Tag Archives: writing

Will You Write a Hit Song?

Posted on by
3

Will you write a hit song? Well, you might write a song that COULD become a hit. A song that connects to the listener, and makes them really invested. You can write many songs that do this.
But……

Statistically, your songs will not become hits. It is just a fact. There are thousands upon thousands of songs that could be hits, but never become hits. That’s ok. DO NOT let that fact stop you from busting your ass and trying to make your songs hits. But as you try to make your songs hits, make sure you are doing music YOU love. Don’t chase what you think the “industry” wants….or what you think people want. Do what you love. If you love it, others will too. And since the odds are already stacked against you, you may as well make something you adore, since it may not ever see the light of day. You have nothing to lose and you can find great joy in the process. And isn’t it funny that the biggest hits are songs that somehow break the mold and just drip with originality. They go against the grain. These hits are made by people who made music that was 100 percent them. They make it because they have to to keep themselves sane.

I have had my moments where I chase what I think people want to hear. I can fake my way through writing songs that fit the current trends, but maybe I don’t like them as much. And as I am chasing an imaginary audience, my inner critic goes into overdrive and I don’t write songs. The older I get, the more I am realizing that I need to make music for fun, and not what I think will be cool. I need to make music that makes me feel good. Will I write a hit? Maybe…..probably not….but can I write songs that I like and connect with people? You’re damn right, I can.

Xoxo Chad

Songwriting Tip: Don’t Do It

Posted on by
3

My songwriting tip of the day is DON’T DO IT… the same way you always do it. If you always come up with chords first, then melody and words….flip it. Write some lyrics first, then come up with chords and melody. Or maybe you write words first, this time try it writing music first. What ever your regular process is….do the exact opposite for the next 3 songs you write.

This will feel very uncomfortable and you may feel like you are struggling. Without struggle there can be no progress. No pain, no gain.

Personally I try to change things up now and then. Sometimes I get sick of coming up with lyrics all the time, so then I start messing with music for awhile. Then the music starts getting boring and I flip back. I think to be a real, great songwriter you have to know how to finish a song no matter how it starts. Having the know-how to find your way to the end in many creative ways is what can set you apart, and break open your writing into some great realms. It will also keep you sounding fresh!

What is your usual process? Post it and discuss with others…

Start Thinking Like a Songwriter: Find 10 Title Ideas Everyday

Posted on by
3

Songwriting from a Title

Many hit songwriters with tell you that one of the most efficient ways to write a song is to start with a title. The title gives so much info and DNA for your song. It can inspire a story, give you a hook, lead you to fun wordplay, rhythms, etc.  One way to keep your songwriting hat on all day is to keep a notebook full of titles. Throughout your day as you listen to things people say, or things you see….take notes and write down title ideas….or phrases that you think would make a good song title. Set a goal for yourself that you want to find 10 good song titles everyday…

By making yourself have a goal of 10 titles everyday, it helps you keep your eyes and ears open…and it helps you think creatively on a more frequent basis. Pay attention to every magazine, book and TV show to see if you can find good title ideas.  I personally have multiple notebooks full of title ideas, and I also have files on everyone of my computers that have title ideas.  Make it your goal to find 10 every single day….you will be amazed how many great ideas start to appear. Then on those days you don’t feel very inspired, or if you are trying to find ideas, just thumb through your book….something may jump out at you.

Here are a couple of links to help you find titles and also what to do with them once you have them. Let me know if you have any other title source ideas.

Places to Find Titles

Steps to Writing a Song from a Title

Thanks for reading, if you enjoy my blog, please let me know. Also let your friends know :) ~~ Chad

Looking for Great Rhymes? Check out this site

Posted on by
2

Wow, I have had a very busy week. I started teaching a new songwriting class in Hastings, MN. I also had a recording session with a new client, and work has been kicking my butt. So I have not gotten to work on the song I have been posting about….but be sure to follow my blog, so you get updates.

