Songwriters who don’t perform

To me a song is always organic and ever evolving, I'm pretty crap at writing lyrics to multiple verses. I tend to write a catchy chorus and then build backwords, this usually means I come up with at least one verse that works but I struggle with the rest of the verses.

Infact the last song I wrote the lyrics too I still haven't really finished off all the verses. But as I *have* to perform the song live so that it is released...I just recycle the first verse words with subtle changes in melody, words and dynamics. When it comes to a studio version I will have to finalise my verses but even then I am happy to change or make new verses as I get feedback from ppl.

Great point about doing multiple arrangements of songs... I don't usually record multiple versions of my songs (there's always too little time), but I do often try to push them from one extreme to another during writing. If it's a ballad, I'll try playing it uptempo or vice versa.

@Atul: when you have trouble coming up with a second verse, you should try moving a few lines from the first verse to the second and then filling in the blanks left with new words. Try not to extend the story of your song any further, but rather try to deepen it.

Atul : I noticed when studying my favorite songwriters that their verses had “gems to spare”, meaning : some simple 1-liners in the 2nd verse were so good that they could have been a song on their own, but the writer had the confidence to bury it in the 2nd verse.

All the examples I can think of now are the ones where you notice that people who sing along to the song never forget those lines. (Like Steve Miller's The Joker, with "really like your peaches, want to shake your tree" or Alanis Morissette You Oughta Know "does she go down on you in the theater?")

Verses are always a struggle if they're just trying to support the chorus or fill space. But if treated as equally responsible for being catchy and eyebrow-raising it's more fun to write, I think.

When composing songs, music and/or lyrics, or even my own instrumental compositions, my initial goal is to keep each aspect of the work as simple as possible. Hearing someone say "That's easy. I like that. I can do that." might very well mean you have a work that can become a major success.

You might record your work in one day, but it also might take several months of polishing before it's ready to be Mastered. Once that's done, it will be ready to face the public marketplace. Be open to embracing the changes that will follow. Every step brings new knowledge. You have been gifted with creativity. Explore it!

Thanks for the ideas Jim and Derek. The expanding the first verse into the second is a good idea as it connects the song together smoothly but surely.

I might even get one of the books that have been recommended in the blog article.

Having a studio of your own and being able to record multiple versions of a song is a true test to knowing if the song is going to hold up. I find that the stronger the song is, the better it will work in a variety of styles.

I agree with everything except the home studio. Well, perhaps that's because I'm a singer as well as a songwriter. There's no comparison between the crap sound I achieve recording at home versus that my professional engineer achieves with his skill and multi-thousand-dollar equipment. It doesn't cost that much to use him at *his* home studio, and the luscious sound of my voice on those fabulous mics saves me the cost of therapy I'd otherwise spend lamenting my lack of talent. Actually, he's like an engineer and a therapist rolled into one. Perfect, really!

WE ARE CONSTANTLY CHANGING. IF WE CAN KEEP EVOLVING BY INNOVATING OUR IDEAS AND BEING MORE AND MORE DIFFERENT, ANYONE CAN SUCCESSFULLY MAKE GREAT SONGS. CHECK OUT HOW I TOOK GOSPEL RAP ANDMADE A NEW SOUND TO IT. FOR YEARS I LOVED HIP HOP MUSIC AND THOUGH I WANTED TO BE THE NEXT EMINEM OR PAC, OR BIGGIE, JAY-Z. YOU GET IT. WELL, I GAVE MY LIFE TO THE LORD AND TO THE SOLE PURPOSE OF SPREADING THE GOSPEL. PEOPLE SAID RAP MUSIC, GOSPEL MUSIC, THE SAME OLD WATERED DOWN CHRISTIAN RAPPER TRYING TO PREAC TO EVERYONE. NOT SO. I USED THE CONCEPTS I HAD BEFORE I GOT SAVED AND CONVERTED THEM INTO TO RAP MUSIC THAT WOULD CROSSOVER INTO THE GOSPEL RAP WORLD. AL JUST BEING DIFFERENT AND CREATIVE.

