5 Songwriting Tools That Change Everything | ASCAP | Songwriting | Tips & Tricks

I know there are a lot of people talking about writing songs. And how many have attended seminars or read books and start hearing the same things over and over again when it comes to composition

tools

and strategies? Then we got the hook. We have the option to say what you really want to say. We have the song structures, the typical song forms. There are words that keep appearing, themes that keep appearing. My interest in hopefully knowing where inspiration calls you to attend something like this is to try to understand what your personal struggle is with your

songwriting

.

And that might be, why do you seem to be writing the same songs over and over again? Why do you have trouble organizing a choir? Why do you feel like your songs are four minutes and 20 seconds long and you can't make them shorter? Why do you feel like you don't really have anything to say, or that lyrically the feedback you keep getting over and over again is people saying, yeah, that's cute? Or they have a hard time distinguishing one song from another. They really don't know what you're trying to say. Musically, why do you keep writing with the same tempo, the same rhythms?

Do you feel instrumentally limited with what you are doing? So what I'd love for you to do is think about... I'll give you time in this workshop to do that... but think about what your own unique issues are that you're dealing with right now. That if you were able to overcome that or two things, you'd noticeably be writing more memorable songs, or songs that leave an impact, rather than just another one of your songs. So my method of doing it was to try to title it very confidently, let's say arrogantly, "Five Composition Tools That Change Everything." There are many

songwriting

tools

that

change

everything

.

And I'm going to tell you five that I think are the main places that I look for in my own songs, when I get the feeling that there might be a problem, or when I'm trying to analyze other songs to see what makes them truly effective. Within each of these five things, there will be subtopics and I'll tell you what they are. But I've also tried to boil it down to something that's reasonable, because I don't know about you, but when I write a song, I try to handle a lot of different parts. It's overwhelming. I think the idea is that we are here at this Expo to be inspired and find a way to connect what we feel is quality, creative expression with people who need it.

And we feel that their lives will be enriched by it. And that assumes, I think, that you know what is enriching about your songs. What do you think is a strength of what you do now? And when I say songs, I do it from a perspective of removing the production, removing the hot track and putting it in there. What do you have that is melody, rhythm, harmony and lyrics? So I'd like to think for a moment, what do you do that you feel is a strength with one or more of those four elements? If you had trouble identifying a strength, you might remember what kind of feedback you get from people, not your mother.

But musicians, people who are able to verbalize in musical terms like you, what might be shining. And also think about your personality. How is your personality reflected in the compositions you publish? Now, I'd like to look at the other side of that coin and think: what is a weakness? Where do you tend to fall short when it comes to? Maybe your process becomes difficult, maybe it's a particular part of the song you're writing that becomes challenging, maybe it's a lack of contrast, maybe you feel harmonically limited. Maybe you've said it all at the end of the first course and have nowhere to go.

Think about what's missing in your songs or your process. There is a lot to say when you ask me what my weakness is. And I think it's certainly wonderful to be able to say it and identify it. Did you know? If I could really look at my songs and trust my gut, this is what doesn't shine through. And I think if you look at all of our songs, every song will have strengths. You'll carry things you emphasize, things you really work for, things you're capitalizing on. And if you can look at your own songs and your songwriting style and recognize that it's not for everyone, but it is for some people, and identify why that is, that's a huge power.

And one thing I wanted to do, then, is go through these five tools and see if you can connect that strength that you have to one of the five, or several of them that I'll cover, and also that weakness. also one of these. So you can identify where you might need to focus. I think what I just mentioned was trusting your gut. I think a lot of times, as a songwriter, I put myself in the position of someone else saying to me: Is this good? Do you like it? You can use it? Know? And I really think that sometimes it works against me, because it means, okay, tell me what's wrong with my song.

But you have a meaning. And I think part of the value of, again, taking these courses is that you're in an environment where you're empowered with the tool so you can self-correct. You can analyze. And you have a feeling in you. If you've been doing this for a while, you'll get a feeling. You need to give that voice some space to speak. So let's start from the top. We all know that repetition is important if we want people to sing our song. We can't just have a melody, in terms of repetition in the melody, that has no sense of meter, no sense of repetitive rhythm, no sense of pitch repetition.

