This is such a great video! I have two go twos when I write: 1. How does it make me feel? If I'm not feeling anything the audience probably won't be feeling it either. 2. I imagine the artist I'm writing with singing to their audience live and think 'How would this make them react? What it would make them feel?' Over the years I've found the second is the most important. I've written songs where I was thinking 'This is stupid' when I was writing them, but I knew the live audience would love it and that's exactly how it turned out. Songs don't have to be wonderful works of art to appeal to a specific audience. That doesn't mean you write something stupid. It just means you really tune into who the audience of the artist is and what's important to them, what moves them, what makes them cheer, how they respond to different words, phrases and ideas.
I like to take what's important to me and to consider how it may also be important to others, for varying reasons. Studying the craft of songwriting is analogous to an athlete who repetitively drills to be able to respond to any imaginable and unimaginable bounce, tip, fumble, deflection of the ball. If one stays ready, one doesn't need to get ready.
1. Tell a story and avoid grocery lists. A grocery list song would be something like: "I went in my Chevy truck, with my dog, down to the lake to think about my girl wearing those short Levi jeans." That is 5 country cliches in one sentence. Modern hip hop and pop country is full of such lists, but those songs are forgotten the following week. 2. Be dynamic. Slow songs don't have to be boring and fast songs can say something. Bad production will kill a song so the more you know of song writing production, the better you can save the song. Dynamics can save a singer with poor octave range. 3. Don't follow the herd. When a popular artist come out, the labels want clones and then the whole genre sounds the same. People that listen to outside the box artists and like the artist will most likely stick with the artist. If the artist sounds like every other artist is just easier to past the artist by.
I always make the mistake on not adding a but, where, ands... LOL! And it's like CRAP!! Too late already released... So I sneak those things in live. LOL.. Still learning!
Hey Joe, iAre you a ST member? In the course library on the website is a killer course on Mastering Melodic Contrast. That covers 8 melody mistakes that will kill your song.
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This is such a great video! I have two go twos when I write:
1. How does it make me feel? If I'm not feeling anything the audience probably won't be feeling it either.
2. I imagine the artist I'm writing with singing to their audience live and think 'How would this make them react? What it would make them feel?'
Over the years I've found the second is the most important. I've written songs where I was thinking 'This is stupid' when I was writing them, but I knew the live audience would love it and that's exactly how it turned out. Songs don't have to be wonderful works of art to appeal to a specific audience.
That doesn't mean you write something stupid. It just means you really tune into who the audience of the artist is and what's important to them, what moves them, what makes them cheer, how they respond to different words, phrases and ideas.
Awesome stuff Andrew! ~CM
I like to take what's important to me and to consider how it may also be important to others, for varying reasons. Studying the craft of songwriting is analogous to an athlete who repetitively drills to be able to respond to any imaginable and unimaginable bounce, tip, fumble, deflection of the ball. If one stays ready, one doesn't need to get ready.
I like that… stay ready!
You can never go over these principles enough! So simple, yet so important.
Yes!
1. Tell a story and avoid grocery lists. A grocery list song would be something like:
"I went in my Chevy truck, with my dog, down to the lake to think about my girl wearing those short Levi jeans."
That is 5 country cliches in one sentence. Modern hip hop and pop country is full of such lists, but those songs are forgotten the following week.
2. Be dynamic. Slow songs don't have to be boring and fast songs can say something. Bad production will kill a song so the more you know of song writing production, the better you can save the song. Dynamics can save a singer with poor octave range.
3. Don't follow the herd. When a popular artist come out, the labels want clones and then the whole genre sounds the same. People that listen to outside the box artists and like the artist will most likely stick with the artist. If the artist sounds like every other artist is just easier to past the artist by.
Great points
Killer opener guys! Right up front.
Awesome to hear you liked it! CM
I always make the mistake on not adding a but, where, ands... LOL! And it's like CRAP!! Too late already released... So I sneak those things in live. LOL.. Still learning!
My new mission is to write a song with the line “ without you, my kidneys wouldn’t function”, and make it work
😯
Maybe if you change it to “kids’knees)
The secret to Marty's killer ideas and lyrics is mushrooms. Who knew. LOL
haha!
all i could off you is heaven,,,
Excellent 🙏🌴🎶❤️
Write on Jimmy!
if marty has a drinking problem ill buy you a drink,,,
I’ve always had trouble with titles.
On the other hand I’m glad we don’t live in the 90s where everything had one word titles😅
I can agree 100 % with that! lol. Write on! CM
What are the most common basic mistakes novice songwriters make?
Hey Joe, iAre you a ST member? In the course library on the website is a killer course on Mastering Melodic Contrast. That covers 8 melody mistakes that will kill your song.
all that and a bag of chips,,,