My Songwriting Process

Me performing in my Songwriting Lecture, 2014

Happy Wednesday everybody!

I wanted to take some time to talk about songwriting today.

I've been writing songs since I was 6 (yes, they were truly awful at that time) and it's one of my real passions in life. I find writing to be a really cathartic experience and my technique is becoming stronger each year. When I chose Songwriting as a module in my 2nd year of University, I really began to combine my knowledge of music theory with my passion for lyrics and it really gave me the push that I needed to focus on my writing more. Here is what my songs are all about:

Instrumentation

90% of my songs are written with my guitar (her name is Jude and she's red and yellow, FYI). I don't have as much access to pianos as I did whilst studying and so my resources are a little limited, although I do have an awful keyboard lurking somewhere. I also have a drum kit in my flat and need to work on incorporating this more. My aim for this year is to work on my music production and integrating different instruments to make a fully fledged production as opposed to just writing with my guitar, recording and not expanding songs to their full potential.

The Process

My process largely depends on the circumstances. If I've had an emotional day or need an outlet, the lyrics will always come first. If I'm feeling creative and the song is more upbeat or centres around a more generalised topic, I will usually begin with a riff or a chord progression and fit the theme around that. My songs usually have similarities in terms of the musical arrangement as I'm not the most seasoned guitar player, admittedly. A lot of the verses will contain augmented chords or small riffs before turning to strummed chords for the chorus.

Best Songwriting Memory

Writing for me is usually a very personal experience but at University we were tasked with creating a piece within a group or duet. I teamed up with my friend Kirk and didn't really know what to expect in terms of writing with somebody else. I can be somewhat of a control freak and so wasn't sure how we would merge both opinions successfully. However, this turned out to be a great experience. I turned up to the session with lyrics already written to see if we could work from this, take ideas and create something new or potentially not even use what I had written. As soon as I showed Kirk the lyrics, he instantly started playing with some riffs and I sang along, creating harmonies through instinct. The whole process went so smoothly and we finished the song in around 30 minutes. The song is in AABA Ballad form and is one of my favourites. Kirk was amazing to work with and it was interesting to utilise his musicianship with my penchant for lyric writing and I'm really happy with the result. The song is called 'Tapestry' and the link is here if you wanted to listen (or you can play directly from the home page of this blog)

Inspirations

My biggest inspiration as a songwriter is Alanis Morissette. During my songwriting module, we were tasked with creating a 'copycat' song in which we had to mimic the musical style, lyrics and arrangement with an existing song or artist. I chose 'Hands Clean' by Alanis Morissette and the task really challenged me to work in a different way than I usually would. I kept the song as the same structure, with wordy and descriptive lyrics, a simple guitar accompaniment and a similar chord progression. My lecturer had already commented that she could tell Alanis had influenced my songs before and so for me, this was a fairly simple task. Here is one of my personal favourites out of the lyrics

"Pardon me, guess I misheard those words you never spoke

I'll always be the punchline to your mid-life crisis joke'

Writing in the style of Alanis gave me the chance to get creative with my lyrics and be a little bitter. The song was really fun to write and I only wish that I'd had more time to record the song more professionally and throw in some drums and maybe even some harmonica.

What I like about my songwriting:

Lyrics

Both at school, Sixth Form and University, it became clear that lyrics were my strong suit. I write some poetry and so fitting thoughts, ideas and rhyme into syllable patterns comes very naturally to me. I once had a joke with my music teacher that I could write lyrics to a whole song in under 10 minutes and I did. It was pretty good, actually!

Signature Style

I like that my songs are easily recognisable. There is usually a folk-acoustic vibe mixed with metaphor, allegory and a thoughtful, melancholy feel (which I hope doesn't come off as too depressing). I tend to focus on my mid-range, dipping into my head voice to highlight certain lyrics or moments of interest which I think heightens poignant moments in the songs.

What I want to work on:

Diversity

As mentioned above, my songs all seem to fall into a similar musical category. I want to work more on diversify my genres, playing style and play around with my vocal range more.

Instrumentation / Production

As also mentioned previously, I want to put more effort into the recording of my songs. The bare bones are mapped out in my recordings but I need to push myself and add harmonies, layers and different instruments. This is something that is hard due to resources but I'm hoping to gain some more knowledge of music technology and production to help me do this so that it doesn't hold me back as much as it does currently.

Working with others

I also want to collaborate with other musicians, as working together different styles and influences makes for really interesting content. Another musician could have a completely different take on something to you and can suggest things that you may never have thought of which makes the result more well-rounded.

Promoting my work

Between working full-time and dance training, I don't have a huge amount of time in which I could showcase my songs. I am going to try as much as I can to work towards performing my songs as they aren't doing much good staying inside my home or just being heard on the Internet. I love performing and although I sometimes find it a little difficult to share my songs, I have had great feedback before and want to get back into showcasing my material.

I hope that you enjoyed learning about my process and a bit about me as a songwriter. I hope to continue to progress and get my music out there more so stay tuned! If you have any questions, comments or feedback I would love to hear it so feel free to comment or message me.

Thanks for reading!

Amy x