There is a pattern of notes. There is nothing to remember. And there is nothing to identify this song with either. So what I'm going to state in these five tools is that there are trends that can inform us about what level of business viability you already seek or appreciate, and how you might want to use that information to craft your own. songs. My four-year-old son, I think, filled our house with good music. At least this is my alternate reality. But he's singing: I just want to shake, shake, shake, shake, shake, shake, du-nuh-du-da. And it's like... Now, I appreciate the repetition of commercially viable music.

And I strive to include repetition in my own music. I have nothing against Taylor Swift, nothing against songs that use repetition to that extent. And I think a broader idea, though, is to say how am I going to use that idea of ​​repetition as a model for what I love, not like this is what I have to do or should do, but how can I use that information. Boldly move forward with the music I want to create? And I think I listed some sample songs in the booklet that you can refer to to remember what we've talked about in this session.

I encourage you to choose songs from the music you like and look for each of these characteristics. So commercially viable music, in other words, memorable songs, themselves, songs that are truly memorable, have a melodic motif. A motif is that small common denominator that just repeats, repeats, repeats, repeats throughout the song. And it is a rhythmic tone and a series. Those two elements that create the melody. If you can't identify what that is in your own song, then you have a problem with memorability. If I can't sing your melody, then maybe we have a problem, at least in understanding what the melody is trying to state, what it's trying to be.

So one thing I noticed was that I was examining this common complaint, I guess: ah ah, commercial music these days is very repetitive and meh. And I was thinking, well, let me take some of the iconic songs that I know and love and watch them. How is repetition sustained? And that's what creates this disdain for these top 40 things. So I thought, "Okay, stay by my side." Love that song. I mean, who doesn't like that song? Actually. I've never heard anyone say, God, I hate that song, Stand By Me. And lean on me. Apparently, we have to write a hit song with me at the end of the title with three words.

Beatles, "Come back." It's a fun song. I like that. Tom Petty, "Free Fall." I always hear that. And many more. But that melodic motif is very identifiable. So, the first thing you should look for in your songs is do you have a melodic motif? Is it repeated several times in the first section of the song? And each section will have its own melodic motif. Many times what composers do (and I have done it too) is write a very long melody. And then you'll vary it a little bit on the next line. And then on the third line, you encounter a new melody.

And it's like, well, that's not repetition. Again, that's not the trend of easily memorable songs. The trend is a short melody, like Hello. You know what song I'm singing, right? All I said was one word and two notes. But these other songs... Sometimes in our lives... You know, how simple that is. Dun dun dun. It was a very direct melody. Go up and then go down. And the word is just something, time. For example, how often have you written such a short melody, with just one word, in isolation? And I think the key to getting out of here is the rest space.

Do you give your listener space to rest? Try writing a melody like that, just because, and you know, you'll also find out, huh, that's funny. I make that longer. That's fine too. But then, make it yours. That's what I do. I make the sentence longer. And that's part of what makes me me. But then, be realistic. How easy will it be for us to remember it? Maybe for you. You have a life... you are an artist. You're not trying to get other people to sing your songs and be able to sing them. The truth is that you sing very well and captivate your audience thanks to the many strengths you have.

So I'm not saying your melodies have to be short. They have to repeat. And they have to follow that simple structure. You are welcome. But it is something to look at to try to establish what you do that is truly yours. And then examine how that is maintained. So next thing... that's melodic motif number one. Next is the contrast. When you have a clearly defined melodic motif that you're repeating, what that means is that it's easier to write the chorus section that contrasts with that. Have you ever had that problem? You get to the chorus and you have the feeling that you wanted to be something.

There's something great that could be, but you've tried several different things and it just doesn't seem to complement the verse, make something different enough. You could look at that. Did I clearly see a melody in the verse so I could do something different in the next section? Again, if you look at very commercial music, there is a huge contrast between the sections, which comes from a clearly distinguished motif to begin with. So we often find that we can create contrast in three different ways: melody, harmony, lyrics and certainly rhythm are part of it, but I wrote five melodies.

