Blank Page - Songwriting

Try and write A SHORT STORY, AS IF YOUR SONG WAS A 3 MINUTE MOVIE. As a writer, you can convey whatever message you want by PICTURING A SPECIFIC CHARACTER IN SOME SPECIFIC ENVIRONMENT. The listener will follow your story and in the end your message will be clear and much more interesting. When you write a “short story kind of song” people will remember it easily. So if I mention “Don't stand so close to me” by The Police you will immediately say : “Oh, yeah, that song about the young teacher and the student with a crush on him?” Do you get what I mean? By the way, my favorite line of that song is: “wet bus stop, she's waiting, his car is warm and dry”. That's phenomenal songwriting in my opinion, just a few words and you get the whole idea: the difference of age, the attraction, the doubt. Sting could have written something like “hey, folks, sometimes you just can't help falling in love with the wrong person, even if you know from the beginning that it's not gonna work”. Instead, he turned this gener

Today I'm going to help you SAVE YOUR PRECIOUS TIME. You know, it may take a long time to write a good song. So, my advice to you is this : don't waste your time overproducing a lame song in order to make it sound good, it's not worth it. FIRST OFF FOCUS ON THE MAIN STRUCTURE OF THE SONG AND THE MELODY AND KEEP FIXING IT UNTIL IT REALLY WORKS, forget about the rest. Now think of the magic of the unplugged concerts, it's taking the songs back to their true nature, that way the songwriting is naked -so to say-, and you can tell if it's a great song or not. Do you remember when Richie Sambora and Jon Bon Jovi performed “Livin' on a prayer” and “Wanted Dead or Alive” with acoustic guitars only at the VMA's in 1989 ? it was a sort of slap in the face to decades of electric bass and guitars and powerful drums and multi million dollar productions. If the song is written well enough, you can take all the other instruments away, perform it with acoustic guitar only and it will stand alone. Otherwise it mea

Today I want you to focus on this : try to DEVELOP ANY ABSTRACT CONCEPT INTO SPECIFIC IMAGES that convey your idea. Use words and sentences that appeal to the 5 SENSES AND ACTIONS. For example stop rambling on about the general concept of pain, unhappiness, sorrow, sadness, but find an image that your listeners will remember, just like this verse of “I'll be there for you”, Bon Jovi. “You say you've cried a thousand rivers and now you're swimming for the shore You left me drowning in my tears and you won't save me anymore.” When describing efforts and struggle, you need to make the idea concrete by using verbs of action. Check out this song by U2 (I still haven't found what I'm looking for): I have run, I have crawled, I have scaled these city walls, only to be with you”. If you need another example, just listen to “Blowing in the wind”, in every single sentence Bob Dylan gives you a clear image to remember (a man walking a road, a white dove sailing the sea, the cannon balls flying, and so on).

My first piece of advice is very simple: always TELL THE TRUTH, your personal truth. When you write a song, TALK ABOUT SOMETHING THAT MEANS A LOT TO YOU AND SAY SOMETHING YOU TRULY MEAN. When I first listened to “The show must go on” by Queen I was moved by it, the song is so deep and meaningful. The lyrics, the music and Freddy's voice combine perfectly to convey that message. Or think of “Marry me” by Train, no wonder that song is the soundtrack of every wedding now, and it's not just because of the title. When he sings: “I promise to sing to you when all the music dies” you can tell he really means to be by her side forever. Or do you remember “18 till I die” ? Bryan Adams could sing that because he's actually looked 18 his whole life, but, what I mean is that the song is simple, genuine, 100% fun. So, whenever you write a song, put your personal truth into it. Your own experience, your ideas, your true feelings. When people listen to your song, it will take them a second to realize if what y

Hello! This is Marta Innocenti, welcome to BLANK PAGE – SONGWRITING. Let's talk about how to... “Write the lyrics of your song”. 1 - Point number ONE : first of all you need to decide the main TOPIC. What will your song be about? Love? friendship? family? politics? having a dream? Choose any subject you’re interested in and let’s get started! 2 - Point number TWO : decide the main IDEA regarding the topic you chose. If the subject is Love, which particular aspect of Love are you going to describe in your song ? It could be : the joy for a new love? how love changes people? Or the end of a love story. Well, the main idea is the core of your song, so define it clearly in your mind and focus on that. Attention: you’re gonna need a title, connected to this main idea. So, start thinking about what the title could be while working on the following points. And let's go on! 3 - Point number THREE : choose the KEY WORDS Write down some key words, strictly connected to the main idea, its en