YOU CAN GET THE SAME SOUND OUT OF YOUR BATHROOM. JUST DEPENDS ON WHAT YOU WANT TO PAY TO RECORD YOUR MUSIC. SAME ALL TO ME.

Well, I've enjoyed reading all the comments. I was in Nashville last year for a song camp and it was very informative. The instruction was done by six of Nashville's top songwriters. They were excellent writers and instructors. As you might expect they didn't agree on how to write a song or even how to promote it. Every song they'd had success with seemed to have it's own unique story of how it got cut. This is my humble opinion, but if you want to play in that league then you have put in the time. The serious writers there are putting in 12-15 hours a day writing, co-writing, promoting, and recording demos. It is possible to compete with that but it isn't easy. The main thing I came away with was how passionate they were about everything that had to do with songwriting. Be passionate in a positive way! I have had a home studio for a long time and it has been great. I have excellent equipment now but I didn't in the beginning. I learned so much about songwriting by having to record my own and then having to listen back. Just be enthusiastic and passionate and you will have no regrets about what your writing brings you.

Best piece of songwriting advice I've been given (wish I could remember who said it): Sometimes you write the first verse and in it you say all the things you wanted to say, which leaves you a bit stuck for a second verse. That 'first verse' should now become your second verse and you can write another first verse setting up the story of the second verse. Works so well & so often it's just plain scary.

I have what may, or may not be a unique problem.

1. I intend to write, and sing my own songs on my recordings, but don't intend on performing live. I know, I know, the system doesn't work that way, but then the system hasn't been working the way we have been doing it either, and as long as the system is in a state of foundational transition I intend to continue to look for ways to do it the way I really want to do it.

So far, I have been working toward replacing the touring band manner of building up an audience with writing fiction books, and non-fiction pieces and then telling those who like what I write that I also sell song that I write and record myself.

The literary publishing thing may take as long as the band touring thing, but it is more what I really want to do with my life, and time.

The problems I have are all about; how can I do this most effectively?

Thank you Derek for all your help.

I can really use a lot of this info.

P.S. Steve Miller`s Joker`s line:"really like your peaches

want to shake your tree" is from

The Clovers-Atlantic Label-Song:

"Lovey Dovey". 1953-54.

All my best

Don.

I agree with the home recording studio idea. I usually record one version, perform it for a while, then end up changing it a few times before the final version is complete. After singing it several times live or with friends, I can begin to feel what works and what doesn't in a song. Also, I can offer tracks for artists to sing along with by simply removing my vocals.

Derek,

Seems to me we all could use a way to showcase our songs in a way that artists could listen with out the "middle man" trying to make a buck on everyone. We could use a way to pitch our songs to artists. Maybe that would help us more than anything. All of the advise that everyone has given is good and sound but in the end we just need a way in. Thanks for all your help so far.

Moni Lutz

Derek, you are an inspiration to me...you never stop helping. I know this is your mantra.... As you may know I've written ten volumes of original music and still have more, including yesterdays sudden creation. I have won the ASCAP jazz composer's award every year for the last 3 years. I desperately need a broader outlet, a lyricist, artists, and exposure to that market..it is money and success waiting. Thanks for your ongoing advice...and good luck with your new endeavors... Don

I am a performer,songwriter,Producer,Drumer,still,looking,forward to have a new publisher.My CD Rhythmology,is being downloaded,on Amazon,Calabash,Mp3,and many more,still,dont see no good results.What do you think,i should do Please?Should i join publisher like.ASCAP?