Today I wanted to share a sweet site that I found that can help you find great rhymes for your songs. It has some great songwriting tools. Check out http://www.wikirhymer.com

I just found it and I think it is great!

Chad

Songwriting Day 5: Bringing My Verse and Chorus Together

Posted on by
2

I hope that the last few days have been somewhat helpful in helping you find new ways to write songs. The process I have been showing you is just one way I write songs, but I do find it to be very efficient and helps my songs get better the more I do it.

Today I am going to start making my verse and chorus work together before I start writing the rest of the song. As you know, I already have a basic story set up, and I have the rough versions of the verse and chorus. Here is what I gots so far…

Verse 1:
He’s got a stylish look
With jeans showing off his goods
They’re not too tight or super baggy
Yeah they’ve been washed many times
But they fit him just right
He’s natrual, calm and sexy

Prechorus: still need to write it

Chorus:
Ok so now you notice me
You used to pick on me in Gym class
now you want to talk
Now that I may actually have abs
Back in the day you would have Picked Me Last

Now that I am looking back, I see some changes I want to make to the verse. I want to flip the first and second lines. I feel like the second line above does a better job of setting up a scene, and the 1st line then supports it….so I am changing that. Also, I have a huge point of view issue between these sections, so I need to pick one. I think I am going to try 3rd person, because singing about how hot “I am” seems weird, and if someone else is going to sing this, they may not want to sound conceited. So I’m changing it….see below

Verse 1:
Worn blue jeans showing off his goods
He’s got that stylish look
They’re not too tight or super baggy
been washed many times
But they fit him just right
He’s natrual, calm and damn he’s sexy

Prechorus: still need to write it

Chorus:
Ok so now you notice him
You used to spit on him in Gym class
You treat him differently
Now that He actually has abs
Back in the day you would have Picked Him Last

*as you can see, I changed some lines in the chorus as well. I wanted to use a couple more lines from my free writing, and the phrases I got from that. Also the title of the song has now changed from PICKED ME LAST to PICKED HIM LAST. I think it still works.

Tomorrow I will go into how I can start writing the other sections of the song.

My Jeans Song Day 4: Making a Chorus

Posted on by
Reply

Yesterday, I showed you how I wrote out thoughts of my character, and then picked out lines that I liked. If you missed it, here are the lines:

Never Someone
Noticed for Anything
Picked On
Picked Me Last
Spit On Me
Something That Made Me Cry
Never Felt Good Enough
Meant to Hurt
Shy Kid
Bull by the Horns
Worked My Ass Off
Made the Changes
Found Myself
Treating Me Differently
Saw Me Now
Wanted Me Now
Same Person
On Their Radar
Hate It But It’s True
Made Myself
No One’s Help but My Own

Now I am ready to start making my chorus. How should I go about doing that?

Step 1: Pick a title that fits the storyline. Today I am choosing, “Picked Me Last”

Step 2: Find lines that rhyme with my title and fit my concept: One variation from the lines above would work….”Worked off my ass” Some other words or phrases that rhyme: Ditch me fast, on the map, past, glass, dwell on the past, Abs, Put on an act, second class, different man, song and dance, Look like that, gym class, fat.

Step 3: Decide on a rhyme scheme and chorus type….Make it contrast with the verse.

My verse had 6 lines in an AABCCB rhyme scheme, so my chorus should have a different number of lines, and rhyme scheme.

My chorus will have 5 lines and will be: XAXAA and the last line will be the title line.

Step 4: Start writing and dropping in lines for the chorus using the rhyme scheme above.

