I've been a professional songwriter for more than 20 years.  In that time, I've learned a lot by making lots of mistakes.  Here are some tips that can help you learn to write better songs WITHOUT making the same mistakes I made. Write From Your Heart - Edit With Your Head If you try to write from your head, you'll have a...

  Are you a REAL songwriter? I can't count the number of times someone has said to me "I'm a songwriter - well not a REAL songwriter because I haven't had any cuts." Believe me; I felt the same way early in my career. Have you felt like you needed to somehow qualify or justify yourself in the eyes of other...

  I believe that it’s never too late to be what you might have been. I was in my mid thirties when I started trying to write professionally. A friend of mine just landed a starring role (Her first) in a movie with some HUGE actors at age 49. I know someone entering medical school at age 52. Age is just...

  Verb tenses changing, or going back and forth in a weird way.  This is one of the mistakes I see most often when critiquing song lyrics. Switching between past, present and future can really mess your lyric up if you are not super clear about what is going on. Let someone else read your lyric and have them tell you what...

One of the reasons Clay and I started SongTown was to help people learn how the songwriting business works and immunize themselves from being ripped off. So, I want to give you some advice that can help save you hundreds and maybe even hundreds of thousands of dollars. If you heed this advice, you can make sure that you don't get...

      Songwriting Is The Most Subtle Art On The Planet...   I can’t tell you how many times I’ve heard aspiring songwriters lament that their songs are just as good or better than the songs that major artists are recording. They can’t understand why their songs aren’t getting the attention they deserve or being recording on records. Often, it leads one to...