Photo by Adrian F

This is a guest post from Rob Oxoby.

Like anything, songwriting improves as one practices one’s craft. Practicing songwriting can often be a daunting task not only because it seems odd as a concept (What is the difference between practicing songwriting and being creative by actually engaging in the process of songwriting?) but also because it requires admitting that your own songwriting needs improvement.

Many times, once we write something we have a hard time letting it go, admitting that it needs complete rewriting or that may just not be that good to want a live performance or recording. Many years ago, I read somewhere that Charlotte Cafferty (then guitarist of the Go-Go’s) wrote hundreds of songs that never saw life beyond her notebook. She viewed these is not good enough for live performance and use them as examples to learn and practice what worked and what didn’t work.

Personally, for every 10 songs or so I write, one makes it in front of a band; and for every five that I bring to the band, one makes it to a live performance or recording. While this may suggest that I’m extremely prolific or just plain suck at writing, I take a different view: In a sense, all those bad songs I write are practice for the good songs I write.

In any event, admitting that a song you have written requires rewriting/retooling/rejecting can be difficult. Sometimes when I’m just not in the mood to rework my own material, I turn to the work of others. My approach is this: How many times has a song you don’t particularly like gotten stuck in your head? It happens to me all the time. Sometimes I wake up in the morning and one of my kids’ favorite songs is stuck in my head. Sometimes I (inadvertently) hear a song by an artist I don’t like, only to have the song repeat over and over again in my head throughout the day. There must be something about these songs that makes them “stick.” So, I use these songs as material to practice my songwriting. Literally, I take these songs and start rewriting them, taking them apart to figure out what makes them tick and why they are so catchy. At the same time, I’m honing my own skills with melody, harmony and rhythm.

Deconstructing a Hit

When practicing songwriting, it’s useful to think about what it is that makes these songs (perhaps regrettably) so memorable. Is it the melody? Is it the artist’s phrasing? Is it the rhythm or chord progression? As such, rewriting an existing song can serve several important purposes:

1. By dissecting and rewriting an existing song you can learn a great deal about what makes its melody catchy or its rhythm addictive. I often take an existing song and try to change one aspect (e.g., melody rhythm progression) while keeping everything else constant. This allows me to see how, say, the artist phrasing works within a melodic or harmonic structure. Sometimes I keep the melody and try to change the chords or rhythm in order to understand how a seemingly catchy melody can be supercharged by the right rhythm and harmony to create a monster you can’t get out of your head. Through this, you learn what works and what doesn’t for more general songwriting.

2. This type of work also gives you an opportunity to step outside of your genre. Maybe you can take that goofy Carrie Underwood song about cheating and turn it into a mambo? Maybe you can really stretch out an do what these guys did, converting a Brittany Spears song into a fugue. By stepping out of your genre and writing something really different, you open yourself up to new ways of conceptualizing a song. You hear new rhythms and phrases that may spark ideas for your own original material.

3. Finally, by working from an existing song you are not only learning from an example of a “successful” song, but you’re also practicing your own craft. In re-writings say a Beyonce song or something from the soundtrack to bear in the Big Blue House, it’s impossible for you not to interject your own ideas and style. As such, your songwriting, arranging, and your toolkit of songwriting tricks and ideas can only get better.

Rob Oxoby

robbyoxoby@gmail.com

I bought my first Mac five years ago because of GarageBand, and it’s the best thing I ever did for my music. This amazing tool allows singer-songwriters from Ari Hest to Fallout Boy use it for everything from song sketches to full-blown final recordings.

In this post I’m going to show you how to setup your own songwriting templates in GarageBand so you can be ready to rock whenever the muse hits you. Pre-made templates will help you overcome writer’s block and are much more efficient than starting every song completely from scratch.

Musical Building Blocks

Whenever I sit down for a songwriting session I use one of my songwriting templates. Most songwriters agree that writing on a regular basis is the best way to improve and generate consistent creative material. That said, if you have an easy to use process you’ll probably write more music. Using templates allows you to quickly capture your ideas and give your muse a home.

I usually compose first on the guitar or sing right into my laptop. As soon as I come up with a rough melody, I record it directly using my laptop’s built-in mic and a click track. I have a very modest setup in a spare bedroom, so it doesn’t make sense to break out the condenser mic and baffles when I’m just sketching ideas.

If an idea sounds like it has legs, I’ll build a rhythm section around it. Once that’s fleshed out I’ll go back in later and record separate guitar and/or vocal tracks using my best recording gear.  Read more about recording with scratch tracks.

Why Songs Need Structure

According to Robin Frederick, author of Shortcuts to Hit Songwriting, most hit songs follow one of the following three structures:

• Verse Verse Bridge Verse (AABA)
• Verse Chorus Bridge (ABABCB)
• Verse Pre-Chorus Chorus Bridge (AaBAaBCB)

While you can create endless variations on them, these three basic forms provide the overall building blocks of popular music. They help carry the listener from the beginning to the end of your song. Even better, they are time tested and proven in the marketplace.

Creating templates that follow one or all three of these forms is a snap in GarageBand. The latest version, part of iLife ’09, has a built-in songwriting template, but it doesn’t follow any standard songwriting forms. Here’s how you can build your own custom templates no matter which version of GarageBand you currently own.

