Song writing tips are widely available on the internet but how much of it can you actually use practically? I always looked for step by step song writing tips when I started out and always seemed to end up reading pages and pages of music theory or people just telling me to “write from the heart” and “use your emotions” without giving me any advice on how to actually DO that. No song writers sit down to write and think “Ok, I’m just going to write from the heart and everything will be fine.” They all have a set of techniques they use to tap into their creative energy so they can consistently write great songs!

Here are a few PRACTICAL song writing tips you won’t hear anywhere else to get you started writing great songs straight away…

ONE: Choose a topic to write about, say you want to write a song about a recent relationship gone wrong. Take a few sheets of paper and brainstorm words, phrases and lyrics that all relate to it. You’ll need at least two or three sheets so keep writing for as long as you possibly can. Then…put it to one side and leave it alone for a while.

TWO: Grab your instrument and create as many musical ideas as you possibly can. Aim for ten, twenty or even more ideas, chord sequences, riffs, melodies get them all out and most importantly record them on a simple tape recorder. The most important thing here is that you’re not editing ANY THING, you’re recording all of your ideas even the bad ones. Then once you’ve finished, put them to one side and do something else.

I always leave some time after my initial idea session before I try to write the finished song just to allow my mind to sort through the ideas. Often I’ll get ideas pop into my head while I’m not even thinking about song writing even a few weeks after the idea session. When I do come back to my ideas, I’ll take my brainstormed lyric sheets and spend time singing my favorite lines over all of my favorite musical ideas. If things aren’t working out, I’ll move onto the next idea, then the next and the next. Trust me, it will only a matter of time before you hit upon the combination that could lead to your next hit record!

If you want to be a more effective song writer, there are some things that you will have to bear in mind when you are writing songs. You definitely do not want to make any terrible mistakes as it will take out a lot of your time and effort. Here are the 3 things that you have to consider when you are writing songs.

1) Be Aware Of Your Target Audience

This is the first thing that you must do as you will want to identify the group of people that you are targeting. If you are writing a song for old people, you will want to make sure that you have a song that will communicates in a way that they can understand your message. There is a saying “The Simplest Things Works”. You do not have to over complicate the whole process as simple song might be better.

2) Be In A Environment Where You Will Have Inspiration

You will want to identify the environment that will trigger your inspiration and you will be creative. For example, if you feel that you get the most inspiration during the night, you will want to make sure that you have a good environment around you so that you can be creative. Do make some effort to identify the best time and places where you get the most inspiration and you will be surprised by the creativity that comes from you.

3) Do Not Be A Perfectionist

The biggest mistake that people make is being a perfectionist. If you are going to keep on going through the process of creating the song, nobody other than you will be able to listen to your song. If you feel that your song is 85% ready, you can try to ask for opinions from your friends or even to the major video directories where you can get valuable feedback. This will greatly helps to improve your songs better.

Here are the 3 things that you will have to consider when you are writing songs. Do follow it through, closely, and you will be able to write good songs fast and effectively.

Every writer needs to believe. In themselves. In their work.

Art of writing changes as does the changes of time. But the love of words remain steadfast and strong.

Yes, writers are an elite class of people.

For within each of us there’s a desire, to write. express, share thoughts, views and ideas. We look for that pat on the back, the praise, recognition. For writing well done. To see our name in print. A sense of self accomplishment.

Far too many of us have collections of promising articles and stories in various stages of incompletion. Fearing of not believing in ourselves.

Fearing rejection. We personally are not being rejected. Our writing is. It may not be exactly what the editor be looking for. Disappointing? Of course. End of the world? No!

Close your eyes, imagine you are an editor facing hundreds of equally qualified submissions. But the need is a mere handful for one issue. You see, editors jobs are not that easy.

Move on, because rejections are not signs of failure. Each rejection brings us closer to acceptance.

Continue to write and rewrite those articles, stories and essays to perfection. Editors are busy people.

Remember we are trying to make a sale.

Continuously submitting, improving our craft, coming up with new ideas and angles is our job.

We must know each publication and guidelines. We must know the expectations of the editor. Follow their every instruction. Remember they are in control.

We need them. It’s not the other way around. Make sure every submission is error free. Proof read many times. Never rely on spell checkers alone. They do miss errors. There is no perfect system out there. Put it aside for a day or two.

Be positive that each submission, envelope, cover letter and hard copy is clean and professional looking.

So let’s get to the post office, mail out those pride and joys.