There are five basic melodic ways to create contrast. The duration of the phrase, that is, the duration of its melodic motif. You sing the entire first line and it's two bars long? Or is it a length measurement? Or are they two beats of a four-beat measure? So we often hear commercial music go from two long, measured phrases in the verse to a little pre-chorus where you have dun, dun, dun, dun, short, lots of rest space, very short phrases, so that you can then go back and create contrast again in the course with long melodic phrases again.

Again, that's the trend of highly commercial music. Note length, large. I'm standing on a bridge, waiting in the dark... Short notes. And then in the chorus, dun, dun duh, duh, duh, long notes. Again, highly commercial music has a huge contrast. It's very, very easy to face and just recognize. One day, an activity you could do as a composer is to simply say, "I'm going to try to write an extreme contrast." The greater the contrast, sometimes the more memorable the sections, the more refreshed we feel. So you could say that I'm going to write a verse of short notes here in the key, and a chorus of long notes here in the key.

And you just use two very typical and effective contrasting elements to make that speech I just talked about. Again, a highly commercial way of doing things would be lower key on the verse, higher key on the chorus: a trend, certainly not something you have to adhere to. Position, this is really great. And it's so, so subtle. Return. Jo-Jo was a man who thought he was a loner. So where did that start? Ho-Ho. It is in the pessimistic rhythm. Very commercial songs

change

where the melodic phrase begins at the beginning of each section of the song. Notice how the chorus is two, three, come back, come back.

You will find this again and again in highly commercial music. There will be a change in where the sentence begins. Now, if you layer these techniques, you not only start your melodic motif at a different beat of the beat. And in general, if you don't talk about theory, which is fine for a composer, generalize it. Tell me, well, I feel this in that... it starts when I start playing. And I feel like this other one is like, I sing and then I play. This was before the measure began. Or I always seem to play and then sing, which is another tendency you may notice: you tend to revert to your typical ways of writing.

And so you play. And then you sing. And if you notice that every section is like that, man, it's hard to work against that and write what you feelthat is very catchy, hooky or that draws our attention once again, chorus, because you are making decisions without thinking that they are slowly closing. doors of opportunity. So when you can keep those ideas in mind, then you have more control over that contrasting idea. And then the last thing I said was the shape. And if we look at the form of the songs here, as far as melody goes, we can often generalize those two into "Lean On Me." "Lean on Me?" Sometimes in our lives we all have pain, we all have sadness.

It's, doo-doo-doo, doo-doo-doo, duh-duh-datah. So if you pull out a staff paper, or just any way you want to do it, map out your melody. I like to do it in terms of making lines. The shorter the line, the shorter the note. And then it just shows the shape. It doesn't really matter what exact pitches you're singing. I think when it comes to a melody, trace the shape, when you get to the contrast section, if you notice that you have... Lean on me, when you're not strong. If

everything

is the same, then we have a problem. I think there's a reason why... lean on me, when you're not strong...

It has a different shape. It's also an octave up, which helps create contrast in tone. More on contrast: harmony, we certainly don't want to dwell on melody all the time, especially if you tend to have a talent for harmony and rhythm, and that's where you solve your problems when it comes to songs. I often find that, as composers, we constantly ask ourselves: what chord can I reach? It's just that I don't know enough chords. Give me chords, chords. And if I think about some of my favorite songs, it's not that they're just loaded with more complex chords, the more I like the song.

No. So it's simplicity, repetition. Again, like the melodic motif, what it is must be established before it can be contrasted with what it is. And so be careful with things like using too many different chords in a single section. There is beauty in simplicity. Composers who know more chords than me, an artist, Stevie Wonder, John Mayer. I mean they're commercial and memorable, and what I think, very beautiful songs are often based on very simple chord structures, maybe until we get to a bridge where you can break it up and really take us somewhere else. But again, you have to establish what it is about.

So what does that mean? Speaking not just abstractly, maybe that means that you look at your own songs and realize, again, that you're involving a lot of different chords in a single section. So if you think about that, well, how do I contrast it with that? If I have already provided this movement in the verse, it is difficult to contrast it. What if you challenged yourself to write a single chord rhythm in the verse and that was all you could do? Wow, there would be plenty of places to go for your next section. What if it were a two-chord rhythm?

