The Paradox of Doing Everything in a Music Career
Having a career in music is different than it used to be. I might be giving away my age here, but when I idolized being a songwriter and musician, the world was working in our favour. Big record labels were the only way to have a sustainable career in the business, the only open door…
Keep reading
Is it Important to be a “Good” Songwriter?
If you’re reading this, you most likely have an interest in trying to improve your songwriting skills. I believe this is an important goal; partly what gets me motivated to write is trying to use new techniques or studying my favourite songs. I think most songwriters do enjoy learning about their craft, but unfortunately, it…
Keep reading
Study Your Favourite Songs
There are two sides of the coin when it comes to songwriters: the side where songwriters claim it is impossible to teach songwriting, and the other side of songwriters that will read every songwriting book they can get their hands on. It’s pretty clear that I believe the latter, that any aspiring songwriter can learn…
Keep reading
Why You Should Just Write the Next Song (and when you shouldn’t)
If you’ve been poking around this blog (or just read the name for the website), you understand that we are big advocates of writing the next song. We could ruminate forever on one song, but there are a lot of advantages of just moving forward and writing another one. Here are a few key reasons…
Keep reading
The Case for Writing Multiple Songs at Once
When I first started writing songs, I wrote one song at a time until it was finished. This process was so delicate for me that I convinced myself that I had to write the entire song in one sitting or it would be forgotten forever. As a result, my writing sessions were sporadic bursts, going…
Keep reading
Song Ideas You Can Do This Weekend
(Some links lead to songwriting exercises!) 1. Write a song based on a book title 2. Write a Chorus with the hook line in the beginning and end of the Chorus 3. Write a song that counts up or down (a list, weekdays, months, time, etc.) 4. Write a seasonal or holiday song (Christmas, Halloween,…
Keep reading
Another Way to Think About Writer’s Block
Writer’s block is something that all songwriters will face at some point in their journey. Every person is different and might need varying ways of getting back into writing music. It can be a personal process that you can’t work though the same way every single time. Writer’s block can sound like a scary, daunting…
Keep reading
Your Songs Got Rejected. Keep Writing.
Getting rejected is part of being a musician (and a human being). You can be excellent at what you do, diligently working hard each day and still not achieve what you want. When so much of what you want is out of your control, this part of the journey has to exist. The music industry…
Keep reading
Enjoying the Process of Songwriting is Difficult—and Maybe It’s Supposed to Be
We live in a time where leisure is readily available. Netflix and other streaming platforms have millions of television shows and movies. Any game we could want is ours with a click of a button. Scrolling through social media feeds is so easy and so fun. And let’s face it: being creative, which can be…
Keep reading
Overcoming Self-Doubt in Songwriting
Like everyone, I experience self-doubt when it comes to songwriting. Along with music having a brutal, messy industry, it was pretty early on when I realized just how many other songwriters are out there. Part of being a musician is getting passed on and rejected, and after many of those instances, I can feel pretty…
Keep reading
Loading…
Something went wrong. Please refresh the page and/or try again.