Each Email and postal submission must remain clean and professional. Follow the guidelines of the publication. There is no excuse for sloppy work. Never be cute in e-mails or postal cover letters. Be professional through out. Never address the person by their first name, even if they do.

Are you staring at a blank computer screen, thinking: “What am I going to write, I can’t think of anything?”

Write as it flows to mind. The rest will follow. Even if it makes no sense. Just get those thoughts down first. As long as you write daily. Don’t be hard on yourself, have fun.

Start your story where ever is convenient for. It doesn’t matter at this point.

Writer’s block does not exist. What is lacking is inspiration. You must write something, Write anything daily. Whatever it is, it’s far better than nothing. Take a break. Get inspired by looking out the window, taking a walk. Observe, taking in everything. I prefer recording those notes on my mico-recorder. You may choose a small pad and pen.

Once you are refreshed, write down what you observed. The longer you don’t write -the more difficult it becomes, Write, write, write.

My micro-recorder and pocket-sized notebook are with me where ever I go. Not only have they been instrumental in keeping notes for ideas that are captured through my days journey but has done wonders in my readbacks. My nightstand have both, just in case.

Goals must be in short attainable steps, easily within your grasp. Otherwise they are useless and you won’t be able to determine if they’ve been met. As long as it’s realistic and attainable. It has to work for you. It’s great to have big dreams.

Don’t ever stop dreaming. But you need a plan with goals. Step by step to get there. Without a plan you go nowhere or you go in circles accomplishing nothing.

Have a writing plan, a goal. There are many free courses. out there if you help. Check these out first. My friends Rob Parnell and Judy Cullins are excellent sources of information.

Review your progress once a week to find. You will need to know if you are on schedule, ahead of schedule, or falling behind.

If your first three months haven’t brought you any closer to your goal, don’t waste another three, doing exactly the same thing! Revise accordingly. Be realistic. Goals are like maps, they guide you to where you wish to go. The beauty of goals they can be changed as needed.

Beware of Scams. Never pay to have your work read or published. They are to pay you.

Most poetry magazines do not pay. It’s sad but true. If an editor accepts your work, that’s fantastic. You are one more step closer to success.

Check businesses out with the Better Business Bureau. If a red flag goes up in your mind, listen to it. Remember anyone can hang a sign out saying they are such and such. But are they legitimate and honest?

NEVER give up your source of income. Keep your job. There are no guarantees in this writing profession as you are starting out. You will need food on the table, a roof over your head, heat to warm you in the cold of winter and air conditioning in the sweltering heat. You and your family come first. You know I’m being realistic.

It’s too easily to get side-tracked if your goals are unrealistic. Don’t listen to those sure fire secrets to success in many writing magazines and web search. They do offer up a hefty advice on writing ideas. But they fail to mention the strategies are not for everyone.

Beware of those writing magazine advertisements that try luring your monies out of your pocket into theirs. Hold tight to your dreams, goals, monies.

Writing classes could help you toward your long-term goals. Thoroughly investigate. Ask questions. Most importantly will they provide you the knowledge you seek? What are their credentials? How long have they been in business? Be careful when disclosing your personal information, especially online. Above all get everything in writing, signed receipts with dates.

So what Kind of writer do you wish to be?

First-timers sometimes negotiate their own book contract if they have no agent. It is advisable to get an agent. Contracts may range from three pages to fifteen pages or more. Much of what is within the contract simply states the rights of the author and publisher issues which may be negotiable are:

Advance. Royalties Various rights being sold and purchased. usually listed near the end of a contract.

To understand the basic language of the contract you should consult with a lawyer. Contracts are not always clearly written. Never sign anything you do not understand.

There are so many paths to choose in the field of writing. Do you picture yourself as a successful novelist? Writing the evening news? How about political speeches?

Are you interested in scientific journals or university magazines? Academic writing may be for you. When academic magazine writers are published, it is considered an honor. There’s no other pay for it.

Those articles help them keep their jobs as teachers, professors and/or scientists. The published articles or books are results of years of studies within the writers’ field, and can make or break careers. Aspiring writers should steer away from this type of work:

Article writers write short pieces on specific topics or news items. The market for write well-written articles are vast. Article writers can be freelancers or staff writers. Travel writers, food writers, medical writers are specialists on their topic and usually write for many magazines. Experienced writers with a deeply specialised knowledge can make a very good living in commercial, pro-level magazines.

