Songwriting material - what have you used?

Hello everyone!

Since i really like the topic of songwriting, i was wondering what kind of books, videos, lessons etc. you have used in your journey to songwriting??


I studied at a musicacademy fulltime for one and a half year, and there we had songwriting twice a week two hours, that really helped a lot, showed me the "classical" way to do it. I dont use that all the time by far, but very useful to know, and it opened up the universe of songwriting for me!

I also bought a book called :
Chrash Course Songwriting
By: Chris Bradford

I found that very helpful, and still do, there are a lot of good tips in there!

Well, and then to listen to the songs that i find very inspiring, and break them down, figure out the chordstructure, the intervals they use, how they create the mood!

looking forward to hear some of your choices!!

I've never used a method because my ideas just seem to form on their own. I have done melody writing exercises with chord formulas, writing down random patterns of the I, ii, iii , IV and etc's and coming up with lots of wonderful sounds. I suggest this exercise for anyone interested in learning how to compose.

I haven't used any tool or formally tried to learn. I use my ears.

I mean, I listen to songs just to enjoy them but other times my head breaks in to a stream of consciousness 'why does this song work' deal. I think because at one point I had to relate to people about what made a CD great and communicate such things, my head and ear just adjusted to breaking it down a bit.

It's a marriage of things that make a great song but the only key is that it communicates something to feel. that's something you can't learn in as much as develop how to communicate a feeling.

Then you can get in to things like song structure, song tension, lyrical content and the like.

While it's true that sometimes songs can write themselves, like falling into the pocket in a jam, I will look into what these Bradford has to offer.

You can only gain by knowing more. Thanks for the sharing. I know others can benefit from it.

Great thread Sandie!

I have never formally studied any methods for songwriting, having said that, I am very interested and passionate about the subject, and these days I spend a significant amount of my guitar practice time dedicated to songwriting and coming up with new ideas for songs. Sometimes this happens easily, other times I don't feel overly creative. In the latter instance I take the opportunity to work on more structured practice items like scales and arpeggios, rhythm etc.
When I am feeling very inspired and creative I find it hard to practice the more clinical things like technique and scales. I keep trying to find a good balance!

A few things that have helped me with songwriting over the years.

1. Changing my mentality from trying to 'perfect' everything to trying to 'complete' everything. This helped me actually write complete songs rather than just a bunch of independent riffs none of which I was completely happy with.
2. Ear training. I have improved this over the years and it has helped me express myself more easily and accurately, which is very important for songwriting.
3. Interacting with other songwriters. I learned a lot from getting to know other songwriters in my local area through jam sessions, gigs and muso nights.
In my experience, other songwriters can be a great source of advice and inspiration for your own songwriting.
4. Recording all my own ideas. You must do this otherwise you will most probably forget many of your ideas before completing a song. It's a great way to archive ideas if you need to come back to them in the future. I could go on and on about the benefits of recording your own musical ideas, so if you don't already do it, you should start now!

Hi Sandie,

I really liked a book called "the craft of lyric writing"
One approach I like to songwriting is to create a very simple but strong melody, almost like a nursery rhyme, and build chords around that. Sometimes it takes a while to find one but if you find the right one it can be really powerful.

I stopped trying to write the ultimate cool guitar riff and even stopped really thinking of guitar as my main/only instrument. Now ideas come from a piano melody rolling through my head, a bass line to build around and even a guitar lick or two.

Thing is,I stopped thinking of one thing. A song is so many things that boiling it down to guitar parts makes it really, really boring.

So, I just let my mind meander and find the hook for whatever instrument it is. Since I've started playing some keyboard/piano, mandolin and bass (well, bass for a while), I've stopped really trying to make a song a guitar song (though guitar will always be in there).

I'm not great at my new instruments but knowing enough musically has help me adapt with writing. I want to hear a sound so I figure how to make it.

So.....I just gave up and being one thing and let me mind roma free in search of an interesting sound and I think it has worked alright.