Coming soon
"The Song's the Thing!" A newsletter, related posts, and podcasts about anything and everything regarding songwriting, songwriters, songs, music, recording, performing, gear, guitars, and more.
05 June 2022
Songwriting is an immense topic. I’m not sure it would be wise to attempt to create a definitive ‘how to’ book or resource on this topic. Surely such a work would run to literally tens or even hundreds of volumes of huge tome-like books?
I do think that there are a few, let’s say, more general, useful, universal basics that are worth diving into a little more in-depth, just for example song structure.
When I say ‘general’ I’m pointing to the fact that the vast majority of what goes into writing a song is very personal, by which I mean it’s an individual choice that each songwriter makes. Choosing a style to write in is personal. The content of the lyrics is personal. Choosing chord progressions and chord voicings are personal. The choice of musicians and instrumentation for a recording of the song are personal. And, of course, for many solo singer-songwriters guitars and which ones to use, and how is crucial and all very personal.
The way that one songwriter approaches all of these elements may be wildly different from how another songwriter would go about it all.
I do think it is useful to dip into such general topics to get a sense of their flavours and to begin to comprehend just how vast and sumptuously rich the overall topic of songwriting is. And that’s exactly what all my planned music infotainment content will focus upon, dipping into any and all of these topics, bit by bit.
I don’t like to think too hard about this, however, I have had more than forty years of direct in-depth hands-on experience with all of this! From working as audio engineer in top studios in London, to writing, recording and releasing songs with top music publishers and recording companies. I also have a degree in music. So apart from all of the practical playing experience and music theory you need under your belt to complete such a degree, I also studied music history, music technology, and composition.
So I could talk in-depth about all of these topics mentioned and much more.
However, as I’ve said, I don’t think it is wise to attempt a deep definitive dive into all these topics, they are all so expansive, and how to approach, combine and apply them is a very personal and individual process. Indeed that is the beauty of songwriting, the journey through this sumptuous topic is never boring and full of surprises…
Please note: I have another infotainment channel on Substack, called Unleashed & Unlimited, where I post podcasts, articles and content unrelated to music.🖋🎥🎙