Great info guys and gals! If you draw from the heart and pour it on paper and make the world feel it and want to hear it again and again you.ve done your job as a songwriter.Til then enjoy the ride!! S.Dee

So much of this sounds familiar. I have a studio at home and could not be happier. I am getting more of my stuff out there than most of the more "famous" performers I know. I get a lot of feedback on my singing and it's pretty polarized. I see the reality of having a "Bob Dylan" voice and an anthemic writing style better suited to a bigger voice. I am a very good instrumental performer but I don't imagine you will hear me singing on your radio any time soon. I would love it if I could find a vocals/lyrics type (preferably living within biking distance...So Mpls) to record and perform with. In the mean time I will continue publishing stuff to the best of my overdubbin', favor askin', "Yes I'm singing in english" ability.

This seems like a very cool thing that you are working on Derek, we all appreciate it.

Peace, Dan

I'm a songwriter, producer, and own a small publishing company. I agree you must go where the music is made. You have to breach the loop of hit songwriters that are getting most of todays cuts. I hate to say this but, it is a political scene, and you must treat songwriting like a business to compete with these established writers. I have a few cuts, but no major hits yet, so when I'm in Nashville, I make appoints, and co-write as much as possible. I have found that hit writers have the same goals as I do, they are looking for ideas to write the next hit song, which will be cut by a major artist, to produce their next source of income. Good luck to all!

Lyrics/Melody[Music] Of the two Ihave to say lyric writing comes easier to me . Music/melody I struggel with. Itried to find collaborators to write the music,maybe a band to play it live since I'm not a performing act.So any musicians out there that would like to checkout my music go to my web site www.myspace.com/extremedreamtwo or cdbaby.com/cd/anthonym.cestaro Any ideas on writing melodies to my music.

what can replace networking?....after a couple of years in nashville, most of the songwriters open mikes were simply filters, and if you were liked,you got a showcase.....and then there were typically folks there who could get your songs to their people.....it took time and persistance.....dale

THE BIGGEST PROBLEM I HAVE FOUND AS A WRITER IS BEING ABLE TO GET YOU FOOT IN THE DOOR. I HAVE A FRIEND WHO IS ONE OF THE TOP NOTED SONG WRITERS IN NASHVILLE, AND A RECORD PRODUCER. AND ALTHO WE ARE FRIENDS,HE DOESN'T CUT ME ANY SLACK.HE POSSIABLY COULD OPEN SOME DOORS FOR ME. BUT HAS NOT OFFERED.I HAVE SENT MATERIAL TO NOTED ARTISTS AND THEY WON'T EVEN ACCEPT THE MAIL. THEY STAMP IT WE DO NOT ACCEPT UNSOLICED MATERIAL. EVEN SOME OF THE MAJOR RECORD COMPANIES DOES THE SAME THING.IF A SERVICE WAS SET UP WHERE A WRITER COULD SUBMIT SAY 4 OR 5 SONGS THAT WOULD BE SUBMITED TO SAID ARTIST. I FEEL THAT MORE OF THE UNKNOWN WRITERS WOULD GET NOTICED.

One can get by on a lot less than $1000 for a home studio. Consider buying a used computer and discontinued and discounted hardware (soundcard, mixer) and software.

The signal path I use is: microphones to mixer to computer w/ a Turtle Beach soundcard. The lower priced condeser mics one can find at Sam Ash or Guitar Center are just OK, but chances are, if one knows any other musicians, one can borrow a good microphone for special recording project. Processing is done with old versions of Soundforge and Cooledit on a Windows 98SE system. Nero burns the cds, and Surething designs the packaging. An Epson printer prints the packaging and the label on inkjet printable cds.

Recently I bought a Zoom H4 Handy Recorder, and consider it a valuable piece of equipment for "field recordings" and as a practice/rehearsal tool.

Great to see the mutual support here, just wanna encourage everyone to stay positive and creative. Follow your inner voice and express what makes you different,the alternative is to suppress your natural instincts and spend your valuable time trying to meet others expectations. It is up to all of us to renew our efforts, maintain good energy and feed the flame. Thanks as always to Derek for making it possible.

www.cdbaby.com/gr8trax

Aloha Derek,

I have a question instead of a comment.

