MasterWriter

[BKinBWa]

I have a question for all the writers out there. Has anybody used a program called MasterWriter?. It's supposed to be a big help for songwriting. I usually just use my tiny brain, tinier musical ability, and sometimes a rhyming dictionary. The price seems reasonable, but if it's a waste, then why bother?
-BK in BWa

[rmoretti49]

I've used it for the past 2 years, but not extensively. Sometimes I find it quite helpful, but mostly I use it for songs that remain unfinished, where I am still making frequent changes. It is a way for me to "park" the song until I can get back to it.

The interface does not work well on anything but my computer. It is quite unsatisfactory on a small tablet (unless the interface has recently changed). If you are a resourceful person, you may not feel it is worth the money. For me, it is a small investment for convenience.

[Gdjjr]

I've never heard of it- I use me tiny little brain and English comprehension learned by reading and looking up words I didn't know the meaning of, or using context to discern a meaning- I'd like to try collaborating if I could find someone compatible to be around while writing-

I will give it a look though, even if it does remind me of the Grammarly ads on you tube-

Writing songs is somewhat esoteric, writing, not so much- if you can read, you can learn to write from standing in the rain and getting wet-

Writing songs, depending on your goal, is a bit more trying- I recall reading about Willie Nelson, when he was a hired staff song writer- he and another writer were sitting thinking trying to come up with something and the other writer had to take a bathroom break- while he was gone Willie was just sitting, staring at the walls and said to himself, Hello Walls- he had the song written by the time the other writer returned from the restroom

[Gdjjr]

A personal observation- necessity is the mother of invention- and I know I didn't come up with that

However, when I was a lot younger I wrote 4 songs- 3 of them I still play, the other one I can't even remember- then in the late 80's into the early 90's, I had a tough time of things and tried to put my feelings in song- it didn't work- then last fall I was sitting on my patio one evening, just thinking and drinking coffee and Coffee and Cigarettes came to mind- I went inside and hand wrote the first draft- I've worked it over several times and I'm really proud of it now-

this is the first recording of it




this is the second recording of it along with a review of a new guitar I'd just gotten




The point being, it evolved-

Since then I've written 4 more songs- all I got the inspiration for while sitting on my patio with Coffee and Cigarettes the comp'ny I keep, (coffee used to be advertised as the think drink- I do a lot of both) just thinking- not necessarily about writing a song- but, they just came to me- I went in, wrote them out by hand and they improve every time I play them-

[jaymarsch]

I have MasterWriter and probably don't use it as much as I could. I have started using it more regularly. I like writing out in longhand with pen and paper when I am creating, it just flows better for me. But once I get the ideas down and it begins to take shape, putting it in MasterWriter has it's advantages. It has a great rhyming dictionary in it which I use to full advantage and it helps me organize all of my songs that are in different stages of completion. It is one of those tools that I don't think that you'll know if it is ultimately useful until you try it out for a bit.
I use it on my Windows laptop so have no experience with it in any other platform.
Best,
Jayne

[Denny B]

There's a very good Bob Weir documentary on Netflix..."The Other One"...if you're a fan of his or the Dead, it's excellent, and even if you're not, it's an interesting watch...

He's talking about song writing, and said he's spent many a long night awake writing when he'd have rather been asleep in bed...

But his conclusion on writing a song was that "it comes thru the window when it WANTS to come thru the window..."