Are you a beginning songwriter who strives
towards writing songs that become hits?
Do you need to know how you can improve
your songwriting skill?
It's not too complicated. Don't try to
re-invent the wheel. As far as I'm concerned
the best way to improve your songwriting
is to study what hit songwriters do. Forget
about the mediocre stuff and learn from
the leaders in the songwriting and music
industry. Study what works.
As a songwriter who has written quite
a few number one songs in my country,
one thing that has helped me and continues
to help me is the radio. I listen to the
radio all the time so I know what type
of song is happening. I know what people
like, what they want to hear, and what
is current. This gives me a good idea
of what kind of song I should write to
target a particular market.
When you listen to the radio, take notes
on what hit songs have in common. Study
the structure of these songs. What tempo
seems to work? Are the chord progressions
complicated or are the songs based mainly
on riffs? What kind of chords are used?
That way you can write songs that appeal
to today's audience. No matter how good
your song is, if it sounds like something
that would be better suited to ten or
twenty years ago, you can forget it.
It is a shame how some songwriters treat
the songwriting craft. I'm sorry, but
if you do not spend time at developing
your craft you are bound to fail. I don't
care if it's baseball or dancing, those
people who come out and top are the very
same ones who practice everyday. Those
who spend years at perfecting their craft.
So learn form those who were there before
you. Study and write songs everyday. Lay
hold of songwriting books, get songwriting
software, do anything to take you to the
next level.
To improve, a songwriter needs to become
more knowledgeable everyday. The more
things you know about, and the more you
can relate to different aspects of everyday
life, the better for you. I never heard
of a novelist who didn't read constantly.
The same applies to songwriting and great
songwriters. You must put in a lot of
work if you want to excel.
Nothing comes easy in life. Work, work,
and work some more. Pattern your writing
after what has been proven to work, but
never copy. Do it everyday and reap the
rewards.
This article was posted on August
17, 2005