Commercial newspapers and business magazines hire both freelancers and staff writers, for their Business Writing. Read by high-income readers. Business writing is considered well paid work, and there are many markets both on and off line.

Columnists follow and comment on trends rather than news. Columns are a staple item in newspapers, magazines and newsletters. The better class of columnists are syndicated with their columns appearing in hundreds of newspapers. Larger newspapers and magazines have staff journalists with an established name who provide the regular columns.

Copywriters are among the best-paid writers in the business. All marketing is written to sell the consumer something. Evoking the interest and enthusiasm about a product while retaining the readers’ trust. A dollar or more per word is quite attainable for average freelancers, and many copywriters are staff writers in marketing bureaus.

Erotica writers requires a lurid imagination with a handful of standard plots and formulaic scripts that most erotic stories follow. If the writing is very good, many may be on contract with advance royalties. They mostly work as freelancers.

Freelance writers do not make their living of one full-time writing engagement. Many beginning writers will find freelancing work a lot easier to get than staff writing positions, but only veterans working full time can make a decent living from it.

Game Writers create and write all of the surroundings,the plots, dialogue and characters used in a game. This is usually done with with a team. Larger game companies have staff writers, but most of the small studios selling game prototypes to the big companies engage freelancers.

Ghost writers write for other people as if they were these persons. The writer must plan the book with the client, perform a number of interviews, do research on the topic (in order to understand it) and be able to capture the client’s writing style. The work is challenging, requires substantial people skills and much patience — considerable rewrites are often necessary. Naturally, the ghostwriter is obliged not to reveal his or her work in the book.

Grant writers are copywriters in a class of their own. Specialised skill to write applications for grants from governmental and private institutions that hand out cash for various purposes. Requires knowledge of both law and business language.

Journalists are the writers read by the most people; working in the national and local newspapers and magazines that are read every day by millions of people. The one unbreakable rule: Keep the deadlines.

Many journalists are freelancers, Full time and experienced journalists, usually make a living. Part-timers can make a respectable side income.

Non-fiction book writing is like article writing. Requires fact research for accuracy.Most non-fiction writers work with a publisher one book at a time, just like novelists.

Novelists {authors} write fiction books that are approximately 200,000 words long for some genres; They must keep track of the progress of plots and each characters’ development. Requires an abundance of planning and patience.

Online writers are freelancers who do their writing for websites and e-zines. Unfortunately this vast market are based on getting work from authors for free. It is possible to make a modest living. It’s great for those just starting out. Remember to keep that day job to pay your bills with food and shelter.

Play writers: The number of beginning playwrights out numbers those who get are successful. Amateur theatre companies accepts the occasional manuscript, but there’s very little income in that. Radio is a market, if you can get in.. To get a play script accepted it is not essential to live in the right place But it is essential have the right connections in the theatre business.

Poetry doesn’t sell, here in the United States. Over seas, such as the United Kingdom the market is booming. Beware of contests where the top prize is an anthology that you are asked to purchase, Beware of anyone that ask money up front.

There are poetry websites and e-zines purchase the occasional poem for small sums, Unfortunately poetry writers can not make a living. Perhaps someday this could change. If enough of us got together and changed it.

Resume writers take the information given by the client, interview the client to find out further information. To focus on the clients most important accomplishments.

Reviewers must be informative and entertaining without repetitiveness.

Screen writers write scripts for motion pictures and television. Script acceptance is as difficult as getting a book published. Getting movie scripts accepted. That is why it is best to reside within the vicinity of the studios in order to be able to do changes during production. Networking is very important.

Song writers, Many musicians are songwriters as well. As with screenwriting, living close enough to the studios is important.

Speech writers. We know many leaders can’t write speeches for larger audiences. That’s why corporate heads and politicians depend on talented speechwriters to shape and liven up their messages into friendly speeches.

Staff writers are staffed by larger newspapers, magazines, marketing bureaus, publishing houses and companies with permanent needs for writing work. Staff writers are told what to write as well as not to write. Deadlines are extremely vital.

Story writers are freelance writers. Specialists in writing short tales of many genres of fiction. Before moving on to book-length stories, many well known authors began as story tellers.

Technical writers requires the expertise in the professional levels of knowledge in the relevant technology and product fields. Though often employed as staff writers in bigger companies, many easily find work as freelancers for small companies.

Translators are usually freelancers; exceptions happen in major news-publishing companies where translations must be done urgently. Becoming a professional translator sometimes requires a degree.