I'm thinking of sending my songs to various recording studios in Hawaii since I don't live there anymore. I'm hoping this would attract some of the artists that they are working with and possibly draw some interest. Is this the right approach? Looking forward for your directions.

Mahalo for your time.

Franklin B. Corpuz

Desert Isle-Nanea CD

fbcsounds@cox.net

In terms of home studio, I've gone through a number of iterations, including Cakewalk and Windows. Now I'm using mostly open source software.

For hardware I use an Alesis Fusion HD6 (bought a factory refurbished unit @ a 75% discount), and a Behringer UCA202 ($30) which has RCA jacks on one side and a USB cable on the other. On my laptop (yes, laptop! used: $300), I'm running Ubuntu Linux, and use a free open source program called "Audacity" to record the tracks. The latter lets me "export" my final mixes to mp3, wav, aiff, etc. format.

The Alesis has a built-in 16 track MIDI recorder and so all I need do is to copy the files via USB to my computer. I then use a free open source program called "NoteEdit" to produce scores.



A good home studio setup does not have to be expensive!!! The total cost of everything I've described is less than $1000!

On days that I don't feel "inspired" I play around in my studio with mics and effects and things like that. "Practicing" studio technique is just as much part of the process as working on your playing or singing. When the moment of inspiration arrives you will be much better prepared to grab hold of it if you are not getting bogged down trying to figure out how to place the mic, etc. Finding a cool sound often leads to an idea for a song.

Having a good sounding room to record in will yield better results from average gear than great gear in a less desirable environment. Also a good sounding room makes playing more enjoyable and inspired. Invest in your room, and if you are a homeowner you really have no excuse. I went to my local University Architecture library and looked in some accoustics books, invested a couple grand (about half what my last CD before buying my gear cost to record) and have a room that has been used a few times for hire to overdub horns and accoustic guitars.

The time I spend working on my studio technique has translated into work, enough to pay off my studio, plus a wealth of experience and contacts. I get to work with people I might not gig with for artistic reasons, which expands sense of possibilities as a writer.

Be promiscuous - have as many co-writers in as many different styles as you feel comfortable with (or have time for!). I avoid playing my co-writi'cuz often they don't really get it!

But, truth is, I end up writing quite different lyrics and styles with different people. It's like their life experience peppers my own view of the world at that instant.

As a multi-instrumentalist, I tend to write different changes on different instruments, so I make a point of varying my approach. Try solo voice, too. Keep a portable recorder with you always, as the first groove and hook can so easily change in your mind with time. And the cadence and lilt of that first phrase is the key to your original feeling and seed inspiration.

Have pet projects that you keep bubbling on the back burner. (but finish them!) I produce other well known mainstream artists in fancy studios, and it goes with the territory to be incredibly meticulous in recording vocals, with comps and multiple inspirational takes, sometimes over two days. I make the vow that when I get alone with myself in my own studio, doing my own personal song, that I will give myself the same treatment. (I didn't used to do this!). but, wow, when I finally got that, it made a huge difference.

Never throw away old stuff. As one goes through cycles, one's life perspective changes, and the kernel of an old idea can be revived to powerful effect, with a new, refreshed slant. One's arranging skills are always evolving, too, and it's a great way to try out new feels and techniques - on songs you know so well!

Anyway, your old stuff is like a diary of your life. If you don't relive those smells, memories and emotions of that period in your life when you created those songs/tracks you made, then you might not be really connecting in your song-writing/composing.

Good luck!

Since I am involved in songwriting for the last 15 years and in that period I wrote 389 songs (so far) a musical "I CAN'T LIVE WITHOUT YOU" and currently working on a finishing touches for my second musical "Leaving" I would like to give a few tips to new songwriters on this subject.

