Beginner Songwriting 101

Are you looking for some beginner songwriting tips and advice? Then you’ve come to the right place! I’ll share with you some strategies that will help you on your way to becoming a better   songwriter  in no time.

But first, let me say that songwriting is an art and a craft, one that must be nurtured. Some people seem to have a knack for writing songs, but it takes more than natural talent. To move past the beginner songwriting phase and get really good at writing a song, one must practice. A lot.

All of the great, successful  songwriters  were once at the point you are at now. They found themselves drawn to this wonderful world of songwriting, and found that they possessed a natural ability for it. But this ability needed to be worked and practiced before they were able to write really good (or great) songs.

So here are a few tips to get you going on the road to becoming a better  songwriter :

Write Regularly

There’s nothing like regular practice to improve your songwriting skills. There are a lot of  songwriters  out there who don’t seem to get this. They willingly practice their guitar playing or vocal techniques, but when it comes to songwriting they rely on “inspiration”.

They also believe that the first line of lyric that pops into their head is sacred, beamed in from the gods.

Inspiration is great and necessary, but these inspired ideas will be few and far between if you’re not working for them. Also, the ideas you do get are just that: Ideas. They need to be shaped and perfected.

It’s not so much the ideas themselves, but what you do with them that will make the difference between a good song and a great one

Stay in the Songwriting Mindset

I find I do the majority of my writing when I’m not actually writing a song. What I mean by this is whatever I’m doing I usually have a snippet of a new song circling in my head. I could be running errands or exercising when a line of lyric will come to me. It’s often a line that has been eluding me, one that I have been working to find.

When you’re in the beginner songwriting stage you will have to work a bit to get into the songwriting mindset. You will have to work even harder to stay there when you’re not sitting down to write a song. Staying in the songwriting mindset is something that will come more easily to you the more often you write.

You’ll find that following the first tip and making a point to write regularly will ensure that you achieve this.

Invest in Your Craft

I believe a very important step for the beginner is to invest in your craft. Buy a songwriting program or two, read as much as you can about the songwriting process, listen to interviews with professional  songwriters , and practice the advice they all give you.

With the right reference material you’ll learn about all aspects of songwriting, from transferring what you’re thinking into your lyrics, to creating killer hooks, to building your songs so they convey a sense of motion and direction.

I enjoy songwriting books or programs that are available in audio format so I can put it on my iPod, or burn it to CD and listen to it in my car.

There are a lot of books and courses to choose from. Read some reviews and choose a couple you think would suit you.

Be True to Yourself

Most successful  songwriters  tend to stick with the one or two genres with which they are most comfortable. They identify their strengths and they work at developing them. This is not to say that you can’t write Country songs, Rock songs and R&B songs if you wish. But certain styles will probably come more naturally to you than others.

For instance, I write primarily rock and ballads. I know these are broad genres, but I have developed a style that suits me and I am comfortable writing in that style. I have no interest in writing R&B songs. It’s not that I don’t like R&B, but it doesn’t resonate with me the way Pop and Rock does.

I know there is a lot of money to be made in the R&B and Country market, but if I was writing songs for the money I wouldn’t write very good songs at all. So I stick with where my heart is and where my strengths are.

I hope these tips help you to move past the beginner songwriting stage so that you start to develop your own style as a  songwriter . Enjoy the journey!