Songwriting

3 Tricks to start a new song from scratch

If you want to become a great songwriter, then do not wait for inspiration to strike you! Instead, write write write! Learn as you go! We totally believe in that! And yet, we all run out of ideas every now and then, feeling blocked and frustrated! Being inspired makes things so much easier, doesn´t it?

The good news is, there are certain tricks to help you find new ideas and “inspiration” and write from a place outside of your comfort zone! And that is always great!

The three methods we will look into are:

Ghost Songwriting over an existing song

Writing lyrics to a song that already exists is a great way to lay down lyrics, that definitely work on certain grooves. The metrics have been tested before, right?

So, remove the lyrics from a song you love and write your own without worrying about a melody or groove! Write whatever seems to suit the melody in the verse or chorus!

Once you have your lyrics down, you can remove the melody and just read the lyrics out aloud! Note, how your words provide a groove of their own! Note where to pause, where to raise your voice when reading! Try adopting these pauses and pitches to a melody. One line at a time. Et voila, a new song is born!

Writing based on a title idea

Writing based on a topic, or just a title is a great way to explore new fields, outside your own life. You might think…but how to find a title to begin with?

Nothing easier than that! You can go looking for trending keywords on Instagram or Twitter and see if something resonates with you, or you may want to go on Amazon and search fantasy or Sci Fi novels to check if there are any cool book titles, that inspire you!

Once you found your title / topic, it is all about building a story around it from scratch.

To do so, you will want to work out a mindmap with many associations based around your main topic! You might want to categorize all your words and phrases as “negative” and “positive” as well as “neutral” associations, so you can use the happy or sad/angry phrases in different sections of your song.

By placing your favorite words next to each other, you might be able to embed them into a context rather quickly! Until you find something that makes “sense” and speaks to you. You may not write a dang awesome song with this method right away, but you will find inspiration, once you get started! It is a great way for coming up with new ideas! It is also a great warm up excercise to get your brain into a creative mode!

Writing a simple melody – and we´re talking REAL simple

Sometimes writer´s block comes from a certain fear of failure! The only way to surely fail is not trying of course! But how can you eliminate your crippling fear?

I tell you what! Try eliminating the options! If you have too many options to chose from, every decision can cost you so much energy. That said, restricting choices can get you back on track real fast. What I mean by that is, limitating the selection of notes you are going to chose when writing a melody.  Let´s go real crazy and try writing a “one note” or “two notes” verse or chorus (which means, you need to make things groovy, rather than playing with a range). Give this a try! Even if you end up adding in other notes, this simple tool can help you take off the pressure!

Alright, let us know how these tips worked for you!

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