My songwriting it started at first as a "hobby" to escape from everyday's struggles either at work on any other troubles what makes me a little bit "sad" and sometimes makes me feeling very down,so, I decide to write a few lyrics and to pour out my heart. Then, I decide to try to turn some of my lyrics into songs, but because I did not have a clue about the music or composing, I decided to learn how to read the music and enrolled in night classes in a college near to my home to try to see what is going to happend. After two years of studing (4 hours per week) I learned how to read the music what was a turning point in my songwiting career.

Then, I thought it want be a bad idea to try to join some of Songwriters organisation and after joining one of them, I decided to try to work with some of composers there in a partnership as co-writers.

At first I have tried to work with other co-writers (mainly composers) and find it "just wasting my time" because my ideas about a song's melody and their ideas are a completely different and I give up on this kind of co-writing adventures and decide to go alone.

Then, I bough a very good software programme and learned how to compose the music for my written lyrics and to bring out my ideas (from my head) how the song it should sound and now I am able to compose the music for all of my songs and when I mastered how software programme works, I decided to try to compose some of my lyrics and bit by bit I managed to compose the music for so many of my songs.

After that I found a very good recording studio to record my demo songs from two reasons: First reason: I cannot sing to save my life: Second reason: I am writing for both female and male artists. and that side of the business it is sorted now as well.

Now I am signed as "songwirter in the house with Acorn Music Group" and I am working as well as "independent" A&R Music Scout for Major Records Labels on discovering a next generation of "unsigned artists" with a potential to became Platinum selling artists (worldwide) and everyting it is going just fine. However, my songwriting at the moment it is pushed aside, for the time been, because I just simple do not have any "free" time to go back to my songwriting.

My advice to any new songwiter either composer or a lyricst it will be: If you belive in yourself and what you do, then, you should stick with it as long as you are prepared to take on your chin all rejections from "so called" top people in the music industry who think they knew all about the music, and if you are doing that for the "sake of the love" rather then a quick way to get rach over night, then, you will have a very good chance one day to have "your five minutes of the fame".

Good info, I will certainly pass along the link to aspiring songwriters and lyricists. Thanks!

Invaluable information -
I write, sing play arrange, but my dream is for established or up an coming artists to record my material. It's harder because I don't want to write typical chart material.
Anyway, the principles you highlighted in your article apply across all genres.

Write.. and re-write.. every line, every word.. go through it over and over again, but only until you can bear to let yourself stop 'fixing' it.. until you're truly happy with it. The same with the melody.. keep working at it, changing it, bending it, eventually it settles into something you can live with and the words and music come together, sometimes in 10 minutes, sometimes in 10 years, sometimes never. Self belief, perseverance, passion, not forced, it's part of you, like your head is part of you. And if you want be in the right place at the right time, then you need to be in a lot of different places at a lot of different times! Get out there! I'm in London, UK - the biggest city in my country, just like Mr Sivers advises! Not a coincidence! Am I a success yet? No. Not yet.. Will I be? To a great extent that is in my own hands! As it is for you all.. Thank you, Derek! Great stuff! ☺

I guess if you have a home studio then your peers who don't have one might sometimes use yours and then you could have some nice supper companions after the day is done.

I can appreciate Rizzo Basic at #34 finding he couldn't "work with" other peers, and I think it's good to "socialize with" other peers—you never know until you try. For my own art I think now I would have been more productive if I had been less alone.

In 2008, Derek said: “This could have only happened in a major music hub. So you have to be in the big city, in the middle of everything.”

15 years later: I believe the songwriting and music world has changed. The middle of everything does still exist in a major city, but can also happens online now. The number of streaming platforms and self-produced songs are a city in-and-of themselves these days. What has not changed for a stand-alone songwriter - one still has to network with those who help find the songs for recording artists. All that said, there is success to be found ONLINE,the endless city of the Internet.

Geoff Wolf

I am not a performing artist only a songwriter, how do I get my songs to producers and record labels to be heard. They are great demo tapes done professionaly. Please help me be heard. Thank you , Lester Richardson