I want to let you all know that I have a new blog. It’s the same name but different URL. It’s up at the moment. You can find it at www.songwritingzen.com After today I won’t be posting on this blog anymore. All posts will be on the www.songwritingzen.com blog only. When I started my blogging journey I [...]

If photographers can have a visual portfolio of their work then why can’t songwriters have an aural portfolio of their work? What’s the use in writing a song if you can’t find it when you need it? Well, I have some ideas on this. For years I had a songwriting book where I would write all of [...]

I held a workshop for SCALA (Songwriters, Composers and Lyricists Association) some time ago about “dissecting the songwriting process”. From doing the workshop I was able to summarize my own songwriting process into bite size pieces. A very handy exercise for someone like myself who, at times tends to make things more complicated than they should [...]

I realised a long time ago that there’s no such thing as a perfect songwriting process. It can always be improved upon. Listed below are twelve ways in which you can enhance and improve your songwriting process. Even if you implement just one of these suggestions you will be well on your way to writing more [...]

I ask this question because it seems to me that we, as songwriters seem to be real experts at naming which one of our creations are ‘bad’. So much so that, for some songwriters it stops them from creating altogether. Here are some thoughts I have on the subject. Call me strange, call me weird, but I personally don’t [...]

I try as much as possible to turn a negative situation into a positive one. Recently, my car wouldn’t start. The battery had finally given up and to get this car problem fixed I had to do a lot of waiting around. It was from this waiting that I got the idea for this post. You see, in [...]

In recent times, I’ve been making a real effort to collaborate with other songwriters. I’m really enjoying letting go of my own ideas and sharing them with other talented people. When I first started to write songs I was co-writing a lot. This was mainly out of necessity because I wasn’t playing guitar back then. Nevertheless, [...]

“Is the glass of water half full or half empty?” The reason why I ask this question is that the answer you give may determine how you see your whole songwriting process. The blank piece of paper in front of you can be either one of two things. 1. Something to be afraid of. A scary journey into the [...]

As mentioned in an earlier article “brainstorming possible song titles” I brainstorm words and phrases for 30 minutes at a time, making sure that for every list I do I put the date on top so I know which list to look at first. After doing this exercise 2-3 times a week for a few weeks [...]

“Writing a song is like fishing. You have to bait the hook to get a bite.” - CS I thought it was about time I put onto paper how I get my songwriting ideas. What works for me may not work for you but give it a go anyway. If it does work for you then [...]