Use your various senses as launchpads for your creativity. Any of them — touch, smell, taste, sight, sound — can serve as a basis for your songwriting inspiration.
Just by developing your descriptive skills, you’ll be better able to enhance the effectiveness of your lyrics. It’s one of the primary ways of how to increase your creativity. Pay heed and you’ll reap the benefits.
Image via Flickr by Kris Krug
In addition to your main lyrical/musical hook, you should attempt to create and include secondary hooks to generate and augment your listeners’ interest. Think about inserting short guitar, bass or piano riffs between your song’s lines, or add a chord change when there’s a pause in the lead vocals, or maybe a catchy ad-lib.
Doing this will potentially have the effect of making your song more dynamic. It will also almost certainly make the composition more memorable in the minds of your listeners.
Image via Flickr by visual.dichotomy
From an objective standpoint, it can be hard to tell if the song you’ve written is really any good. Often you’re too close to the work to judge it in any meaningful way.
This is also complicated by the fact that songs are a complex machines with a ton of different theoretical components. However, there are some songwriting virtues that are older than the English language — check your song against them and see how they stand up.
Image via Flickr by Sara Bilijana
Although it may seem like extra work, put some time into expanding your vocabulary. Some phrases might be laden with meaning, but some words likely will better fit the image you want to evoke.
In doing so, you’ll be expanding your poetic and literary range — both of which being key talents for your craft. This way, you’ll use better vocabulary to improve your songwriting.
Image via Flickr by TerryJohnston
Essentially speaking, there are two types of songwriters — the ones who write only when inspired and those who create their songs on a structured schedule. However, if you just wait for lightning to strike, you’re missing out on a lot of meaningful opportunities.
As they say, genius is one percent inspiration and ninety-nine percent perspiration. You might ask: Is a great songwriter made or born? The answer, simply enough, is both. If you aren’t taking your god-given talents and honing them to their full potential, then you’re missing a serious opportunity for greatness.
Image via Flickr by derekGavey
Don’t get too tied to your original idea within your writing process. By being too rigid about your concept, you might be missing out on an unexpected epiphany.
Instead, think of that idea as a blueprint to guide you to where the song needs to go. By doing this, you’ll be giving your song flexibility to speak to you about what it needs to become complete.
Image via Flickr by Will Scullin
Avoid being too literal in your songwriting. As the old adage about writing goes, “show, don’t tell.” Never miss an opportunity to use strong imagery and metaphors.
Just because songs aren’t usually a visual medium, this saying is still relevant. The secret to “show don’t tell” writing is to focus more on how you’re trying to say something rather than simply saying it.
Image via Flickr by garryknight
This may sound like common sense, but it’s a good idea to write songs that fit your singer’s vocal range. After all, you don’t want them to blow out their vocal cords trying to reach way further than they should.
If you’re struggling with this concept, consider how choosing a song that suits your vocal range will put the singer into a position to win.
Don’t paint yourself into a corner with your songs. You don’t need to anticipate every turn your composition will take, but avoid taking it to a dead end if you find your song headed in the wrong direction. This has a habit of killing your momentum.
You could always try using try the method of mapping your songs out. While some musicians might find that this kills their creativity, others might find it to be a highly helpful technique.
By including a middle eight section in your songs, you’ll be shaking up the typical structure in a few significant ways. Most prominently, you’ll be breaking up the conventional structure of verse-chorus or verse/bridge/chorus by shifting the narrative and progression.
If you’d like to see a few shining examples of this song structure in action, check out this 8 Magnificent Middle Eights post. It includes songs by Cee-Lo, Springsteen, the Pet Shop Boys, The Beatles, The Beach Boys, David Bowie, the Yeah Yeah Yeahs, and Michael Jackson.
Image via Flickr by tobstone
Vocal training starts with the practicing the correct postures and breathing methods that assist in controlling breath & modulating sound from your vocal chords. By breathing deeply and slowly, you’ll be able to improve your lung capacity and control your air flow.
In your breathing routine, you should concentrate on fully inhaling so you can expand your diaphragm correctly. The more you practice diaphragmatic or abdominal breathing, your singing abilities will be enhanced.
Image via Flickr by pictureorpictures
Focus particularly on the opening lines of your song. They are, by far, your best chance for pulling your listener into the song and creating an immediate engagement with them.
A powerful opening line will set the story for your listener, and it will establish the who, what, and were of your song. It will possibly also provide insight into the why of the song as well. But it all begins with opening lines that get your listeners started on their journey.
Image via Flickr by ggvic
Learning to unlearn what you know about writing songs can be crucial to doing something unique. Don’t allow tired paradigms to constrain your creativity or to dilute your voice.
This isn’t to undermine the importance of music theory and ear training to professional musicians. However, these things should be considered guidelines and not shackles for what you do musically.
Image via Flickr by givikat
From the very first lines to the very last note, your song should be designed to take your audience on a journey. It might be a catalyst for exploring emotions, or it could just inspire people to dance.
However, if your song is just meandering from one idea to the next, if its momentum disappears, or if it just suffers from a general lack of focus — these things can all be frustrating for fans. Check out this article on creating forward momentum in your melody if you’re looking for some techniques to help.
Image via Flickr by Eva Rinaldi Celebrity and Live Music Photographer
Sticking with the original progression is sometimes the best option for verses or choruses. This can be because these patterns have already been established, which helps to make them catchy for your listener.
There are plenty of strong ways to write catchy songs, of course. However, these tips can prime your songs to become persistent in your listeners’ subconscious minds.
Image via Flickr by s1ng0