Serve The Song

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Unless you’re an established working songwriter, chances are good that songwriting is something you do in your spare time. Whether you’re doing it for fun, to complete an album or EP project, or you hope to win a Grammy one day, it’s important to establish a regular writing routine. But how can you do it in the midst of a day job, band, family responsibilities and walking the dog? In this post I’ll give you five strategies to help you block out distractions so you can effectively focus on following your dream.

1. Get Up An Hour Earlier

You’ve heard this one before, but it really works. Steven Memel, an L.A. voice/performance coach and author of the Science of Switching On, encouraged me to do this and it has made a huge difference. I give myself enough time to make a cup of coffee and grab something to eat, then make sure I’m in my studio writing by 6:30 am. I wish it didn’t have to be so early, but it’s the only way I’ve found to protect my precious writing time from work/family interruptions and distractions. The great news is I seem to be most creative during this time, and have come up with over 50 song ideas within a month. Now I just gotta finish some of ‘em.

2. Find A Dedicated Place To Write

It really helps with consistency if you write in the same place each day. Hopefully you have a home studio, but even if you don’t, a desk or kitchen table will do. Wherever you write, make sure your writing tools are handy, which may include pen, paper and a pocket recorder. If you’re a regular Serve The Song reader you’ve probably heard me talk about the importance of having a dedicated creative space before. It’s critical if you want to establish any kind of regular writing routine. Find a place in your home that is off limits to family, friends and any other distractions such as TV, computer or phone. Make it a special gift you give yourself to make time to write there every day.

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Cliff Goldmacher is a songwriter, producer, session musician, engineer, author and owner of recording studios in Nashville, TN and Sonoma, CA. Cliff’s site, http://www.EducatedSongwriter.com, is full of resources for the aspiring songwriter and his company, http://www.NashvilleStudioLive.com, provides songwriters outside of Nashville with virtual access to Nashville’s best session musicians and singers for their songwriting demos.

You can download a FREE sample of Cliff’s eBook “The Songwriter’s Guide To Recording Professional Demos” by going to http://www.EducatedSongwriter.com/ebook.

Why do professional recordings sound, well…professional? There are a number of reasons, including high quality microphones, pre-amps, an experienced engineer and a well-designed studio space. One of the single most important elements in a great-sounding, professional recording is the performance of the session musicians. There is a reason that the job of the session musician exists. It’s these musicians whose talent and studio experience contribute in a major way to the polished sound of a recording. In this article I’ll show you how using session musicians specifically applies to songwriting demos.

Shouldn’t I Be Able To Do This Myself?

While I am a big proponent of wearing as many hats as you can in your musical career, there are certain areas where it makes much better sense to rely on experts. First of all, it’s extremely important that you take ego out of the equation. There is no shame in having someone else play on your demo.

Remember that a songwriting demo is supposed to put your song in the best possible light in order to “sell” it to prospective artists or place it in films and TV shows. It is not supposed to be proof of your studio musicianship. Recording your instrument in the studio requires an entirely different skill set than playing live.

For lack of a better description, studio recording is more like music surgery than a musical performance. While you might be comfortable playing guitar in your living room or even on a stage in front of hundreds of people, it’s an entirely different ballgame to sit in a four by six-foot booth wearing headphones and listening to a clicking sound. Giving a note-perfect, dynamic and in-time performance in this kind of unnatural setting requires a special set of skills.

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Mary freezing on the beach, but loving the Traveler Guitar!

The Traveler Guitar Ultra-Light is the smallest, lightest full scale travel guitar around. It’s an ideal solution for the home studio songwriter/music producer who is pressed for space or needs an option for mobile recording. With its solid maple body and shadow piezo pickup, this tough little axe lets you write and record anywhere in the world. We took the steel version for a test drive and were very impressed with the results.

In Tune Out Of The Box

Besides their small size and sound, my biggest frustration with travel guitars has been keeping them in tune. This is no problem for the Traveler Guitar Ultra-Light. The guitar actually arrived in tune out of the box, which was quite an achievement. Like any new guitar, it took about a day for the new strings to settle into the icy New England climate where I live. That was over a week ago and the guitar has stayed in tune ever since.

When the guitar first arrived I was shocked by how small it is. I put it next to my Washburn concert acoustic and was floored by the difference between the two instruments. Despite its seemingly tiny size, the Traveler Guitar Ultra-Light is full scale at 24 3/4 inches and weighs less than 3 pounds. That said, it takes a little getting used to when you first play it. There’s no head stock or guitar body to hold against you as you play, so it feels a little weird even with the lap rest attachment.

The guitar also has a strap pin that doubles as the input for the piezo pickup so you can play standing up. But be careful. After a lot of playing, the strap pin can occasionally loosen and cause an annoying buzz. But it’s easy enough to tighten once you know the source of the noise.

Road Worthy and Travel-Friendly

The Traveler Guitar Ultra-Light comes with a high quality gig bag that stood up quite well to a weekend road trip with my family, including my 12 year-old Labrador retriever. I’ve never been comfortable cramming sensitive instruments into a fully packed car, so it was really nice not to worry about it for a change.

The Ultra-Light also fits in the standard overhead bin of most airlines. This is a huge benefit for traveling musicians who hate to put the fate of their beloved instruments into the hands of baggage claim personnel.

