Some songwriters just wait for inspiration, those are not
likely to succeed. Inspiration comes as a result of work;
to get inspired you have to work hard and practice. So, how
can you practice songwriting?! The habit of sitting down to
actually think about a subject, to look up words in rhyme
dictionaries, to play the piano for just the right chord...etc.
All this is just the habit of practicing.
As you practice more, HIT IDEAS will suddenly come to you
out of the blue!! Writing hit songs is the inspiration that
you worked hard to get. For example, you might spend a lot
of nights wearing your brains out writing melodies (that is
practicing, and organizing your songwriting thoughts), and
then while shopping for shoes an amazing melody starts echoing
in your head: That's your hit song.
This means that practicing doesn't get you hit songs or hit
ideas, instead it trains your brain to function better musically
and to become more aware of "songwriting potential" in things
occurring in your environment. There are other habits, besides
practicing, that are useful too. These habits are tools to
help the songwriter collect the fruits of practicing. Here
they are....
Habit One. Have a notebook with you at all times:
Any time a song idea hits you, a good verse, creative metaphor..etc.
Write it down for review later.
Habit Two. Have a digital recorder with you at all times:
You can use any thing to record sound with...Your "hit" melodies
will not be lost. (Sometimes I use the notebook to write the
notes of the melody -like D B A G..etc.-, you can do that
too and save yourself the trouble of having to sing in a supermarket
;).
Habit Three. Ask people what they think about your creations:
Showing them to friends is always a good idea. However, showing
them to other songwriters means great advice and "professional"
comments that would go beyond "Good work, where are we going
to eat?" :).
Habit Four. Keep your hit ideas organized:
Now that you have kept every amazing melody and every interesting
lyric that hit you on paper, It's time for you to put them
together in a great song. But how are you going to keep track
of every single melody, title, chord progression or lyric
that you think of or write?!! The answer is to have them organized
in a way that makes them easily searchable and accessible.
You can still do your organizing the old way using paper put
in folders besides the folder-sub folder organizing on your
computer. There are softwares that might help, like "TrackNotes"
from "Virtual Studio Systems".
Habit Five. Practice:
I have talked about this a lot. It's really important...You
will not be musically inspired unless your brain gets used
to music. Inspiration is HARD WORK!! Practice by reading for
successful lyricists, by listening carefully to great songs,
by struggling for days with one line to get the right word
for meaning and rhyme, by experimenting with chord progressions...etc.
There are lots of stuff you can do...PRACTICE, PRACTICE, PRACTICE!!
Now that I have let you in on the songwriter habits, there
remains a warning: Not every idea that you get is an inspirational
moment, you will get a lot of "junk ideas". Nevertheless,
do not try to judge your ideas the same moment you get them;
record every thing and keep track of every thing you think
of. You can later review these ideas, save the good ones and
throw away the bad ones (you can better keep them in a safe
place too, every thing may come in handy!).
Finally, you don't have to go with all these habits. They
are habits that I developed because they were comfortable
to ME. You, also, can discover and develop your own useful
habits. The only habit that is crucial is!?!! You guessed
right: PRACTICING.
**This article is part of "How To Get Started" free songwriting
online course. (http://www.songwritingfever.com/songwritingtips/getstarted.html)
About The Author
Mahmoud Ibrahim is a young songwriter from Egypt. He is the
owner of www.songwritingfever.com,
the first website to be dedicated to songwriting collaboration.
