Bone Pile
The bone pile is a gruesome place. It’s where a good song idea goes to die when it is too painful to actually write. It’s where a particularly poetic line […]
Bad Songs
If you want to write a good song, there is one thing that you must do first. You must get very comfortable writing bad songs. Be proud of your mediocre […]
Backwards Process
When writing a song, you can start with a melody or some words. That’s it. Those are the only two options. Most songwriters have a preference. If you are a […]
My Forgotten Valentine
Broken and Beautiful – part 1 I wrote a song on Valentine’s Day in 2013. I vividly remember writing the song. It was a very emotional process and it felt […]
Unusual Wikipedia
Songwriting Secrets #1 A song idea can be gleaned from some really weird sources. One of my favorite places to look for the spark of an idea is called Unusual […]
Sad Song Series
I love sad songs. I am a happy, optimistic kind of guy. But there is just something about a truly sad song that can hit you way deep down. I […]
Tuesdays are for Songwriting
For a while, I’ve been blocking out time on Tuesdays for songwriting. A lot of songwriters stress the importance of writing every day. That has never been a routine that […]
Songwriting Season Has Ended
I love the classic bit with Bugs Bunny and Daffy Duck where they argue with Elmer Fudd. “Duck season!” “Wabbit season!” “Duck season!” “Wabbit season!” I’ve been feeling the seasonal […]
Ghosts – An Idea
I had an idea for a song way back in December of 2020. It was a groove on the ukulele and a notion about ghosts. I regularly played the groove […]
Never Underestimate a Good Title
If a song is worth anything, it will stick in your craw without any help or reinforcement. A good song shouldn’t need to be written down. As I am aging, […]
A Bunch of Songs
I have written six new songs in three months. I don’t know how it compares to other songwriters but for me it is a respectable rate. I’m talking about six […]
Words
I am not good at nonverbal communication. With other people, I just don’t recognize it and I rarely translate it correctly. Also, regarding my own body language, it has been […]