7 ways to improve the songs you write

Songwriting may be a daunting process and is deeply individual to every songwriter. However, there’s a few concrete steps to help enhance the songs you write! Let’s dive in.

I .Write Specific Parts

This may be as a result of the way we learn music in the 21st century (off the internet, a lot of people anyway) but often times I see a song written and it’s just lyrics, or just a melody, or just melody and chords. The big picture sort of thinking is something that’s an insanely important component in songwriting, but it’s important to see the smaller levels. Each component of a song plays a role, and make sure everything you write is serving a specific purpose. If you write a guitar part, make sure it’s serving the song.

This is something I bring up to all of my students, but in the pursuit of improvisation and composition, the idea is to expose yourself to everything so in the moment of creation it all boils down to choices. While you may never need to write 12 tone rows in your own composition, the ability to pull that from your bag is invaluable. So with that, make sure everything you write is deliberate and not a crutch of your abilities. An example of this is if you use the same strumming pattern for every song because you simply don’t know any other strumming patterns. If it’s a creative choice and that’s the vibe you’re going for, that’s totally fine! But as long as it’s a conscious decision rather than a reflex, the song will thank you for it. Same thing with your choice of chord voicings. And speaking of chords, that brings me to my next point…

II. Chord Inversions

Chord inversions are monumental in a song and subtly give interest. If you’ve gone to music school, you’ve probably heard of the dreaded “counterpoint.” This is essentially looking at how two specific lines interact, usually in reference to the bass and melody. The point of this study is to make sure that not only the melodic line (in contemporary terms, the vocal melody) is interesting, but also the bass line. The counterpoint between these two make up a strong backbone of a song.

Far too often do I see bass players simply playing the lowest note of the guitar chord. While this does sound powerful and gives a nice weight to the song, sometimes a song can benefit from some nice counterpoint! A good sign of this is if 1. you can sing the bass line (because it’s memorable enough to stick in your memory) and 2. if the bass line can hold it’s weight on its own. In other words, if you muted all the other parts, would the bass line sustain interest?

One way to come up with interesting bass lines, are chord inversions, simply taking another note from the chord and placing it on the bottom. If your music theory chops aren’t super tight, don’t fret (hehe), we have another blog post that goes over how to find the chords in a scale/key where we go over everything you’ll need. But by placing a different note in the bass rather than the root of the chord, you can now start to make and interesting yet subtle countermelodies in the bass, pushing the momentum forward. Which brings me to my next tip:

III. Keep the momentum of the song

There’s that old boomer saying “Don’t sit and watch the paint dry,” but essentially make sure that the song isn’t dragging on. This specifically becomes a problem when working digitally in a DAW and where looping is extremely convenient, but make sure the music retains momentum and is always changing. One solution to looping I like to do is to simply re-record the parts. It takes a bit more effort, but since we’re human beings with innate imperfections, the playing will subtly change and drive the song forward. Another is to ask yourself “does this section need to be here?” When you begin trimming down the excess parts of a song, you start to deliver a more clear and concise message. A lot of this stuff is usually addressed by a producer, but in the days of DIY that might be you. And even if you’re working with a producer (or two…. or us…. perhaps? 🤔) the clearer picture you have of the message you’re trying to send, the better. But speaking of producer, that leads me to my next point:

IV. The Mute Button

Writing music is hard but it’s also really fun and rewarding! And as a result, sometimes we tend to overwrite. As creatives, sometimes we want to get all of our ideas out and show the world all is going on in our heads. The issue with that is, sometimes that doesn’t necessarily help the song. But it’s an important part of the creative process to get ideas out and experiment, so one solution I like to use is a mixing engineer’s best friend: the mute button.

Rather than try to limit your ideas and potentially stifle your creative process, I like to get all of the ideas out and trim back later. Often times, mixing engineers will do this anyway because an overstimulation of similar elements will make a mix sound crowded or muddy. But try out specific parts in the arrangement. Maybe the second chorus needs to start off with just vocals and bass, maybe for the guitar solo it might be cool if the band drops out and the guitar and drums are playing against each other, maybe you might want to cut out the band for the last lyric of the song to really make an impact. These little subtle changes can impact the song in amazing ways and help the drama of the song, which leads me to my fifth point…

V. Be dramatic!

My hero Wayne Shorter says “Play and write music for how you wish the world to be like.” Be dramatic, be bold. Music is emotional, don’t be afraid to be vulnerable and push things to the limits. If you’re using a pattern in your music, take it as far as possible, or introduce the pattern and pull away once it’s a pattern (use the mute button later if it’s too much). Use the extreme quiets and louds you can use, and mae sure everything you’re doing is as dramatic as can be.

VI. Reference Songs

Igor Stravinsky, notoriously one of the greatest composers of all time said, ““Good composers borrow, Great ones steal.” It’s always a great idea to have songs that you’re referencing especially when working with a producer, mixing engineer, or anyone on the outside who might not be super clear on your vision. It’s also good from an analysis point of view, to inform your ears of what’s possible. Knowing about how The Beatles use chords outside the key or how Elliott Smith uses mode mixture in “Everything Means Nothing To Me” tells your ear “Oh, that’s what that sounds like and that’s the way to call it.” The same way when you’re a kid and you see a table, your parents tell you “table!” and you forever know that it’s a table. When talking about stories at the dinner table, you can easily reference, “Oh yeah so I was at the dinner table when…” and everyone will know what you mean by table. It’s the same sort of deal.

Having references can also be something like a “Musical Vision Board.” I hate what I’m about to say, but it keeps your music competitive. I hate using words like “competitive” or “better” or “worse” when it comes to music, because I truly think music isn’t a competition. But in terms of your song standing out compared to the other sea of songs out there (thanks, internet), having your songs stand out will help people get to know the artist that’s known as you. It’s also nice to have inspiration when the creative juices are running dry, these things can really help get you going!

VII. Process

Having a process is super important. Coming from me, who’s home studio is always a complete mess with a bunch of garbage all around my desk, this may seem like pretty strange advice, but having a process takes out the guess work.

This can mean a few things. One, having your space with a nice vibe that encourages creating. I’ve experimented with using different color lights (these color changing lightbulbs are amazing, and the fact that you control them via app means you no longer have to worry about running out of battery or losing that dumb little plastic remote) for different occasions. Maybe blue is your songwriting light, purple is your relaxing time, green is lyric brainstorming time, etc. Or maybe you have a special oil diffuser with scents for different occasions, a plant on your desk to remind you of nature, or your favorite Kurt Cobain Funko Pop figure.

This can also mean having things ready when you need them to be. Maybe having a notepad for lyrics at hand, or having your mic and interface all setup so all you need to do is press record. I personally have my two mics on my guitar amp set and connected to my interface, with an easy way to pull them up on Logic so I can record within seconds. When you’re creating, you want to be focused on created, not plugging in cables and finding a piece of notebook paper. Whatever you do will be something that’s individual to you and something to be found through trial and error. Find some sort of process that works for you and it’ll make your life easier and more creative.

Fin.

So that’s about all the tips I have for you today! I hope you’ve found them useful. If you want to hear me talk about this in video form, you can find that here. Thanks for reading, and happy creating!

-Nick

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