How Ed Sheeran Created “Shape Of You”
How did Ed Sheeran create one of the most popular songs of 2017? A song he never even intended to sing himself! Get into the middle of Ed...
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Lucinda Williams “Car Wheels On A Gravel Road”
Lucinda Williams is a songwriting super-shero. Yes, most successful women who have to deal with a male-dominated industry often are. But,...
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Q&A: I Write From Inspiration But Need Discipline
Waiting for inspiration to hit doesn’t always lead to a high volume, or even steady flow, of songs. We recently got a question in...
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What’s Furniture In Lyrics?
You’ve probably gotten song critiques that suggest you need more furniture in lyrics to give the song a stronger sense of showing...
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When To Stop “Finishing” A Song
Finishing a song is important, don’t get me wrong. But, not every song deserves endless revisions. I believe there are some songs...
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Poetry As Lyrics: Using Anaphora
We’ve all heard it: poetry as lyrics just doesn’t work. But, as your songwriting skills grow, and you begin using figurative...
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Jason Isbell “Cumberland Gap”
Having worked in the Cumberland Gap area back in the day, I’d drive up 25E through Tazewell TN, past the Mustang Lounge, and wind my...
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Know Your Strengths To Create Goals
We’ve all heard it: “Set goals to achieve success.” But, for many of use, songwriting is one of many things in our...
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Use Song Maps To Create Variety
Song maps are a way to find patterns and tendencies that you often repeat. Just changing a few of these items can create new songs in your...
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Object Writing: Quickest Path To Great Lyrics
Object writing is one of the best ways to quickly advance your songwriting skills. It’s also a multitasking way to create ideas in...
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Partial Capos Help Create Variety
Partial capos sound complicated, but they can make your guitar playing easier and add a unique quality to how your songs sound. Why try...
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Simple Steps To Melodies
Melodies are one of the most difficult parts of songwriting, but you can become very proficient at it with some basic tools, meaning you...
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Perfect Songwriter Gifts?
Looking for the perfect songwriter gifts? Not sure what they need, what they want or even what they’re talking about if they do...
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Gillian Welch & David Rawlings “The Way It Will Be”
If you’ve followed the folk and Americana genres, or read Pat Pattison’s books on songwriting, you know who Gillian Welch and...
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Brandi Carlile “The Eye”
I got a direct message through twitter asking about a Brandi Carlile song called “The Eye” (thanks Helen!). While I’ve...
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Change Perspective But Keep Your Point Of View
Perspective isn’t a common songwriting topic. Most songwriting conversations revolve around Point of View (POV), but there’s...
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Texture In A Song: What Is It?
Texture is what helps tie your lyrics to an emotional connection for the listener. Texture is the particulars that give your scene...
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5 Steps To Organize Your Song Files
It happens to every songwriter. The business of music. Your focus is on writing songs, not organizing your song files! Why bother? But,...
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Starting Your Songwriting Notebook
A songwriting notebook, also called a Hook Book, or a journal, is your idea vault. It’s one of the best ways to capture all of your...
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Eric Church “Record Year”
We’ll deconstruct Eric Church’s “Record Year” to discover the songwriting devices that made this song a #1 on...
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Songs Using Allusion: Joel To Swift
While it’s one thing to know what an allusion is, applying it to your songwriting is easier to grasp if you can study songs using...
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Allusion: What Is It?
You probably see or hear an allusion in use a couple of times a day, but do you use it in your songwriting? Have you had a moment when...
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Can A Three Character Song Work?
A three character song doesn’t work. We’ve all heard it, and if you haven’t, you will. In song feedback sessions...
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Chris Stapleton “Parachute”
“Parachute,” written by Chris Stapleton and Jim Beavers, is one of my favorite songs on Traveller. It delivers a universal...
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Who’s Coming To Your Co-Write?
We’ve all had stories of nightmare co-writes with people who had clashing personalities. Maybe it wasn’t even you. Maybe you...
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