Your Songwriting Ingredients, Part Three of Four

Welcome to Part Three of Your Songwriting Ingredients. In the last two posts, we discussed the role that you play in songwriting as well as how important it is to truly listen to music. Today I am going to talk about what it means to serve the song, why it matters, and how to do it.

First off, what does it mean to “serve the song?” If you asked many different musicians what their definition of the phrase was, you would basically get the same answer from all of them (the good ones at least!). What “serving the song” means is that while you are writing a song, you view the end result of how the song sounds as more an important than your personal preferences.

Confused? Let’s look at an example. Let’s say you are the bassist in your band, The Blazin’ Buffaloes (or any other ridiculous name). You and your band mates are at a practice, working on a new song. In this song, there is a bridge that sounds best if you only play the root notes of the chords. Of course, being the fantastic bassist that you are, you know that you are capable of playing much more than just the root notes of the chords. So what do you do? Well, if you are serving the song, you play what sounds best for the song, regardless of what you would rather play. So instead of playing a giant run in the middle of the bridge that would sound awful, you play the root notes.

Ringo Starr is a perfect example of a musician who always served the song. While Ringo could play a drum solo like nobody’s business, he always played what fit the song instead. There are many Beatles songs where Ringo does not solo or anything, but his simple playing makes the song sound much better than if he had soloed the entire time.

Alright, I think you understand the concept of serving the song. But why would you want to? It’s simple:

If you are always serving yourself, your band will suck.

Let me repeat that.

If you are always serving yourself, your band will suck.

Which band will sell more records and have more fans, the band that plays songs together, or the band that has four members soloing the entire time?

No one wants to hear a bunch of egotistic musicians solo the entire time. It sounds like crap. I promise.

So what do people want to hear?

Songs!

People want to hear songs with a beginning, middle, and end. People want to hear songs that are simple and catchy. People do not want to hear how fast you can shred the Mixolydian scale for 20 minutes straight. It sounds like crap. Do you want people to enjoy your music or not?

Ok, I think you understand why serving the song is so damn important. Fortunately, how to serve the song is very simple.

The key to serving your songs is to always ask: “Am I doing this to make the song sound better, or for my own ego?”

There. That’s not too complex, is it?

Thanks for reading. Come back soon for Part Four of our Songwriting Series.

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Your Songwriting Ingredients, Part Two Of Four

Hello and welcome to Part Two Of Four of our lesson in Songwriting Ingredients. Last time I talked about the main ingredient in writing hit songs (it’s you). Today I will talk what to do specifically to write a hit. Which brings me to today’s subject:

Listen!

Oh, for the love of God, listen to music. You are probably thinking, “I already do. I want to be a songwriter after all.” Well, you are on the right track, but it goes much deeper than having some music on in the background.

When I say listen, I mean really listen. Listen to the chord changes, listen to the contour of the melody (more on that in a future post), listen to the lyrics to see how they are structured, listen to everything. I am talking about the tone of the guitars, the sound of the drums, the rhythm. Everything means everything.

I guarantee the first time that you do this, you will hear parts of the song that you have never heard before, even if you are analyzing your favorite song.

So how do you learn the art of song analysis?

1. Pick a song that you don’t mind listening to many, many times in a row. You want this song to be in the same style that you are writing for. Don’t listen to Miley Cyrus if you are writing Thrash Metal. Easy enough. Go ahead and pick a song you want to analyze. Write the title and artist on a sticky note and keep it somewhere where you will see it often.


2. Go someplace quiet where you know that you will not be disturbed for at least a half hour. Get rid of anything distracting. The fewer distractions you have, the better. Do you really need to text your friends in order to be a songwriter?


3. Pick the instrument that you will listen to throughout the song. Eventually we will analyze the whole song, but for now we will stay with one instrument. I recommend that you pick the instrument that you play, if you play one. Otherwise, the easiest thing to do is to pick the instrument that stands out the most.


4. Hit play on your stereo :-P


5. As you listen to the song, note the qualities of the instrument. Is it loud/soft? Fast/slow? Is the guitar played with power chords or more complex jazz chords like 9ths and 13ths? Are the drums in 4/4 or some other time signature?
   
   There are a million other qualities you can find that I didn’t include here. Why? Because you need to get in the habit of thinking for yourself as a songwriter. The sooner you can learn to be independent, the better. Just don’t stop reading this blog ;-)


6. Once you understand your instrument’s part so that you can play it in your sleep, move on to the next instrument you would like to listen to. Like your first choice, your second choice doesn’t matter as long as you are actually doing the exercise. For the sake of the example, let’s say that you chose the drums as your first instrument and the bass as your second. Listen to the qualities of the bass. Write them down.


7. Here’s where it gets interesting. I want you to take the first two instruments that you listened to, and combine them. Play the song again and see how they fit together. Do the bass and drums play on the same beats, or on different ones? Which instrument is louder? Does one provide a foundation for the other? You get the idea.


8. Listen to a third instrument using the process outlines above.


9. Listen to all three instruments together.

Do this for all of the instruments on the song so that you know it inside and out. The nice thing about this process is that it can be applied to any genre of music or band, whether it is the Beach Boys or Burzum.

Once you start to practice this technique, you will find that it gets easier the second time, and easier the third, and so on. More importantly, you will begin to understand how instruments fit together in a song, and you will be able to work new sounds into your music.

Next post I will talk about serving the song, what it means, and how to do it. Thanks for reading my songwriting blog.

