Intuitive Songwriting

The Hallmark of Creativity

I believe that intuitive songwriting is the hallmark of my creativity as a songwriter. With hundreds of songs in my back-catalogue, and no end in sight to the flood of song ideas I always have, these intuitive songwriting methods I’m going to teach you have proven to be the most reliable and effective approach to songwriting I know. And throughout my observations over the years, I’ve learned just how many other legendary songwriters have also mastered the art of intuitive songwriting, so you’re in very good company here!

The Creative Source of All Things

Author, spiritual guru and “light worker,” Gabrielle Bernstein recently stated in her “Spirit Junkies Masterclass” that "The presence of fear is a sure sign that you're relying on your own strength. A sure sign that we have disconnected from the presence of our power, it is a sure sign that we have disconnected from the connection that we have to spirit.”

So why am I kicking this lesson off with a sermon on fear? Because...

Your Musical Roots

I’ve come to understand a lot of common pain points for songwriters at all different stages of the game. For example, a lot of people struggle with writer’s block, feel challenged by writing melodies they like, or simply feel bored or stagnant with songwriting altogether. So before we get really hands-on, I’d like you to do some initial exploring or recalibrating with your own creative muse and take a closer look at your musical roots...

If you’re not already writing songs habitually, you might feel like you have a long way to go before you’d ever consider yourself a prolific songwriter. In this lesson, I’ll be introducing some foundational methods that you can apply immediately so that this concept doesn’t feel so out of reach. You might even end up sparking more song ideas and writing more songs than you know what to do with (this is a good thing, and I’ll show you why)...

Survey Your Tribe

One of your assignments this week is to survey your closest friends, family and fans about how they really feel about your music. This will require you to be extremely vulnerable with your close inner circle, but it’s essential if you want to understand how other people perceive your music. Other people see you differently than you’ll ever see yourself. Therefore, it’s safe to assume they also hear your music differently than you’ll ever be able to hear yourself. It’s impossible to be as objective about ourselves as we can be about others, so as scary as this might feel to some people, it can be extremely transformational to your songwriting if you allow yourself to be open to feedback...

Song-Sparking Challenge

This week, try as many of the song-sparking methods I’m about to demonstrate in the next two videos. Incorporate them into your daily songwriting process throughout the course of this week. Collect as many ideas as you can on your voice recorder until you have 2-3 ideas you are genuinely excited about revisiting as potential ideas to further develop. They don’t have to be lengthy ideas – just a spark of an idea that you feel has some real potential...

Song-Sparking Challenge

This week, try as many of the song-sparking methods I’m about to demonstrate in the next two videos. Incorporate them into your daily songwriting process throughout the course of this week. Collect as many ideas as you can on your voice recorder until you have 2-3 ideas you are genuinely excited about revisiting as potential ideas to further develop. They don’t have to be lengthy ideas – just a spark of an idea that you feel has some real potential! Each week moving forward will focus on a new aspect of our songwriting development until we have each created a new song we are extremely proud of!

How to spark your best song ideas without instrumentation

Let’s circle back to the understanding that what makes your ideas original is your unique perspective. In the following video demonstrations, we will put our unique perspective to the test and explore some great ways to spark some great ideas without any instrumentation. And by we I mean me :) I encourage you to watch the video above to really see these methods in action, but here’s a brief synopsis...

How to spark your best song ideas with instrumentation

In the following video demonstrations, we will continue to put our unique perspective to the test and explore some great ways to spark some great ideas with the help of instrumentation. These three methods are incredibly effective, and you don’t need to be an experienced piano player or guitar player in order to put them to good use. I encourage you to watch the video above to really see these methods in action, but here’s a brief synopsis of them...

I hope you’re already seeing some exciting results from some of these song-sparking methods. What’s proving to be effective for you, and where are you struggling with some of these methods? I’d love for you to let me know in the comments section!

100 Good Songs = 10 Brilliant Songs

Let’s think preliminarily about what you might like to do with your songwriting once this course is over. Are you planning to record your next (or first) single, EP, or full-length album? Are you looking to create some basic demo recordings in the end to pitch to other artists or projects? Or are you simply looking to create some basic demo recordings to just keep all to yourself? I’d love to hear your answers...

The Power of Song

I can’t think of a more powerful and convincing argument than what the following video demonstrates about the undeniable importance of music. So if you’re still doubting yourself as a songwriter for any reason at all, or wondering if it will even make any difference in the world, then this lesson is going to change your perspective once and for all! Watch “Alive Inside” until the end and you will understand the impact your songs can have on another person...