X – Ok so now you notice me
A – You used to pick on me in Gym class
X – now you want to talk
A – Now that I may actually have abs
A – Back in the day you would have Picked Me Last

So now I have a rough draft of my chorus. It kind of flows and has some rhythm to it, but at this point, I am sure it may go through some changes. So let’s plop down what I have so far for this song:

Verse 1:
He’s got a stylish look
With jeans showing off his goods
They’re not too tight or super baggy
Yeah they’ve been washed many times
But they fit him just right
He’s natrual, calm and sexy

Prechorus: still need to write it

Chorus:
Ok so now you notice me
You used to pick on me in Gym class
now you want to talk
Now that I may actually have abs
Back in the day you would have Picked Me Last

Verse 2: still need to write it

Prechorus: still need to write it

Chorus: same as above

Bridge: still need to write it

As you can see, there is a big Point Of View or POV issue between the verse and the chorus. The verse is 3rd person, and the chorus is 1st person. I have some decisions to make. I will talk about and work on that in tomorrow’s post.

Chad

My Jeans Song Day 3

Posted on by
Reply

Yesterday I came up with a storyline for my song that started with the word, JEANS.

Today the steps for writing the chorus come into play.

Step 1: write about what the character is feeling. Write from 1st person point of view to make it more personal.

This song is about someone who lost a lot of weight and changed their life:

I was never someone who got noticed for anything besides being fat. I was picked on, they called me names. They spit on me, they picked me last in gym class. I hated school. Everyday someone would do something that made me cry. I was never like the other kids, I never felt good enough. Even my teachers would say things and say names that weren’t meant to hurt, but they did. Now today I am not that shy kid anymore. I took the bull by the horns and worked my ass off. I made the changes I needed to make. I found my energy. I found myself. Unfortunately people started treating me differently. They saw me now. They wanted me now. I am the same person, but I am on their radar now. I hate it but it’s true. But I have made myself with no one’s help but my own.

Step 2: Find lines and possible titles

Never Someone
Noticed for Anything
Picked On
Picked Me Last
Spit On Me
Something That Made Me Cry
Never Felt Good Enough
Meant to Hurt
Shy Kid
Bull by the Horns
Worked My Ass Off
Made the Changes
Found Myself
Treating Me Differently
Saw Me Now
Wanted Me Now
Same Person
On Their Radar
Hate It But It’s True
Made Myself
No One’s Help but My Own

As you can see I was able to write for a short time and find lots of cool, possible lines. In tomorrow’s post I will show you how this will be turned into my chorus, and how my verse helps me get there.

Copyright 2013 Chad Shank

Practicing What I Preach: Jeans Song Day 2

Posted on by
Reply

Yesterday I started to write a song and I got a verse from a random word. So today I continue to work on the song…

What I have so far:

He’s got a stylish look
With jeans showing off his goods
They’re not too tight or super baggy
Yeah they’ve been washed many times
But they fit him just right
He’s natrual, calm and sexy

Next step: decide on where I can take this song. What could the story be? What will the character be feeling or thinking?

Now I will make a kind of story line or outline of the song.

Verse: he is in jeans and sexy (establishes the problem or situation )
Prechorus: it wasn’t always this way
Chorus: he used to weigh 100 pounds more and decided to change
Verse 2: he is never going back, he has his confidence
Prechorus: it wasn’t always like this
Chorus: he used to weigh 100 pounds more and decided to change
Bridge: he’s gonna show everyone who said he couldn’t do it that he did it
Chorus: he used to weigh 100 pounds more….

So now I have the storyline for my song that started from a random word. I have nt been sitting here wondering what to write, I kind of use my logic and creativity.

Tomorrow I will work on writing the chorus….

Copyright 2013 Chad Shank

Practicing What I Preach: What Should I Write About?!

Posted on by
Reply

I have been busy. Actually lately I have been working 11 to 12 hour days at my day job. Ouch. All I want to do after that is….nothing. So obviously I have not been writing much lately. I miss it. I want to write, but I am just so damn exhausted. Well tonight I am just sitting in my couch and I want to work on a song. WHAT SHOULD I WRITE ABOUT?!

Well it is time for me to use this as a teaching moment and practice what I preach. I told you guys that you have tons of stuff to write about. So here goes….I am going to show you how I am writing tonight. I honestly have no clue what I a going to write about….so here comes the steps….