However, another thing to consider is how often do you change chords? And often as songwriters, if we're holding the guitar in our hand or playing the piano or something like that, we rely on what comes naturally. So those are our tendencies. And if our tendency is to change chords every measure, you can imagine that you're probably playing about the same tempo as you normally do. That will close the doors to opportunities again. He will ask you to sing at the same rhythm. And then all your songs start to have those same elements. So look at how you could access the idea of ​​chord frequency.

How about changing chords twice per measure and seeing what effect that has on creating a new rhythm for you? So I think the frequency of the chords is interesting. Also with the contrasts, so if you change chords twice a measure in your verse, I mean, man, if you do that for the whole song, then it's going to be a frenetic, heavy melody. Maybe. Then, in the pre-chorus, you change once per measure. And then you return in the chorus to your initial feeling. Look for how you are using contrast. And again, mention songs you love and how they use chords.

And honestly, if you transcribe a song in terms of the chords they're using, if that very idea is stopping you from sitting down and doing it, don't worry about the chords being played. Calculate how often the chords change. Get yourself a favor from the staff and leave a small mark. Each beginning of the measure where a chord changes. And then you start to see that structure, how it's developing. Contrast in terms of handwriting, there are wonderful tools out there to design our handwriting content and make sure that we get contrast that way as well. Then the chorus conveys the main message.

So we often have a broader language of thought, feeling, narrative and summary, which contrasts with verse, where we tend to say here's the detail. This is what really happened. Here is a small moment that shows that that great thought I am saying is true and real. So there's a contrast in the way we approach the lyrics. The third idea, repetition. Again, when and how much? Have you ever taken a song you really love by another artist and worked out how often the title phrase appears or where it appears? Or if there is repetition within the language?

For example, how do you complete sentences? Does line one complete the sentence with line two, and is that a complete sentence? Notice things like that. Consistencies in language. Always starting with the verb and ending the thought can be a wonderful way to make your lyrics easier to digest. You should always read your handwriting out loud and make sure it is understandable. I'm not saying it should be read as a story. Certainly not all lyrics do that. But if we ask our listener to be a detective and finish and add the pronouns and the prepositions and conjunctions, it's very, very difficult to do that while we're experiencing all the musical information that's coming at us.

Don't ask your listener to fill in the blanks. Say what you want to say. Harmony and rhythm, number four. I talked about tempo and how by sitting down with your instrument you can predispose yourself to start with those same tempos, which results in the same rhythm and the same frequency with which you are changing chords. And those unconscious decisions are resulting in a wonderful style, that's you. But if that's all you do as an artist, it gets frustrating. An exercise we have in a course called “Writing from the Title” is to choose a title and then throughout the week, composers will set that title at different tempos.

And at first, that sounds... I don't know if it's particularly interesting or not. But at the end of the week, big discoveries come to light. Some of them are certainly that, wow, I just assumed the title had to have a particular tempo and the song developed from there. But when we tried it at slower temples or much faster tempos, we started thinking about things that title can mean that we'd never thought about before. So that can be a really cool technique. But that's something I mean by tempo. Instrumental groove... if you always choose the same rhythm.

I recently came in and realized my own lack of vocabulary when it comes to guitar. So I started a crazy search to try to figure out what I could do about it. I think just facing those issues is overwhelming. There is so much to do as a composer, it's hard to know what to commission and what to do yourself. But I think, as a writer, that was a big area where I didn't feel inspired. I had to decide what to do. Chord frequency, we talked about that. And there are some sample songs in there. Lyric, when it comes to lyric, often sensory lyric writing, having the ability to write with a sensory element, so taste, touch, sight, sound, smell and movement is a great power as a writer .

A lot of times we'll say, well, I'm not trying to write country music, you know, because we often use that kind of language in country. Although it's everywhere. Pop, hip hop, huge in hip hop. It's presented a little differently, but it's all there. And when you have the ability to write with highly sensory language, you know, then when you're going to say something more generalized or more thought out, it's actually good language and it really belongs there.