Did you ever think of songwriting as something that you would practice?
Ssitting down to actually think about a subject, to look up words in rhyme dictionaries, to play the piano for just the right chord...etc. All this is just the habit of practicing, the songwriter develops a lot of other good habits.
All these other habits are tools to help the songwriter collect the fruits of practicing. This means that practicing doesn't get you hit songs or hit ideas; instead it trains your brain to function better musically and to become more aware of "songwriting potential" in things occurring in your environment.
As you practice more, HIT IDEAS will suddenly come to you out of the blue! Believe me :. Writing hit songs is more of an inspiration than organized thinking...You spend a lot of nights wearing your brains out writing melodies (that is practicing), and then while shopping for shoes an amazing melody starts echoing in your head: That's your hit song.
To keep these hit ideas from being forgotten and lost, I developed some habits to help me keep track of every idea or thought no matter how trivial...
Habit One. Have a notebook with you at all times: Any time a song idea hits you, a good verse, creative metaphor..etc. Write it down for review later.
Habit Two. Have a digital recorder with you at all times: You can use any thing to record sound with...Your melodies will not be lost. (Sometimes I use the notebook to write the notes of the melody -like D B A G..etc.-, you can do that too and save yourself the trouble of having to sing in a supermarket ;).
Habit Three. Ask people what they think about your creations: Showing them to friends is always a good idea. However, showing them to other songwriters means great advice and "professional" comments that would go beyond "Good work, where are we going to eat?"
. There are some decent songwriter communities on the internet, and I have set up Writing Fever Yahoo! Group just for that...Give it a Try! Another Idea would be to publish your work on various websites and wait for the different comments (SongWriting Fever gives you the chance to publish your lyrics, click here to visit Collaboration Lyrics Directory)
Habit Four. Keep your hit ideas organized: Now that you have kept every amazing melody and every interesting lyric that you came across on paper, It's time for you to put them together in a great song. But how are you going to keep track of every single melody, title, progression or lyric that you think of or write?!! The answer is to have them organized in a way that makes them easily searchable and accessible.
Habit Five. Practice: It's really important...You will not be musically inspired unless your brain gets used to music. Inspiration is HARD WORK! Practice by reading for successful lyricists, by listening carefully to great songs, by struggling for days with one line to get the right word for meaning and rhyme, by experimenting with chord progressions...etc. There is lots of stuff you can do...PRACTICE, PRACTICE, PRACTICE!!
Have fun practicing songwriting
__________________
For latest news and updates on SongWriting Fever, please check SongWriting Fever Official Blog