Develop Your Songwriting in 6 Easy Steps
Songwriting is a natural evolution of learning one’s instrument over time. As a student taking guitar or piano lessons in Scottsdale, your proficiency on your instrument grows over time. Eventually, you are able to learn whole songs to play. And then, an urge to write your own music.
Most Scottsdale Music Academy students, once they have enough mastery over their instrument, start to learn popular songs by music artists. However, soon enough, you’ll start to feel the artistic impulse to move ahead with your own original songwriting.
So let’s help you out, with a few tips and tricks to develop your own songwriting style. These tips below can help open up creative ways to turn a few chords into memorable songs!
- Practice daily: Set aside 30-60 mins of music writing time every day. Songwriters may talk about getting a big dose of inspiration at one time, then going dry for several months. That may work for them, but it helps to practice your craft, and keep at it.
- Write about what you know: Aspiring songwriters should write about what they know. If you’re 16 years old, write about what you and your friends talk about. Write songs about friends, girls, cell phones, your place in the adult world and more. Many a great song have been written by teenagers about their hope and fears. Capitalize on those emotions.
- Keep a lyric journal: Use a notebook as a lyric journal. Whenever you hear a witty turn of phrase, or a catchy slogan, write it in your journal. You’ll be able to amass enough of these words and phrases to eventually use as lyrics in a song.
- Develop a sound, and work that sound: I’m a proponent of finding a style that works for you. If you love freakbeat jams with chanted vocals, then try to work on that style. Get creative, use your own insights to drive those types of songs. Other musical teachers might suggest to start with common blues I-V-VII progressions at first, but I feel that if you come from a different musical upbringing, you should be able to work that interest first.
- Diversify your sounds: When you’re taking your piano or guitar lessons in Scottsdale, try to come up with interesting chord patterns and diverse ways to play them. For instance, instead of strumming through a guitar chord, try an arpeggio chord. then develop a memorable melody around those patterns.
- Record ideas: Use a recorder app on your cell phone to capture ideas. When you stumble onto a cool musical sequence, open the recorder app and record it. Use the recorder liberally, and soon you’ll amass a number of ideas for future songs.
Creating your own original compositions is one of the delights of becoming proficient on your musical instrument. If you feel that you need added lessons to get better, reach out to us! We’re the Scottsdale Music Academy, and we offer guitar lessons in Scottsdale to both teens and adults for piano, drums, guitar, singing and more, from some of the best music instructors in the greater Phoenix area. Contact us today to take your first lesson for free.