Step 1: Find a random word. – I just Googled, ‘Random Word Generator’ and selected the coyotecult.com random word generator. I generated 1 word….my word was JEANS

Step 2: Free write or object write about my word using each sense. Sight, sound, taste, touch, smell and movement

Jeans: As he walks you could hear the threads of denim rubbing together. Each step has a swish sound as he walks down the hall. His jeans are not quite dark wash, but not really faded or stonewashed either. They are well worn with frayed edges in the pant legs. Little dirty patches near the bottoms as well. They are not tight, but they aren’t super baggy either. You can tell they are not. Starchy as they were, they are softer now after being washed many times. They still have that stylish look. They hang on his hips just right and show off his goods pretty well. They give him that sexy, laidback bad boy look. They fit him just right. They fit his personality. Natural, calm, sexy. A couple of the belt loops are frayed as well and you can see his wallet in his back left pocket.

Step 3: pull out phrases, external first, then internal:
He walks
Threads of denim rubbing together
Each step has a swish sound
Not quite dark wash
Not really faded or stonewashed
Well worn with frayed edges
Pant legs
Dirty patches near the bottom
Not tight
Not super baggy
Not as starchy
Softer now
Washed many times
Stylish look
Hang in his hips
Show off his goods
Sexy, laidback, bad boy look
Fit him just right
Natural, calm, sexy
Belt loops frayed
Wallet in his back left pocket

Step 4: Choose a rhyme scheme – I decided I am going to do. 6 line verse, since I don’t do that as much….so here is my rhyme scheme.

A
A
B
C
C
B

Step 5: Drop phrases into the rhyme scheme

Stylish look
Show off his goods
Not tight or super baggy
Washed many times
Fit him just right
Natural, calm and sexy

Step 6: Make that section more conversational

He’s got a stylish look
With jeans showing off his goods
They’re not too tight or super baggy
Yeah they’ve been washed many times
But they fit him just right
He’s natrual, calm and sexy

Boom. I just wrote a first verse….tomorrow I will work on this song some more and share the exact process of how I make it happen.

So here is the first verse:

He’s got a stylish look
With jeans showing off his goods
They’re not too tight or super baggy
Yeah they’ve been washed many times
But they fit him just right
He’s natrual, calm and sexy

Copyright 2013 Chad Shank

What Should I Write About?

Posted on by
2

Almost all songwriters ask themselves or their cowriters, “What should I write about?”
Many of us try to write about things happening in our lives, but let’s face it….many of us lead pretty routine lives. Or at least we don’t have an endless well of emotions to use…not all the time anyway.
We also try to write about things that we think our listeners will connect with, so we write about love many times…but we run out of original songs ideas pretty quickly. Then we are right back at “What do I write about?” We hit blocks and sit and wait for inspiration to strike. The problem is that we don’t realize that we make inspiration happen, it doesn’t fall from the sky. Many times we just need to start writing and ideas will start to flow.

Instead of asking WHAT it write about, start asking, HOW should I write about it. There are literally millions of things to write about. Look around where you are right now. Make a list of things you see.
As an example here are some things I see right now…
iPad, fireplace, pictures of New York, sliding glass door, tree outside with snow on it, flat screen TV, fleece blanket, books, hand weights.

Next take one of those things and start digging deeper into it. So for me, I am going to select Fleece Blanket. Now I can start asking questions:

Who? Maybe a little girl is cuddled with a fleece blanket
Where? Next to a fire on a cold night
When? Maybe it was after she saw her parents fighting and she was crying
Why? That blanket is all she holds on to right now
What about it? That blanket holds her tonight and holds stories and emotions

You can also write about the object physically to get more ideas. Write about your object using each of your senses, sight, sound, taste, touch, smell and movement. What does it smells like, what does it look like, feel like, etc?

You can take a simple object and turn it into a full song by digging in and asking questions and thinking about HOW to write about it. So next time you don’t have something to write about….look around and pick something. Write. Don’t worry about if it is a great song or not, just write. Eventually you will stumble on that great song. The key is to write and get better all the time…you don’t get better by not writing…