Songwriting Magic Blog

We all need a songwriters glossary at some point; there’s always one bit of jargon we can’t figure out. Accent – when one beat is louder / has more emphasis than the others Arpeggio – playing the notes of a chord individually one after the other Bar (or Measure) – a unit of time with […]

If you type the phrase, ‘how do I get started on a song’ into Google – it’s almost guaranteed that the first piece of advice you will come across is, ‘Start with a winning title’. or ‘Pick a great title’. Aye – sure that’s a great idea – but it’s also facile and almost meaningless. […]

Be available to catch songs when they arrive; maybe that means you always have an instrument to hand – or a notepad (or a recording device) in your pocket.

Create a better world in your songs. In your songs, everybody can love you, you can be witty, good looking, be rich and live in a mansion. Without thinking about it I often create a world in my songs that I’d like to live in – perhaps as an antidote to the one I do […]

Learn the chords of a song you like and then throw the original words away. Now write your own words and tune. “I used to write extra verses to other people’s songs that I liked. That led to writing my own songs.” Jackson Browne “The teenage Muriel Spark did not just just seek out the […]

Use songwriting as therapy; a way to work out the issues in your life. There is plenty of research that says creating music can lower anxiety and help you feel happier. It certainly helps me; I couldn’t live without it. “I write first for myself as a therapeutic process, to get stuff out and to […]

Get in the habit of recording new song ideas on your phone – or jotting down inspirational phrases in your note pad.

Lyrics are not poetry they are not designed to be read from a page or a computer screen; lyrics are for singing. Sing to come up with better lyrics. Every word has a certain shape in your mouth; like a pebble – some words just don’t fit – they feel awkward in your mouth – […]

Don’t be afraid to throw away verses, change the order of verses, change the structure; experiment. You don’t need a complex recording studio – you just need a phone that can record audio.

If you are struggling to find chords for the bridge of your songs – try taking the chords from the verse or chorus and swapping them around. What’s the bridge for? The purpose of the bridge is to provide respite from what has gone before – a contrast. That could mean a change of energy, […]

You will need to write those bad songs to get to the good ones. The more songs you write the quicker you will recognise the good and the bad. The more you write, the more you will write. No one sits down to write a hit song, they just write lots of songs and it […]

Songwriting tip: A song is not words; not music; not words and music. A song is all of those and magic. If there is no magic in the song, throw it away. (Unless you are a beginner – in which case – write as many shit songs as possible).

Overcome the fear of people not liking your songs; just get over yourself and play them. You will get a sense of whether they are good, or not. I can be working on a song for weeks but the first time I play it in front of people I hear it differently; I become aware […]

Review your song until it’s right: get rid of cliches, get rid of verses that say the same thing. Get rid of words that don’t sound good when you sing them. Listen to how the song develops; does it stay interesting all the way through – does it develop lyrically and is there a dynamic […]

Learn your instrument – play different styles, different keys, different tunings, different chord inversions. I’m not a virtuoso guitarist but my friend Graham Mackintosh is. If I ever need to know where my weaknesses are or what I need to work on – I just visit Graham for a jam.