Your Songwriting Ingredients, Part One Of Four

• 1 cup flour

• 2 eggs

-Wait, wrong recipe. I'm here today to talk to you about the ingredients that you will need to begin successfully writing songs.

I'd like to focus on one ingredient in particular. What is it? Well, let's first look at some of the things used to make a song.

• Chords
• Melody
• Rhythm
• Lyrics
• Guitar
• Bass
• Drums
• Keyboards
• etc.

(Note: Some of you will say that lyrics are unnecessary for a song. Yes, I am aware that instrumental songs exist. But when was the last time that you saw an instrumental song crack the Billboard top 100? It is very rare. So for the sake of the argument, let's assume you are going to write lyrics.)

Now, all of these ingredients are necessary for a hit song, but something is missing. What is it?

Consider this: Does a piano write the melody of a song? Does a pen and piece of paper create the lyrics? Of course not. You do all of that!

The missing ingredient in writing a hit is you. No guitar will ever write a song on its own No turntable will ever be a DJ by itself. Play a strat? You are playing it. Your keyboard? Same thing.

All of your instruments, software, and other songwriting tool are just tools. You are the missing ingredient.

All the great writers of history had access to the same tools that you have access to. In many cases, they had far less than you do now.

Except for their final album, the Beatles recorded on a 4-track. That's it. Today, professional studios have access to hundreds of tracks. They have hundreds of guitars, effects, and tools at their disposal. Does that mean that these studios are making better music than the Beatles did? Most people would say no. So what is it that makes a great song?

I'll give you a hint: It is the same thing that has achieved every great accomplishment throughout human history. It is the human mind. The human mind has written, and will write, every great song in existence.

That is good news! You don't have to be able to afford a multi-million dollar studio to write great songs. You just need your mind. If you can get online and read this, then you obviously have a mind.

"But I don't have a mind like Mozart or Bob Dylan!"

Wrong. Your brain is the same size as any other timeless songwriter. Songwriting is a skill. It can be learned. You see, a large part of songwriting depends on your mental attitude, or mindset. Your songwriting mindset is what will separate you from the thousands of musicians who suck because they have the wrong mindset.

Tomorrow I will post Your Songwriting Ingredients, Part Two. I will get into specifics, and I will explain just what kind of mindset you will need in order to make a hit.

What you can learn about Songwriting from Darth Vader

For my first songwriting lesson, I'd like to talk about Darth Vader, and what he can teach you about writing hit songs.

"But wait a minute! Star Wars has nothing to do with making music!" (I can hear your protests even as I type this)

I know this doesn't make any sense yet, but follow me for just one minute, because Star Wars can help you with songwriting. What I am saying is that there are certain lessons you can learn from the Sith Lord that will apply to your songwriting career.

What are they?

1. Have a burning Desire

The first step in doing anything great in life is to have a burning hot desire to see it done.

Darth Vader really had that burning desire. Think back to Episode III. Anakin felt betrayed by the entire Jedi Order. He used that emotion to become Emperor Palpatine's right-hand man and rule over the entire galaxy.

Maybe you just want to write a catchy chorus, not rule the galaxy. That's fine. It just means less competition for me ;-)

Whatever your goals are, desire is the first step in achieving them. So what's the next one?


2. Belief


You need to have a strong belief that you can become a songwriting genius before you can become one.

Think about it. Did Darth Vader ever doubt that he was the baddest dude in the galaxy? No! He just went right on ahead with whatever he wanted to do. Darth Vader never said to himself "Golly Gee, I sure hope this works" before he choked the life out of some poor guy. He just did it and knew it would work. As a songwriter, you need to be the same way (with less choking, of course).

So we have desire and belief. Good. You are well on your way to becoming a Dark Sith Lord, er, Songwriter. So now what?


3. A Game Plan


You don't think Darth Vader just randomly hacked and slashed at everything, do you? He had a solid game plan for what he wanted to do. Without a game plan, Vader never could have frozen Han Solo in carbonite, or conquered Hoth in Episode V.

Likewise, you need to have a solid game plan. Set goals for yourself, like writing a new song every week, or collaborating with another musician once a month.

So what do you do once you have a game plan?


4. Persistence


Picture this: You are Darth Vader. You are just sitting there, minding your own business, when some punk Rebels come out of nowhere and blow up your brand new Death Star! It still had that new-Death-Star-smell and everything! Seriously, you haven't even put 1,000 light-years on its odometer, and now it is totaled. I don't know about you, but I'd be pretty pissed. So what does Darth Vader do? He just shrugs it off and builds another Death Star!

That is persistence. That is the kind of persistence that you need to have in order to be a successful songwriter. Remember your game plan? Keep working at it. I won't lie to you and say that the music business is easy. It's not. But other people have made a living from writing great songs, and you can too. Persistence will cut through all obstacles, which brings me to my last point.


5. Lightsabers!


Let's face it. Any business, including the music business, is much easier when you have lightsabers. Believe me, when you have a lightsaber, people will listen to your songs.

That covers it for today. Don't worry if you didn't get any of the Star Wars references. It just means you have more of a life than I do :-P

Next time I will discuss why your mental attitude is the most important ingredient in developing your writing skills.

Welcome to Real Songwriting

Welcome to Real Songwriting. I will give you tools that you can use in order to write hit songs. I will not sell you any fluff, or spam your email. There are enough "songwriters" who do that already. Instead, I will try my best to answer any questions you have related to writing classic songs, and I will post here frequently to give you the songwriting hints and ideas that you need.