Music Before Lyrics

In John Pape’s “Learn How To Write Songs” songwriting blog, John conducted a songwriting poll over the course of several months to find out how songwriters start their songwriting process. He learned that most songwriters start with lyrics first, followed by writing a chord progression, and in third place was starting with a melody...

Let’s start by focusing your attention on whatever one (1) song idea you are the most excited about from last week’s song-sparking sessions, and continue to build it out into a semi-completed “first draft” of a song throughout the week. The goal for this lesson is to expand upon your song idea and transform it into an amazing melody for just one (1) designated section of your song-in-progress (verse, pre-chorus, chorus, bridge, etc). We’re going to take things one section at a time to help build more clarity and direction around the central theme of your developing song...

Now that you have an emerging theme and a great melody section to work with (verse, pre-chorus, chorus, bridge, etc.), let’s use this section to help further develop your theme and tell a compelling story. Try collecting any theme-related ideas in an Evernote notebook of its own so you can refer back at any time and potentially pull from any existing ideas as you go along...

Now that you have a concrete initial theme and a solid song section you’re genuinely excited about moving forward with, you can start to craft additional sections to help organize your song and tell more of your story. We’ve been talking about the development of strong melodies and a working theme, so in this lesson we’ll continue to develop various song sections and focus on a song structure that will have the greatest impact on your listener...

Lyrics That Matter

In Steven Pressfield’s latest book, “Nobody Wants To Read Your Sh*t,” Pressfield explains, “When you understand that nobody wants to read your shit, you develop empathy. You acquire the skill that is indispensable to all artists and entrepreneurs—the ability to switch back and forth in your imagination from your own point of view as writer/painter/seller to the point of view of your reader/gallery-goer/customer. You learn to ask yourself with ev­ery sentence and every phrase...

Now that you have a better understanding of the lyrics that already resonate deeply with you from the songs you already love, let’s take a look at seven (7) great ways to jumpstart the lyric writing process so that you can write more captivating lyrics than you ever have before...

Experiment with Pronunciation and Inflection

Words themselves have a natural rhythm and inflection to them when you speak them, but it’s not always the rhythm or inflection you’re looking for up against your melody. For example, in Anais Mitchell’s "Young Man In America," she uses an alternative pronunciation for the word “America” in order to create a unique and interesting rhyme sequence...

One of the most powerful tools in your lyricist tool belt is the use of metaphors. For beginner songwriters, metaphors can sometimes come across as cheesy or sounding too cliche, but when this is administered well, it can be a defining aspect of your song and an anchor for your listener. Get into the mindset of being as descriptive and poetic as you can be with your lyrics...

Sometimes the power of good song lyrics is all in the simplicity of being really honest – and the truth is often sophistication enough. The most compelling songwriting always focuses on an honest storyline first, and everything else is secondary...

Your Creative Critic

There are different ways we could describe our internal critic. We could call it our ego, our judgemental side, or even our darker side. Sometimes our inner critic can take over and sabotage everything we love as we hold ourselves hostage from crippling fear, doubts, and insecurities. Our inner critic can certainly be our worst enemy at times, but it can also be our best friend in creativity. I prefer to call it our “creative critic” because it can be one of our greatest songwriting assets – especially throughout the final stages...

Earlier in the course, we talked about the importance of your right brain taking the lead in your creative process. A lot of creative people get hung up when they are letting their left brains lead the way, and they often do this without even realizing. That’s when they experience writer’s block or lose interest altogether in their craft, because they are trying to think their way through their creative process instead of feel their way through. Hopefully you’ve learned throughout this course that when it comes to creativity, the right brain should always be your first order of business. This is why we’ve followed the music-before-lyrics method in this course. If you look back at each phase of the Intuitive Songwriting process, you’ll see that we started out by allowing our right brain to do most of the work, and have gradually introduced our left brain to help fine-tune everything. I believe this is effective because the more confident you become with the creative direction of your song, the easier it is for your left brain to help out in ways that are constructive instead of destructive...

Now that you’ve honed your critiquing skills, it’s time to take your melody a giant step forward and transform it from a strong melody to masterful melody. Never assume that your first attempt at writing a melody is your final attempt because it can always be stronger with the help of your creative critic...

Now that you’ve crafted a masterful melody and powerful song lyrics, it’s time to take those lyrics a giant step forward and transform them from meaningful to masterful. Never assume that your first attempt at writing lyrics is your final draft because they can always be better with the help of your creative critic...