What have you done to be more efficient in songwriting?
 

My songwriting and creative process is severely flawed, I know. I'm the very definition of distraction, clutter, scattered thought, lack of focus, ADD, you name it. If anyone here can shed any light on something you've done to kick your creative process into a higher gear of efficiency and productivity, or even simple clarity and focus, in putting the creative pieces together and eliminating the unnecessary and extraneous, please share! I bet there's some good insight out there. THX.

Making sure I have a way to jot down ideas/phrases/melodic scraps & riffs, and keep it handy. Otherwise, I will always forget, even though I swear I will remember it! I have an app on my (Android) phone called Note Everything--I can use it to jot down text, make a quick drawing, or record a quick snippet, all in one place.

Aside from that, it is to actually make a schedule time to sit down and work on stuff. 30 minutes, an hour... but put everything else away and start writing. I may spend the whole time perusing the thesaurus and rhyming dictionary looking for words or phrases, or play a single riff the whole time, and not get much done. But that's fine. Other times will be more productive.

A great many creatives find that setting a regular scheduled time to try to create is helpful. As the poster above notes, you may not get anything particularly satisfying each time, but when the muse does show up, you've got your work clothes on.

Similarly, some find that committing to write x number of songs in a month, quarter, year or some such interval is helpful. This is not a commitment to write x number of great songs, good songs, or even acceptable songs. If you do that, you may find that some method that works for you will emerge.

Why does one skip the stipulation that what one's works on has to be good above? Again, applying oneself to task generally or scheduling a time allows you to find and develop the tools and practrices that let you create better songs on the days your ideas or the muses present that opportunity.

A few years back I set myself the goal of creating 100 musical pieces in a year. In the process of doing that I discovered all kinds of things I could do that I didn't know I could do before that year.

Good stuff. I've done some of this off and on... but gotta do it more consistently!

Excellent! Thank you...

I highly recommend the book, "The War of Art" by Stephen Pressfield.

I find myself going back to it often, and I've struggled mightily in my creative pursuits over the years.

Here's a link to the audio version:

https://drive.google.com/file/d/12z4...ew?usp=sharing

The creative process isn't expedient and efficient. When you do that it kills the part of the process that is creative. It does favor the prepared though. To do that one must always be writing. Meaning thinking about it all the time. Carry a little note book. Think about music away from your instrument. And wait. I found that the best results came from pressure release from building up with all the thought and writing and trials and errors. At some point either because I though I'd just accomplished something or just relaxing or giving up. Bam! Things happened. But mostly the biggest trick is rewriting, rewriting and rewriting. There isn't a some created that couldn't benefit from a rewrite. When you can say I've written a perfect song and explain how and why it is perfect. Then you are at the starting point of being a writer. Good luck.

Great topic. Only a songwriter/artist knows and understands -can relate to the struggles and ups and downs and the dry times and the feeling of accomplishment that occasionally happens . Good songs are scarce for most. Often It’s a bit of mystery where songs come from. Sometimes they just appear -out of ya like—I really Don’t know where that one came from. I read a lot. I’m a History buff. Love old west Americana. I find much of what I write is spawned from my lifetime of Reading history and The people that weave those past trails. Some I write from inward life experiences. I always keep an old good sounding beater guitar handy that hangs within instant reach. I take advantage of the I-Phone. As soon as I pluck out a Chord tangle or a few words to a inspiration to a possible song I Record it with the I-Phone Video. I probably have a hundred recorded small bits of what could work into something. I often go back and review samples. Some I Save/keep. Some eventually sometimes work into a song. Some ill delete after a time. I do sometimes write inspiration down. But the Recorded method works best to -save the unique spur of moment inflections of the way I might word/sing something spontaneously created or the particular way I might finger pick or flat pick or strum something totally new.

Arrange poems into songs.

It takes some noodle-time to get me started. I only feel like noodling at certain times; usually I want to learn something new or improve on something I have worked on. Sometimes, it's fun to just just rehash old favorites. Noodle-time gets what's left over.

