5 Steps To Finish Unfinished Songs
Sometimes it’s hard to finish unfinished songs. And, there’s nothing worse than sitting down to write and ending up with a...
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Co-Writes Can End With Two Versions Of A Song
Whenever you go into a co-write, you’re usually thinking “OK – we’re going to write a song.” And usually,...
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Story Behind Miranda Lambert’s “The House That Built Me”
Every song has a story behind the writing of it. The craft, the idea creation, and the minutia of working it into a song. As songwriters,...
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7 Tips To Write More Songs
Most songwriters want to write more songs, more often, but run into blockers like daily life, too much writing and no new ideas and the...
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SongChops Songwriter Gift Guide
This songwriter gift guide covers everything from getting started to moving to the next level to running your music business to performing...
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Travis Meadows “Pontiac”
If you want to start with something that’s true, one of the best songwriting mentors you can look to is Travis Meadows. He has a way...
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Giving Song Feedback Like A Pro
If you’re part of a songwriting group, one of your activities is probably getting and giving feedback on songs. And, one of the most...
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Song Shapes Exercise For Story Streaming Songs
If you’ve ever been in a high school English class, you’ve studied song shapes. You know, the introduction of characters,...
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Story Streaming: Tell Songs Like A Movie
Story Streaming is very similar to object writing, and is the next step in the process to craft your song. Unlike object writing, which...
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Mary Gauthier “Between The Daylight And The Dark”
Mary Gauthier is known for her strong scenes and emotional context, and “Between The Daylight And The Dark” is no exception....
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Tips To Consistently Create New Songs
Consistently creating new songs can feel overwhelming, and song ideas can be like Bigfoot sometimes – pretty elusive! So you how do...
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SongChops Newsletter Archive
I’ve been getting requests for some of our newsletter “oldies but goodies.” Here are some of our most popular for you to...
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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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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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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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