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Songwriter Habits
Now that you have started songwriting and actually wrote some lyrics and music (that is: a song!), you need to know that you were just practicing...The habit of sitting 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; a songwriter develops a lot of other good habits too.
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. I use a magnificent software called TrackNotes...It functions -among other things- to organize all your recorded material in an efficient manner. It made the final recording and making of a song a lot easier for me. Of course you can still do your organizing the old way using paper put in folders besides the folder-subfolder organizing on your computer.
Habit Five. Practice: I have talked about this a lot. 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!!
Junk Ideas
Not every idea that you get is an inspirational moment, you will get a lot of "junk ideas". Still, never try to judge your ideas the same moment you get them; record every thing and keep track of every thing you think of. You can later review these ideas, save the good ones and throw away the bad ones (you can better keep them in a safe place too, every thing may come in handy!).
Hope I Helped Jump Start Your Songwriting
Have A Nice Songwriting Experience...
"How to Get Started with Songwriting" © by Mahmoud Ibrahim, 2006-2008.
Comments
you have actually done a big deal of help to somany out there, with the tips for starters. cudos
Loved it and will share my results when I have them! But I have two observations:
Maybe is one word...
home and shop are not examples of assonance, your type 3 rhyme.
TA!
M
nice one mahmoud been playin guitar for over a year and now want to start writing songs.i have lots of ideas ,this will b a great help,cheers.daz.cheetham hill.
i got a good song (tell me if it does not sound original enough)
shoot me, shoot me, shoot me,
you come on flat top,
he come groovin up slowly,
he got, juju eyeball
he want holy roller
he got hair down to his knees
got to be a joker he just do what he please
Come Together, right now
over me
yes!!! now i know how to write a perfect song!! 
I appreciate you writing this article. Thank you.
Thank you so much!! This is a wonderful stater kit
Thank you! This is one of the best sites I've looked at. It was quite helpful.
I remember on one page you talked about writing the lyrics and then putting the tune to it. Well, what I do is think of a line and a tune to go with it, and gradually work my way along, writing the music and the words at the same time.
Hope this gives some people an idea!
Belle
I got a electronic Dictaphone for recording on the fly
I have so many little scraps of paper everywhere from over the years. Great ideas and no where to place them. So finally when I get to do major projects i have a lot of, seemingly, fresh ideas.
Also "Everything" is one word. Found 3 towards the end.
Thanks for taking time out to write this, Mahmoud.
Thanks for the advice....probably wont find myself in a supermarket singing into a recorder but I like the notebook idea...
thanks! this helped me out so much! 
I've learned a lot more on this site than any other...so I'm just gonna say THANKS!!!!!!!!!
Thanks for your advice, I really found it interesting since I never really thought about the 'detail' of compiling a song.
I'm just arranging around 10-13 songs and will review the structures and lyrics of the songs.
Thanks again!
Michael
Thanks
This really helped me. thanks
wow, good stuff
helped out alot
awesome to start off with after having NO songwriting experience 
Hey this advice is really good and helpful.
Thanks.
Mahmoud, thank you very much for this page it has been an idispensible aid since i found it.
peace.
you're welcome
thanks I found this advice really helpful