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Best Songwriter Gifts In 2020!

Best Songwriter Gifts In 2020!

Posted by on Dec 13, 2020 | Comments Off on Best Songwriter Gifts In 2020!

We’re always on the lookout for innovative gadgets, software and books that can make songwriting and creativity easier. I’m a...

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SC Exercise: Write For An Artist

SC Exercise: Write For An Artist

Posted by on May 5, 2019 | Comments Off on SC Exercise: Write For An Artist

This exercise focuses on writing for another artist. You’ll work through some simple steps to (1) find an artist that works with...

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SC Exercise: Turning Poems Into Songs

SC Exercise: Turning Poems Into Songs

Posted by on Dec 11, 2018 | Comments Off on SC Exercise: Turning Poems Into Songs

Turning poems into songs sounds like something that’s pretty easy to do. After all, the words are there. The rhyme is there. The...

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Giving Song Feedback Like A Pro

Giving Song Feedback Like A Pro

Posted by on Oct 5, 2018 | Comments Off on 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 Sketching Exercise Using Story Arcs

Song Sketching Exercise Using Story Arcs

Posted by on Aug 19, 2018 | Comments Off on Song Sketching Exercise Using Story Arcs

If you’ve ever been in a high school English class, you’ve studied how drama is created in a play, a novel or short story. So...

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Write From Inspiration But Need Discipline?

Write From Inspiration But Need Discipline?

Posted by on Apr 21, 2018 | Comments Off on 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?

What’s Furniture In Lyrics?

Posted by on Apr 20, 2018 | 1 comment

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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Know Your Strengths To Create Goals

Know Your Strengths To Create Goals

Posted by on Jan 21, 2018 | Comments Off on 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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Change Perspective But Keep Your Point Of View

Change Perspective But Keep Your Point Of View

Posted by on Jul 9, 2017 | Comments Off on 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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5 Steps To Organize Your Song Files

5 Steps To Organize Your Song Files

Posted by on Jul 4, 2017 | Comments Off on 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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Targeting Your Song Pitches To A Cut

Targeting Your Song Pitches To A Cut

Posted by on Mar 14, 2017 | Comments Off on Targeting Your Song Pitches To A Cut

If you’re writing for someone else to cut your songs and don’t perform live, you’ll need to know how to sell what...

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Music Business Made Easy!

Music Business Made Easy!

Posted by on Mar 2, 2017 | Comments Off on Music Business Made Easy!

If you’re trying to make it in the new world order of independent music, this is the music business book for you. I’ve used...

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Creating Effective Similes In Songs

Creating Effective Similes In Songs

Posted by on Feb 19, 2017 | Comments Off on Creating Effective Similes In Songs

Similes in songs can take a ho-hum lyric and turn it into a “wow!” lyric. The magic of a simile is that it allows you to use a...

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Amy Speace Song Critiques

Amy Speace Song Critiques

Posted by on Dec 2, 2016 | 0 comments

Amy Speace takes a look at several songs submitted for the American Songwriter Magazine songwriting contest.  Songwriters were given the...

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5 Steps To Song Creation Success

5 Steps To Song Creation Success

Posted by on Jun 13, 2015 | 0 comments

How can we make songwriting easier? Change your perspective before you start writing! Songs are really just scenes strung together –...

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4 Steps To Connect Your Song Scenes

4 Steps To Connect Your Song Scenes

Posted by on Jun 13, 2015 | 0 comments

Here are four easy steps to help you connect the verses in your song – or song scenes! Following them will help make your song more...

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Pop Songs: Music & Melody

Pop Songs: Music & Melody

Posted by on Sep 3, 2014 | 0 comments

The below is taken from a chat board that is long since gone, and was part of a much larger post string.  I’ve aggregated the...

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6 Essential Songwriting Books On Melody

6 Essential Songwriting Books On Melody

Posted by on Jul 27, 2014 | 0 comments

Melodies are the messaging highway of your song. They help maintain the interest of your listener (like scenery along the route), give...

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6 Essential Songwriting Books On Rhyming

6 Essential Songwriting Books On Rhyming

Posted by on Jul 26, 2014 | 0 comments

Rhyming lines is a fundamental component of songwriting and song craft. Doing it in a way that doesn’t sound contrived or...

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Tip To Match Line Length In Verses

Posted by on Jul 6, 2014 | 0 comments

Line length is a key element of any song. Without knowing how long your lines are, you risk making your verse melody lines different....

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Song Outline Worksheet: Stripes

Song Outline Worksheet: Stripes

Posted by on Feb 4, 2014 | 0 comments

 Brandy Clark’s “Stripes” One of the things I’m not so good at is the song’s story. I tend to get a little...

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Learn The Parts Of A Song For Success

Learn The Parts Of A Song For Success

Posted by on Oct 29, 2013 | 0 comments

Updated 2/20/19 The parts of a song are important to understand because they are the skeleton you’ll drape words and music on it to...

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Song Key Conversion Site

Posted by on Oct 17, 2010 | 0 comments

  There are a few sites on the web that allow you to either copy and paste the chords, or find the song in their library, then select...

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Nashville Number System Made Easy

Nashville Number System Made Easy

Posted by on May 24, 2009 | 0 comments

If you’ve recorded in Nashville, you’ve run into the Nashville Number System. While I could explain it here, there are quite a...

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