Approaching Songwriting
When it comes to songwriting, there is no wrong way to do it because any approach is a good approach. Whether you start with the music or lyrics, it does not matter because you should do it in a way that comes natural to you. The nagging question that always comes to mind though is what subject to write the song about.
One great thing to do to get some good writing done is to set up a songwriting schedule and stick to it. Even if you can just allot a half hour per day, you will be surprised on how much work you can get done (and songwriting isn’t really work, is it?). Even if you are not in the mood to do any work on writing a song, you may just happen to hit the right chord or note to get some inspiration flowing and a new song out of your head.
To find some good subjects to write about, first think about the things that you are interested in and see if you can turn any of your interests into a song. You can also keep up to date on the new and current events — there’s plenty of songwriting ideas if you watch the news from time to time! Reading books and magazines should also give you plenty of songwriting ideas.
If you find that you sometimes get stuck for ideas on what to write a song about, a good songwriting tip is to keep a journal to write notes in as you think about them. Keep this with you at all times and you will always have ideas to write about. Even better, get yourself a small voice recorder and just record your ideas while on the go — you can hum a melody, speak about a topic, mouth a drumbeat. Doing this will ensure that you will never lose an idea that you think of.
The most important thing to remember is that the more songs you write, the better you are going to get at it. Don’t get frustrated if you find that you are having a hard time coming up with a lyric or melody. These things sometimes don’t come easy but they do come. You’ll find other days when you will write a complete song in five minutes! Songwriting is funny that way. Just keep at it and make sure you are having fun while doing it.