Free songwriting tips. Visitors submit songwriting and lyric writing tips.

Free songwriting tips:

Darren of Elk Creek, United States writes:

One technique that I find very helpful is to create what I call "ramblings". These are basically just brainstorms of catchy phrases or sentences that you would like to put into a song.

Free songwriting tips continued:

I write most of mine right before I go to bed at night, since it is the most serene and private time of day when I can catch my thoughts in private without worry of distraction. I write everything down on the same sheet of paper with no organization to it whatsoever. Organizing thoughts interferes with my creative energy.

When I write a piece of music and have the basic musical skeleton to a song written, I read these "ramblings" and find pieces that fit together lyrically. Since they were written within the same week/day (most of the time), the subject matter will not vary too much between each sentence or phrase therefore creating a flow of order. It also allows for each line in the song to be extra creative and catchy, which is always a plus.

You can also go back and look at older "ramblings" if you get stuck on a song in the future (since it is rare that you will ever put every line of a rambling into one single song).

( Free songwriting tips )

Another hurdle that can get in our way is writer's block. Even when you use the "rambling method" explained above, it will still strike at any time and can be the most aggrovating thing to ever cross a writer.

First of all, I listen to music that I would not normally listen to. Since I am primarily a heavy metal/hardcore musician, I listen to stuff like jazz and bluegrass. This helps clear my head of all of the stuff that I'm used to hearing, and in some cases can even birth new song ideas. I usually try to listen to it for about a week or so before I attempt writing again.

Try this out the next time you are blocked and see if it works for you.