I confess I'm neither particularly efficient nor productive, and I'm somewhat wary of both in my own creative process. I would love to have written many more songs, but I just don't work that way.
I stumble on ideas when I am simply playful--not playing songs or practicing but daydreaming, drifting, fooling around on the guitar (or banjo, or simply whistling). On occasion, I'm lightning-bolt inspired, but that's rare. I've kept a folder of happenstance recordings for years; it takes up the majority of my computer's hard drive. I work on the melody first, and, given my poor memory, this method allows me to return and listen and play some more. When I think I've developed an interesting melodic idea and I have a lead on some possible words, there is still the long phase of revision: better lyrics, alternate arrangement possibilities, the question of a bridge, etc.
What I've found is that I almost never finish or like pieces I try to force (as with a deadline); my best work emerges when I have an open-ended attitude of playful insistence.
Robert

How to get more efficient at songwriting?

GET OFF THE INTERNET! STOP POSTING/LURKING ON GUITAR FORUMS! :rolleyes:

That's pretty much the answer to getting more efficient at just about anything in life. Real life, that is. Stop reading about stuff and DO stuff.

(Yes, I know, I just wasted 2 minutes of my life posting this... :))

Join a local songwriting group that meets on a regular basis (even monthly) and offers prompts and challenges.

Join an online forum that offers the same.
https://www.musesongwriters.com/forums/

Join this year's FAWM (February Album Writing Month): http://fawm.org

I'll say that having someone else to bounce ideas off of can get you over the hump on a song you are stuck on.

I have a friend or two that I can send of some partially finished lyrics to (lyrics are typically my bottleneck). Numerous times, they've suggested a word or phrase that I hadn't thought of, and suddenly the rest of the piece clicks into place.

I can't help you on writing processes. We're all different. I can say that everytime I read a songwriting book it stimulates my song writing in multiple ways.

Between August and November I wrote about twenty songs, a lot of them keepers and enough to write a second album I worked on with a friend. I haven’t written anything I am satisfied with in the last two months though. I do wish I could tap into creativity all the time but for me it comes and goes without explanation.

Artistic creativity is a very unpredictable visitor. It arrives unannounced and departs in the same manner. It can't be convinced to stay, nor will it leave a trace of itself behind.

I write a lot of melodies. That's pretty much my interest. Some call it noodling around and it's true. I think that's where originality lies. For that reason I stopped actively listening to published music in 76. I just sort of drifted away from it when writing shifted my interest.

Not being a wordsmith, I will take poems and put them to melodies I write. It's like a collaboration. Anyway, poetry has a wealth of dynamics available to assist the writer in honing his craft. A by-product of it is the exposure to various writing styles, word usages and associations.

I find songwriting is no different than any other specialty; it takes practice. I can look at the song lyrics I wrote over 30 years ago and compare them to now (or any in the past 20 years) and there's a significant improvement. I'm sure any writer would tell you the same thing ... write.

This might not help with organizational aspects of songwriting, but the best advise I ever received is allow your self to suck as a writer. It’s ok to write crappy songs as long as you are writing. This shuts the editor off. And every now and then you will surprise yourself with a song that does not suck

I have loads of crappy songs. But I now have a collection of songs that I feel proud of. They would never have been written if I did not allow my self to write the crappy ones. And some of the crappy ones have potential to improve.

A few suggestions:

1. Try to start your day with a stream of consciousness, full page of writing. Ignore your inner critic and just write whatever comes in your head. It doesn’t have to make sense or have ideas that connect. Just write from pure instinct. Fill the page and put it away. After some time - hours or days, go back and look at what you wrote. There will be mostly junk, but usually one or two phrases, lines or words will grab your attention. The exercise is as important as the result.

2. I often take the challenge of using a new theoretical device in a song. For example, I was learning how to use secondary dominants to spice up chord progressions and decided that I needed a song that skillfully changed keys using this device. The challenge provides some inspiration in and of itself.

3. I will sometimes shamelessly steal one device from a song I love. It could be the rhyme scheme, a syncopated rhythm, a broad lyrical idea or the melody, but inverted. The key is to take only one factor and use it as a starting point. It gives the writing process some direction and no one will be able to tell where you “borrowed” from.

4. Keep a songwriting book close at hand. Write stuff down. Use your phone to record stuff as much as you can. It keeps good ideas from slipping through the cracks.

5. Give yourself permission to write some bad songs. Often perfect is the enemy of good. Your greatest work will come eventually, but sometimes trying to make everything great will just sap your momentum and prevent you from writing anything at all.

6. Don’t let emotional moments go by without using them to create. It can be good for your soul to do the self examination that writing provides. Like a self discovery journal but with melody, harmony and rhyme.

7. I sometimes find that singing with an artificial harmony generator can spark something. Those algorithms can be so inspiring. I’m sorry Sean, just kidding.

Have fun.