Recording With The Traveler Guitar Ultra-Light

When we arrived at our destination I broke out my backpack recording studio and set to work writing and producing a new song. The piezo pickup in the Traveler Guitar Ultra-Light is exactly like the one installed on my Guild D-25 acoustic guitar and does a great job. You will need to play with your recording system’s EQ settings to get the tone where you want it. I found it to be a little tinny without some help, but once I found the sweet spot everything sounded fine.

Even though this guitar is meant specifically for acoustic music, I wanted to see how it might sound with some stomp box effects and was very pleased with the results. It won’t replace your Fender Strat, but you can capture ideas quickly and easily. The two mp3s at the end of this post feature 1) a full song written, recorded and produced in my father-in-law’s guest room, and 2) a test recording using a few stomp box effects. Both were recorded using the Traveler Guitar Ultra-Light Steel, the Apogee One and GarageBand.

Playing Outside

Next, it was time to take the Traveler Guitar Ultra-Light out in the open air. The company proudly displays pictures of the guitar at the top of Mount Everest, so I wanted to see what it would be like to play it on a frozen Cape Cod beach, mostly because I’m nuts and should have written this review during the summer.

We drove out to one of our favorite spots and I grabbed the Traveler Guitar Ultra-Light. It was a surreal experience. I can’t count the number of times I’ve wished I had my guitar with me in a beautiful, inspiring place such as the beach or mountains. Now it’s a no brainer.

Great For Practice Anytime

With the Traveler Guitar Ultra-Light Steel I found myself practicing guitar more in the last week than I have in the last year. I don’t know if it’s because this guitar is just so easy to have around, I wasn’t afraid of waking up the family late at night or I was just struck by its novelty factor. It doesn’t matter. My hands are sore and my pentatonics rip again!

Kids Like It Too

Another plus is how kid-friendly this Traveler Guitar is. My seven year-old wanted to play it immediately, which was a shock since she hasn’t touched her own half-size guitar in over a year. She had a blast playing this full-scale instrument and may now actually ask me to teach her to play for real. I can hardly contain my joy.

Summary

Overall, the Traveler Guitar Ultra-Light Steel is an excellent songwriting, recording and traveling companion. Learn more about their entire line of travel guitars at www.travelerguitar.com.

Traveler Guitar Ultra-Light Steel test recordings:

Going Sane

Traveler Test

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Rewriting a song means accepting that the beautiful inspiration you just poured out of your soul might need some extra work. It takes courage, humility and patience to rewrite a song effectively. Here are 10 reasons why rewriting your latest song is a good idea.

1. New, Better Ideas Are Waiting To Be Discovered

It’s a wonderful feeling when you’ve just written a brand new song. There’s really nothing else like it. But have you ever noticed that you need to take time to learn it, just like when you’re adding a cover song to your set list? Rehearsing your new song often gives you an opportunity to make improvements and polish it further by making the lyrics more singable or the music more fluid.

2. You’ve Got A Great Chorus But Weak Verse/Pre-chorus

You want to make your song as strong as it can possibly be. So don’t settle for verses or a pre-chorus that don’t properly setup your amazing chorus and hook line. Keep working on these elements until they leave listeners begging for the chorus.

3. Your Chorus Doesn’t Payoff

Your verses and/or pre-chorus work hard to setup your chorus, so make sure there’s a solid payoff when you launch into it. If not, revisit it and tweak it until it’s worth listening to. How do you do it? Try to make it as punchy and memorable as you can, in a way that clearly connects it to the material that came before it.

4. Bridge Over Troubled Water

The purpose of a bridge is usually to give your listeners a break in the action and provide a re-cap of the overall storyline. Not all songs need a bridge, so if yours isn’t working to support the overall song it may be best to edit it out. At the end of the day everything needs to point to and support a memorable chorus/hook.

5. A Chance To Improve Your Production Values

Sometimes after you’ve spent long hours toiling away on your latest creation it pays to come back a little later with fresh ears. For example, when you listen to a mix after one or two days away you may discover a great opportunity to tighten the bass and guitar, or find just the right way to let the vocal sit in the mix without dominating the other instruments.

6. Addition or Subtraction Equals Better Songs

Along the lines of number five above, intentionally adding and subtracting production elements can really draw the listener in and make a good song sound great. See if there are places where adding or subtracting instruments or vocals might add more emotional intensity to your song. You want to maximize every chance to connect with your listener and this is a great way to do it.

7. Add More Contrast

Do you have enough contrast between your verses, chorus and bridge? How do the chord progressions change? If they are too much alike the lister will lose interest. Make a clear distinction so listeners know which part of your song is playing at any given moment.

8. Prosody Wins The Day

Loosely defined, prosody has to do with how everything fits together in your song to communicate your message. In very broad terms, if you are writing a happy song you want your music and lyrics to sound happy. If your lyrics are sad, the music should also communicate sadness. Each part of your song works together to reinforce everything else. If your breakup song sounds like “If You’re Happy And You Know It” you may want to consider a rewrite.

9. An Unexpected Collaborator Makes A Great Suggestion

You may play your new song for a colleague who in turn makes a great suggestion that totally improves the quality of the original composition. This is quite often one of the best reasons to rewrite a song.

10. You Just Need A Fresh Start

Sometimes an old dog just doesn’t want to hunt and it’s best to walk away for a while. Come back later with a fresh head and see what you can come up with. After all, Rome wasn’t built in a day.

Your Turn

What are your best reasons to rewrite your song? Please leave your thoughts in the comments.