So whatever your choice in writing, be determined. Be dedicated. Don’t ever give up your dreams or goal. It’s a long road, paved with hard work and rejections. I’ll see you on the other side of the rainbow.

Keep writing, Keep on Smiling.

Writing songs on the keyboard or piano.

As a song writer, you will always end up with a method that works best for you, whether or not you learn the art of songwriting from a professional songwriter.

I can only speak from my own experience as far as songwriting is concerned, so for myself, playing the guitar and a little piano has helped a lot in my own personal style of songwriting.

For someone just starting out with songwriting, I would suggest buying a small keyboard to help get ideas down.

The nice thing about the piano or keyboard is that if you stick to the key of C, the chords are very easy to play.

Another very usable feature for writing songs on the keyboard is the auto accompaniment function. Setting a good beat and style for a song before you write it can work very nicely towards getting inspired.

A note of caution though, is to remember not to use the one finger feature when creating chords, as you won’t know what it is that you played.

Why I write songs on the guitar.

The main reason why I write songs on a guitar is because that’s my main instrument. Many people who play guitar, even if they are novices at it, somehow, like myself, seem to prefer it as a song writing tool.

As a fairly advanced guitarist, and I’m not trying to blow my own trumpet here, heck, I don’t even own a trumpet.

Okay, where was I now?

Oh yes, I can use guitar riffs, off beats and various other little music nuances to really get the song happening.

I guess what I’m trying to say is that it really helps to have a good mastery of the instrument when writing songs.

Be that as it may, the essence of a good song, and I’m talking from a commercial appeal point of view, is good melody, chords that sit nicely on the ear (no funny pictures please) and a good beat.

How to write lyrics.

Now this is the real scary part, mostly because a lot of people thing they are good lyricists, when in fact they aren’t.

I need to make a very clear distinction here between poetry and song lyrics. They are not the same.

The thing with song lyrics is that they don’t have to be that good, they still need to be meaningful though.

Good song lyrics communicate a feeling or concept in easily understandable words that have a tendency towards rhyme.

Writing lyrics for songs is a bit of a black art, if you ask me. Listen to the greatest lyricists of our time, and try to get a feel for what they did that was so powerful.

One thing that they do very effectively is communicate. Listen to Bob Dylan, he’s very clever and a natural.

Are you students sometimes bored in spite of your best efforts? Are you looking for some new and different techniques? Could you use a learning activity that would really wake them up? Would you like to get and keep the students’ interest? Even have them helping you? Then try this classroom-tested technique by using student-selected songs to teach listening comprehension.

Almost everyone loves music. It is a part of our language and life from before birth onwards. As babies, we hear lullabies. As young children we play, sing and dance to a myriad of nursery rhymes. As adolescents, we are consumed by the beat of popular music artists worldwide. As adults, every form of advertising we hear, every special event we experience, is in part, music. Music pervades television, movies, theater, and even the nightly news. When we exercise, when we work, when we play, when we worship and even when we die, music is there to reinforce or alter or every mood and emotion. A catchy tune is played, hummed or sung, at times in our head, as we go about our everyday lives. So, why not include music and songs in language learning as well?

Factors Contributing to Listening Comprehension of Song

• Use of new vocabulary, idioms and expressions – You’ll need to address the new material offered in each song. This includes grammar, vocabulary and usage.

• Pronunciation and accent of the singer – Every native speaker doesn’t pronounce or sing with the same accent. Students may be exposed to an accent which is outside the realm of what they might normally hear in context.

• Use of new grammar and structure Song writers and singers are notoriously “loose” when it comes to use of grammar, structure, pronunciation, stress and other language factors applied to songs. The teacher must prepare for this.

Three Principal Song Selection Criteria

1. Use songs that are popular with the students whenever possible. Unfortunately, students frequently select songs for classroom use which are objectionable in some way making the song unusable.

2. Songs MUST have clear and understandable lyrics. Nothing is worse than a song almost nobody can understand. If you have trouble understanding the lyrics by listening, then another song needs to be selected.

3. Songs should have an appropriate theme. There’s enough bad news, negativity and violence in the world already. Songs with any type of negative theme should be avoided. There are plenty of positive, upbeat, even humorous songs available. Use these.

Music pervades virtually every aspect of our lives

Music pervades virtually every aspect of our lives. Students adore it. It contains numerous useful elements for language teaching and it’s fun for both the teacher and students. So, why not include music and songs in your language learning classes as well?