Songwriting

Writing Better Songs Let’s face it, there’s nothing sweeter than playing a song for an audience, a publisher, or a friend and having it move them. Excite them. Make them dance. Or leave them tearing up. As writers, we want to reach out and touch people with our songs. As a professional songwriter, I have…

Learning to write inspired… One ordinary Tuesday, I drove to a co-write with really low expectations. My co-writer, Jason Matthews, and I were going to try to finish a song that I wasn’t really in love with. We weren’t writing inspired, but we had decided we would finish it, so I drove to his house.…

Songwriters & Rhymes Last week I wrote with a talented young songwriter who was obsessed with finding a fresh, new rhyme at every turn of the songwriting process. “Surely we can use a rhyme here that no one’s thought of”, he said, several times. That got me thinking after the session about rhymes and my…

Often, I see songwriters who are caught up in the trees that they can’t see the forest. They spend their time looking at the minutiae (I’ve always wanted to say that word) that they lose sight of the big picture. For instance, in my SongTown Lyric MasterClass, I spend six weeks teaching students a framework…

At least twice a week I get an email seeking advice on how to overcome writer’s block. For many songwriters the worst part of the whole writing experience is just getting started. Those times when we sit down to write and nothing comes out. We feel like we have nothing to say. Well here are…

  One of the biggest “ailments” I see when I mentor songwriters is that they are writing WAY too many ballads. It seems like many of us default to slow songs. While a well written ballad can be very successful and meaningful, there are also many reasons it is NOT a great idea to write…

 Let’s talk… This morning several ads popped up on my Facebook feed for things like… Learning To Write Great Songs In Just 3 Days, Writing Songs Really Fast, or Earn A Hundred Thousands Dollars In First Year For Writing Movie Songs…oh my… I must be the slowest songwriter on earth…I’ve been a professional writer for 25+ years and still learning everyday to play guitar, write better songs—and…

One of the most common questions people ask me is “Do you think I have what it takes to do this?” They are usually referring to their music. In reality, the current quality of their music is not the primary factor in answering that question. When I got my first writing deal, I didn’t have…

Over the course of my career, I’ve had a diverse collection of artists sing my songs, from R&B artist Babyface to rocker Darius Rucker to country’s Reba McEntire. I believe the reason for this lies in my ninja power for writing an explosive hit chorus— songs that leap out of the speaker when they hit…

Here are 4 areas of songwriter quicksand that are hard to get out of. Watch where you step! 1) The “I can’t play this for anyone until it’s perfect” quicksand. I can’t count the number of people who have told me that they are not going to let anyone hear their music until it’s perfect.…