sounding set.  I always keep a tuner in my bag.  it's a good idea.

3. Picks.  Always take a few extra picks.  There's always the veteran guitar player around who never has a pick.  Be the person with the extra pick and you just might find yourself accompanied by a sweet lead guitar player by the end of the night.  This is always a blast.  

4. ALWAYS wait for the host to unplug your guitar.  There's nothing worse than blasting every ones ears with a loud "POP" after you've serenaded them into bliss

5. Choose an open mic that's more suited for your style of music.  I've found that it's easier to meet people to play with because you like the same stuff and it makes hanging out for the night way more enjoyable.  You'll see what I mean.

Get out there and play!  Don’t forget to subscribe before you leave! I’ve got an awesome songwriter’s workshop you can take and lots of songwriting resources coming your way.

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About the author.  Jay Cannady is a songwriter and blogger based in Austin, Texas

[songwriting-ready]

How to break writer’s block and start writing great songs. Learn 3 exercises you can do today to dust off those writer’s blues and sing like a songbird!

Has the pandemic got ya down? I can honestly say that I haven’t been in the most creative of moods. I just read a cool book by Seth Godin called “The Practice.” There were some juicy nuggets about writing in there. Here are a few things I’ve learned and as I’m sitting here with a sinus headache first thing in the morning, I’m writing.

I’ve heard this before. I‘ve read all the self help artists books, believe me. I read The Artist’s Way by Julia Cameron, Steal like an Artist by Austin Kleon, Do the Work by Stephen Pressfield, and just finished The Practice and The Dip by Seth Godin. Self help books are great. They motivate us. It’s great to be an enlightenment addict, but I’m going to propose that reading all these things over and over again is it’s own form of resistance. I’ve done it, so trust me.

1. You gotta do the work. Nothing takes the place of sitting down at your craft every day and moving the dirt. That’s the common theme of all these great author’s writing. You gotta roll up your sleeves and get dirty. That’s where the magic happens. Seth talks about finding your hour. In my experience 1 or 2 hours is all I’ve got time for and if I do, the creative juice peters out anyway after a couple of consecutive hours. I’ve ready this in Malcom Gladwell’s books and heard it from a legendary singer-songwriter here in Austin. You gotta do the work. Give yourself that hour. The drips of effort will add up over time and contribute to something great.

2. Take inventory of your time. This is a little gem I learned going to them there drinking meetings. Do a nightly inventory of your activities, thoughts, and desires/goals. I’m on day two of my nightly inventories and I’m already feeling relief. I think it gets rid of that feeling most creatives have of wasting time. Maybe because we don’t do the big things we want to do we forget about the little things that we need to do to make the big things happen. We can also identify where we’re wasting time. Making your partner lunch and doing your share of the housework isn’t wasting time. It’s called life and that’s why inventories help so we can manage our time and stop complaining about not having time. You’ll never get there if you don’t manage your time.

3. Focus on one thing. This really works. Start writing down your ideas about the one thing you want to accomplish. Write it as if you were already there. Describe what it looks like and plug it into that hour that you’ve just given yourself. I did this when I started songwriting. I dropped all the yoga classes, mountain biking, and drinking activities and got focused on my music. I didn’t win a Grammy but I was able to jot down a couple hundred song ideas, play a lot of show, and yes, I eventually got to a place where I started to get paid to play music. I did that and I want that for you too.

If you need a little help with kickstarting your creativity, I’ve got a little mini course you can buy to help you out. I’ll drop that link in the post and you can do the exercises in there for a great price.

Thanks for reading.

Jay Cannady - Songwriting Ready

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How to Beat Writer’s Block in 3 Quick and Easy steps!

How to Beat Writer’s Block in 3 Quick and Easy steps!