Unlocking Your Songwriting Superpower (Pro Tips)
Marty and Clay outline the pro songwriter strategy for finding your songwriting superpower and leveraging it to reach your big songwriting goals. Clay & Marty’s 10-day video series: This video series will help you level-up your songs and finish them faster. CLICK HERE to begin! SongTown Press Books: Mastering Melody Writing : Check It Out The Songwriter’s Guide…
Read MoreCreating Perfect Opening Song Lines: Lyrics That Are Musical
Often when we talk about key elements of a song, you’ll hear people talk opening song lines. They’ll say things like, that’s where you grab the listener’s attention, and that’s where you set the scene of the song. Or maybe if you don’t do it right, you’re going to lose the listener at the very…
Read MoreHow Valuable Is “Exposure” for Songwriters?
If I had a dollar for every time someone offered to let me entertain them for free in exchange for some songwriter exposure, I could buy a new car. I’ve had offers from TV shows, wanting me to grant them a license for my song for free so that I could “pad my resume’” and…
Read MoreDon’t Let Your Next Song Critique Drive You Crazy
After receiving different song critiques of the same song from two different people, I often hear an aspiring writer complain that the critiques contradict each other. For example: the first person critiquing the song likes the second verse, but not the first; the second person, however, likes the first verse, but not the second. Usually, the…
Read More3 Exercises To Strengthen Your Songwriting Muscles
Songwriting skills are like muscles. The more you use them and challenge them, the stronger they get. Sometimes when I have a few spare minutes, I use these exercises to keep my writing muscles in shape. 1. Choose a song from the music charts and come up with a response to it. For instance,…
Read MoreYour Life Situation is NOT a Song Idea: How Pros Find Titles
Hitmakers Marty Dodson and Clay Mills explain the big difference in your “life situations” vs. song ideas. Knowing this Difference is key to writing great songs. Your life and relationship situations aren’t enough to make people care about your songs. This songwriting podcast episode will help you dig deeper into finding great song ideas that…
Read MoreWhy Good Songs Fail: Character Flaws
In the latest episode of “Why Good Songs Fail,” pro songwriters Clay Mills and Marty Dodson explain a common mistake that kills potentially good songs. Do your songs suffer from character flaws? Let’s fix that! Clay & Marty’s 10-day video series: This video series will help you level-up your songs and finish them faster. CLICK HERE to…
Read MoreTarget Writing: How The Pros Write Songs
Multi- #1 songwriters Clay Mills and Marty Dodson share the secret weapon pro songwriters use to get major artists to record their songs. Incorporate “target writing” into your writing toolbox and you’ll reach your songwriting goals faster. These are not “tips and tricks”, they are real-world techniques used by top writers everyday. Clay & Marty’s…
Read More5 Steps For Eliminating Roadblocks To Your Songwriting Success
Songwriters, does this sound familiar? You start out with good intentions to write a new song today and then the phone rings, or you remember an errand you forgot to do, and there’s that email you need to reply to. Before you know it you have spent the whole day doing anything and everything else…
Read MoreFinding Your Place In The Music Business
When I first started to pursue a career in music, I set out on a path to try to become the best at everything. I saw people making their own demos, so I went out and bought a ton of gear. I saw people coming up with really cool guitar licks, so I started working…
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