How to Write Songs—4 Ways to Start a Song

Never stare at a blank page again! In this video, we go through 4 of our favourite 'go to' methods for starting a song, on any day, regardless of how inspired we are feeling.

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The question I—and most—songwriters get asked is, "Do you write the music or lyrics first?" The short answer is, of course, both. BUT! There are so many different ways to start a lyric, and so many different musical on-ramps into a song. Here, Keppie and Benny have picked 4 of their favourite ways to get a song started, and show how they have translated into original songs.

CONTENTS:
00:00 - Intro
00:26 - #1 Sense Writing
01:46 - #2 Writing from a Title
03:47 - #3 Borrow Chords
05:42 - Stealing Like an Artist
06:31 - #4 Random Inputs
07:56 - Ryan Adams' 'Stacks' method
10:13 - Keppie sings 'The Money I Gave to You'
12:09 - Summary

VIDEO NOTES:
Random noun generator: https://perchance.org/concrete-noun
See examples of Sense Writes here: https://kcsongstudio.com/2022/01/01/e...
'Steal Like an Artist', by Austin Kleon: https://austinkleon.com/steal/
Watch Billy Collins read 'The Lanyard' (it's brilliant..):    • Billy Collins - The Lanyard  

MUSIC REFERENCES:
"Even When I'm Sleeping", by Leonardo's Bride: https://tinyurl.com/22tsx6rn
'Last Call', by Keppie Coutts: https://tinyurl.com/2p8essts
'The Money I Gave to You', by Keppie Coutts: https://keppiecoutts.bandcamp.com/tra...

SOME MORE FROM ME:

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We can be buddies on socials here:
  / keppiecoutts  
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My own music is here:
https://www.keppiecouttsmusic.com/music

ABOUT ME:

I'm Keppie. I'm a professional songwriter, and songwriting teacher. I've been teaching song and lyric writing for over 10 years now for some of the best contemporary music colleges in the world. I teach for the Berklee College of Music (online, from beautiful Sydney, Australia), for the Sydney Conservatorium of Music's Open Academy, as well as for the Australian College of the Arts. At other times, I've taught for the Australian Institute of Music, as well as the LA School of Songwriting.

My goal is to help people write better songs! My experience in the classroom, with thousands of students at this point (many going on to find careers and success in music), is that your songwriting, like all things, can get better with meaningful, deliberate practice. My intention is to share the skills, knowledge, information, and ideas that I've gathered with anyone who wants to improve their songwriting.

ABOUT BENNY:

Aside from being a killer lapslide players, Benny is a core member of one of Australia's best and most bearded country-bluegrass-rock bands, The Green Mohair Suits. Benny writes songs, as well as instrumental music for advertising, games, audio and visual media. He has taught song and lyric writing in Australia for the JMC Academy, and the Australian Institute of Music.

The Green Mohair Suits: https://greenmohairsuits.bandcamp.com...
Ben Romalis: http://www.silamor.com/music

MUSIC IN THIS VIDEO:

'The Money I Gave to You', by...me! You can listen to it here: https://open.spotify.com/track/6c7DSJ...

#howtowritesongs
#songwriting
#howtowritelyrics
#austinkleon
#steallikeanartist
#leonardosbride
#evenwhenimsleeping
#billycollins
#ryanadams