Open A New Song

The first template we’ll make is in the Verse/Verse/Bridge/Verse form, or AABA. If you have the latest version of GarageBand, click on “Songwriting” to open the default songwriting template. If you have an older version, simply open a new song file and use the default key and tempo. You can change these later if you need to.

The default songwriting template opens with several pre-defined tracks. You get a place to record vocals, guitar, piano, bass and drums. I further customize it for female vocals, change the guitar track to a new basic track for my own guitar, change the piano track to rock organ, and add my own click track loop. If you have an older version of GarageBand you’ll need to insert these tracks as appropriate. When you’re done, save the new file as “verse_verse”, or “AABA”.

Set Up Your Structure

Next we’ll set up the structure of the song using the “Arrange Track” feature available in GarageBand ’08 and beyond. If you have an older version of the software, you can do this by splitting and naming your click track into each section as described below.

First create a 2-bar count-in by clicking on “Arrange Track” and pulling it out two measures. Then add a 4-bar intro. Now you’re ready to follow the AABA form. Simply click “Arrange Track” again until you’ve added two 8-bar verses, one 8-bar bridge, and one final 8-bar final verse. Make sure you name each section. Save the file and bam – you’ve made your first template.

Now let’s create the Verse/Chorus/Bridge form. Re-save your AABA file as “verse_chorus” or something similar. In the “Arrange Track” mode, rename verse 2 of the original file to “chorus”. Then add another verse and chorus before the bridge. Save this file and you’ve made your second template.

Finally, to create the Verse/Pre-Chorus/Chorus form, re-save the second template to a new file. Add a 4-bar pre-chorus section in between the first and second 8-bar choruses. Save the file again and you now have three custom templates ready to go.

Tune Up and Have Fun

One last tip – always make sure your guitars and other instruments are properly tuned up before you hit that red button. I’ve made that mistake before and it’s a pain to re-do stuff that may have had a certain magic on that first or second take. Make your life easier by making getting in tune the first time around.

GarageBand will open up all sorts of opportunities for your music. Try it out yourself. Download the sample templates below or create your own. Most importantly, remember to have fun. Happy Songwriting!

Download GarageBand Templates

This idea has bounced around my mind for years as a dedicated songwriter, musician, and composer. How do people with no musical training hear music? It sounds like a strange question at first, but I believe they hear music from a totally different perspective. As a musician myself, I can only guess what that perspective may be like. It’s certainly something to ponder as we try and create music that is universally appreciated.

How Musicians Hear Music

First, let me tackle how we as musicians, songwriters, audio engineers, producers hear and digest music. It seems to me that we process several components of music at once. We are aware of the mechanics that go into creating and performing music, so we have an idea of what it must be like to be the one performing the song we’re listening to.

For example, I am first and foremost a guitarist. I have been studying and playing guitar for over 15 years. When I listen to a song with a guitar part, I’m aware of how that guitar part is being played. The picture in my mind is of the guitarist’s hands and picking style. I think about the type of guitar the performer is playing. What type of amp it’s running through. Which effects pedals are being used. I may not know the exact answers to these questions, but these are the things I’m thinking about as I listen to the song.

Audio engineers listen to music in a different way than most. During my years in audio engineering school, many of my classmates and professors would tell me that they hear music in a completely new light now that they are trained in audio production theory. Some even say they wish they could be back to before their training so that they could truly appreciate a good song before deconstructing it’s production value. Audio engineers are focused on the frequency response of the recording. They hear the bass, treble, and mid-range response. They’re listening to the dynamics and the compression being employed. The depth and subtle nuances of the overall listening experience.

How about songwriters? Songwriters can appreciate a well-written song just as anybody else can. But they’re focused on what exactly it is that makes it a well-written song. They hear the lyrical poetry, the chord structure, the arrangement of instruments, the sequence of the parts, and everything that goes into crafting a great song. Since this is primarily what they do, they are more sensitive to the mechanics of creating what they’re listening to.

How Non-Musicians Hear Music

I really can’t speak with any true authority here, since I myself am a musician. But I have a strong hunch that non-musicians do hear music in a very different way than we as musicians hear it. Maybe I’ll never truly grasp what the experience must be like to listen with an un-trained ear, but I have a few educated guesses on the subject.

Lyrics are king when it comes to popular songs. When I hear my non-musician friends comment on a song, they are almost always commenting on the lyrics. The lyrics are probably the most accessible component of a song to a non-musician, because poetry can be universally appreciated without any training. They can immediately grasp the meaning behind what went into the song through the lyrics.

The beat is another big component to the universal appreciation of a song. This is especially true when talking about live music. Many concert goers will spend a good portion of their time watching the drummer, because let’s be honest, the drummer is usually the most exciting and energetic person on stage. The beat can determine the overall mood of the song, the mood, the crowd, etc.

Non-musicians hear and appreciate an interesting chord progression or riff, but in a different way than we as musicians do. I get the feeling that non-musicians will be touched by the chords or riffs but not necessarily realize that it’s the chords and riffs which struck a chord (no pun intended) somewhere inside them. They don’t know why they love this song, they just do.

So What?

If it’s true that musicians and non-musicians hear music totally differently, there is nothing wrong with that. In fact, that’s what makes music so interesting as a general phenomenon. It hits us all in a different way for different reasons and at different moments in our life. It’s the truest universal language which can speak volumes about an emotion with a single key stoke, vocal melody, or drum beat.

Let finish this post with one of my all-time favorite lyrics:

One good thing about music
when it hits you
you feel no pain.