Hello fellow musicians.  This week I want to talk a bit about songwriting.

Songwriting is obviously a creative endeavor.  If you have ever tried to write some music, then you may notice that sometimes your pen is flowing and other times there is a complete stall in the process.  Here are some tips that I have stumbled upon.  I surely welcome all sorts of tips.  Pleaseleave some comments back.

1.  Record yourself trying to find that new chord or that new groove.  There have been times where I have been just screwing around with some new techniques and listened back and actually found some useable material.  Always have record on.  When your guitar is not in your hands, have that stuff playing back.  

2.  Come up with a list of song names.  Choose one that sounds clever and then start to think about what sounds might help to paint a picture of the song name.  

3.  Use a technique as the ground work for a new tune.  I wrote a song called "The 2nd Netwerk" based on the the major and minor 2nd interval.  The underlying bass line, the chords, and the melody uses the interval.

4.  If you are going to use any lyrics, then try writing all of the lyrics first and then write the music around it.  You could also do this if you start with a title first.  

5.  John Lennon once said that if he was writing a good tune that he could go to sleep and still hear it in his head when he woke up the next day.  He wrote a few good tunes.

Everyone is an individual.  You will always find techniques that work for you and those that don't.  For sure try many.  Nothing will work %100 or the time.  Because nothing works everytime we need continue to grow this list of ideas.  Please continue to add to this list of ideas.

All the best,

Jeremy Laursen