This is where I share my process along with things I’ve found helpful.
Sometimes I like to write a paragraph or two of what I think my song-in-progress is about. It’s not because I think I’ll come to any real conclusion. It’s because I’m trying to get my brain to give me words around a particular topic. Once I was trying to write a song about the oil …
It’s easy to get excited about your half-written song. Rather than finish it, you email your verse and chorus to 25 friends. You just can’t help yourself. That dopamine hit of validation would feel so good right now. Well, get a grip, ok? I urge you not to share your excitement too soon. Why? It’s …
If you want your song’s theme to have more impact, you need to juxtapose it with its antithesis. Why? Because life is relative. We don’t know what something is until we know what it isn’t. We know what night is because we’ve experience day. We know what cold is because we’ve felt warmth. So let’s …
The Navy Seals have a saying, “Two is one and one is none.” It’s all about planning and having a backup plan. If you don’t have a backup plan, you don’t have a plan because inevitably things will go wrong. Let’s say you want to wake up tomorrow at 6 AM. For the Seals, setting …
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How often do you switch up your medium? Do you always write with pen and paper? iPhone Notes app? Old school typewriter? This might sound obvious, but writing is all about transferring information—thoughts, ideas, concepts—from your brain to someplace outside of your brain. For doing this, each medium has its benefits and detriments. For example, …
I know you don’t want to be put in a box. It feels limiting. And if you let people put you in a box with a certain label, they won’t understand the breadth of what you offer, right? You’re not just the catchy pop lyricist; you also write heartfelt ballads. You’re not just a jazz …
Sometimes you think you have to reinvent the wheel in your song’s rhyming scheme. But often the most basic form will work. It’s at least a great starting point. Think of your favorite nursery rhyme. It will likely be four lines rhyming in aabb. For example, as you know (or your parents have failed), “Humpty …
You probably remember your high school English teacher talking about how you should show more than you tell. Still, let’s cover it here. It’s easy to gloss over and think you’re doing it. But if you really comb through your song and try to hear it from the listener’s perspective, you’ll probably find that you’re …
Great lyrics and a bad melody. I once sent this combination to my publisher. They sent it right back to me and basically said, “Don’t waste good lyrics on a bad melody.” It hurt my feelings, but then I realized they were right. I scrapped the entire melody and rewrote it, improving the song immensely. …
There was this scene in a cartoon my son was watching where two kids wanted to be rock stars. They started writing a song but realized they didn’t have enough life experience to say much in their lyrics. So they went out and started doing a bunch of things to expedite the process. I laughed …