Songwriting Magic Blog

1.Learning to write songs is difficult Learning to write songs is difficult because learning any new skill is difficult. It takes time to become great. Along the way, you are going to get frustrated, make mistakes and write a lot of shit songs. That’s just the way it is. Accept it (and enjoy the journey).  […]

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Here’s me singing a new song called, Blind Blind Love Country or Americana in style? Old but with a modern twist?We went to visit Linda Jaxson a few months ago and I recorded Linda on my iPhone – doing a particular fantastic version of this song. So this one is for you Linda. https://youtu.be/FviUZgqnlbg

As a teenager my dream was to be a full time musician and to be on Top of the Pops. Considering I was a teenager in the 1970s it seems to be taking longer than I thought. Is it time to reconsider? Thinking about this reminds me that a couple of years ago I was […]

Learn what the research tells us about you brain and creativity and how to use that knowledge to become more creative.

In this post I reveal how messy my lyric writing process is. We all have a different journey to a finished lyric. By being open about my own messy process – I hope to re-assured you that your own struggles are perfectly valid – no matter how unusual they are. To give you some context. […]

“…inspiration is way more likely to come around when you already have your tools out. A pen on paper, a brush on canvas, a guitar in your hand.” Jeff Tweedy Object writing is a technique outlined in Pat Pattison book, ‘How to write better lyrics’. If you gravitate towards a technical approach to writing lyrics, […]

Most people don’t hear the different elements of a song when listening for the first time; they just like the sound of it or they don’t. There’s no point of trying to deconstruct a song when all you want to do is dance? Songwriters – on the other hand – should always try to really […]

“The thunderbolt strikes the head, the pen scribbles furiously, and that’s the song,” Mark Ronson on how Amy Winehouse wrote the lyrics to Back to Black (https://tinyurl.com/ybdpumjj). Sometimes words just flow out of you like water from a tap, other times you can’t even get a drip – so to speak. Here are 10 suggestions […]

There’s no right way to create a melody and no objective way to measure it, i.e if it is good or not. Everyone is different – there’s no one solution. However, here are my thoughts. Avoid logic, avoid theory, avoid conscious application, avoid trying to write ‘interesting or good’ melodies. Strive instead to write only […]

If you want to write commercial songs that will chart, you need to first be a fan of music and more specifically, a fan of the style you want to write in. If you are not a fan of pop music, don’t write pop music. If you are not a fan of country, don’t write […]

Unless someone has asked me to write something on a particular topic or I am co-writing, this article describes my songwriting process – most of the time. That’s not to say it the best way or even a good way, it’s just, my way. How do you I choose a topic to write about? I […]

Chordbot – for Android & iOS ChordPolyPad – IOS Guitar chord Pro Songwriter – IOS Simple Songwriter LE – IOS Chord bank – IOS Suggester-Chord Progressions – IOS Firo Chord Progression Master – By Genres – Android Easy Chords Studio + – Android

Songspace – IOS & Android. SongSpace lets you draft lyrics, record audio and share access to your songs with friends and fellow songwriters. Free, iOS and Android. Korg Kaossilator – IOS and Android – replicates parts of Korg’s freely playable synth. Moog Filtatron – Filtatron takes the Moog Ladder Filter; allows you to import or […]

iMPC – derivative of the classic AKAI MPC 2000 series. It has sampling capability, loop slicing, time stretching, and on-board effects. BeatMaker 3 – BeatMaker 3 has a Keyboard Sampler, built-in Drum Machine, and on-board effects. Caustic 3 – beat making App – a song sequencer as well as 14 machines, 20 effect types, a mixer, […]