I have just started writing songs. For years, I had written non-fiction, but never songs or poetry. The way it seems to work for me, is first, I need to daydream a bit. Then, a phrase, be it musical or prose, seems to start the process. If I am lucky, it starts to grow and morph and bloom. That being said, I am filling notebooks with seeds that didn’t sprout.

On TrueFire.com, Ellis Paul has created several courses on songwriting. He developed a couple of graphic posters aimed at generating ideas and refining songs. His thinking is to engage as many senses as possible in order to spur your creativity. Check his stuff out as it can really lead you to a path that pushes ideas forward.

Enjoy the journey.

Rick

Artistic creativity is a very unpredictable visitor. It arrives unannounced and departs in the same manner. It can't be convinced to stay, nor will it leave a trace of itself behind.

Love this!! It's a fabulous lyric all by itself!

I watched a very good documentary on Bob Weir, called "The Other One"...I think it's still showing on Netflix...

He was talking about songwriting, and that he had spent a lot of nights writing when he would have rather been asleep in bed...

He said, "It comes through the window when it WANTS to come through the window..."

More good stuff, folks; thanks. Some fundamentals are definitely emerging here, and they are familiar because, I’m sure, they’re true. One being keep writing! Even the Beatles wrote some clunkers and if any among us thinks we’re going to bat .800 with our songs, I’m sure we’re sadly mistaken. I’d think that a 1-in-10 songs being a keeper is a pretty good batting average. And that’s an issue with me — expectations are too big and when you don’t attain them, you discourage yourself. The idea of getting ideas down right away is of course a big one and I use my phone, as well as pen and paper, to do that. Capture even little nuggets when they appear. I do that both with audio and lyrical ideas. I just have to do more of it, and keep the ball moving, doing it regularly and consistently. I also loved the thought of creativity being an unpredictable visitor — definitely true, and all the more reason to practice the above habits — again, regularly and consistently.

Keep ‘em coming; I know many of us will be reading....

And LaughingBoy — six good tips and one funny one!

These two things often help me. Substitute "different tuning" or "different playing style" (e.g. finger picked rather than strummed) for theoretical device. Just pick something you don't normally do or are just learning and see if a song suggest itself from that.

And borrowing/stealing doesn't even have to be from a song you love. Just take a riff, melody or chord progression you heard and use it as a starting point. I've even gone as far as to take the whole "feel" of a song and try to write something similar. In the end, it's not similar at all but incorporates elements I want.

Try these suggestions:

1. Give yourself permission to write imperfect songs. Make them as good as you can right now, but perfect can be the enemy of good.

2. I will sometimes use something that I’ve recently learned in music theory as a starting point. For instance, I learned what chromatic mediants are and then tried to write a song using that idea. Another topic could be using various secondary dominant chords or other borrowed chords to spice up familiar progressions. The added melodic motion often inspires.

3. Sometimes I will shamelessly steal one part of a song that I love. Nothing too obvious, but maybe a rhyme scheme, a melodic contour (maybe inverted or played in a minor key), or a rhythmic syncopation. It gives you a starting framework rather than a blank page.

4. Keep a notebook to write down phrases you hear that grab your ear. Record new things that you play on your phone. These things accumulate and then might be the spark that drives creative momentum.

5. First thing in the morning, write a full page of stream of consciousness expression in a journal. Don’t think, don’t worry about spelling, grammar or sentence structure; just let it flow. It works as a creative exercise to get your brain to stop listening to your internal editor - who can be the killer of good ideas. Sometimes looking back on your journal sheets, you’ll find a gem of an idea; a rhyme, a metaphor, a phrase, some alliteration - something that will inspire creativity. The more you do this the better you’ll get at it.

6. I’ve found that a great source of original inspiration for melody and harmony is to sing into a device like a TC Helicon Harmony G-XT pedal ;).
Sorry Sean, just kidding.

This is wonderful, and so true. Are you a fan of Anne Lamott, by any chance? In her book on writing, Bird by Bird, she recommends writing “****ty first drafts.”

I am not familiar with the name. That does not mean the person who gave me the advice is not. I will check out the book, thanks

I second this recommendation. Bird by Bird is a fantastic book. I'll throw one more book out there at the risk of creating a distracting reading list:

Julia Cameron's The Artist's Way has some interesting insights and practices to help artists get out of their own way. But again, reading books can become a rabbit hole of excuses to avoid the thing that we fear most - the work.

Not nearly what I should have been doing :(