Song writing

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The Songwriters Starter - part 4  

How to improve it - Forget it for a month!

Finally you have got something that you are really proud of and you want to share it.  Well nothing new here just follow the tips in my article 'Arranging, mixing, multitracking and recording your music'.  It is a good idea now to put your song away for a month.  Bury it in the bottom of a drawer.  Forget it.  Move on to your next song.  When you bring it out again you will be surprised at how much you think you can improve it.  You have had a month of extra practice and what you thought was stupendously good will now seem quite ordinary.  So now you start re working it and polishing it up.

Lift it above the ordinary It is easy for us to get stuck in our comfort zone.  Those new to the keyboards love the key of C.   Perhaps they have ventured into F and G and they just love all of the associated chords.  How about doing something drastic.  Change the key! 'Yesterday' by Paul McCartney is probably the most recorded piece of music EVER.  It has over 40 cover versions but I bet most people would play the chords C, E, Am, G, F and so on.  Do you know the actual chords used in the original version?  I think if you got a copy of the original score you would find some pretty obscure chords.  (The Beatles were well known for using obscure chords that nobody else could play which might explain why they created some cool harmonies).

My point is that if you have found a nice chord progression to use in you new piece could you upgrade those chords to include whatever was in the original music - not just the easy play version.  It will still be the same progression - just a better chord.

If your song is a light, airy, tender love song why not play it in the key of E flat?

If it is sombre and sad why not play it in the key of D flat?

This pulls you out of your comfort zone and you have to learn some new chords but you will find that it is not as hard as you might  think.  Your music will rise above the ordinary to become spectacular.  'Learn To Play Keyboard' has some great info for how to change from one key signature to another with a transposition chart to help you and  'ChordFinder' explains fully the chords used in each key signature with some great suggestions for progressions.

Getting heard

These competitions will accept any home recorded demo.  They are looking for songwriting ability - not superior recording ability.

Critiques are useful but it has been said that you will never get a bad critique because they want you to send more stuff to them.  This is so but it is possible to read between the lines.  If you are told that your chord selection is excellent then you can rest assured that your chord selection is excellent.  If you are told that you should work at expanding your chord vocabulary then that might be taken as a nice way of saying that your chords are absolute rubbish and you need to learn more chords before submitting anything else!  What you are aiming at out of this is a 10 out of 10.  If you get an 8 you need to work harder at that particular element.  If you get a 4... A bit more work required.  If you get a 2... Well maybe this is not for you after all.

The greatest benefit from submitting your work to competitions is that you will become a much better player and if you do well you might get a certificate to frame and place on your wall.  If you are actually looking for a recording contract... Well good luck.

There are a number of A & R companies our there on the Net.  A & R means artist and repertoire.  Basically they give out listing of music opportunities and you pay to submit your work to those opportunities.  They will tell you that a good home recording will do and that all your work will be critiqued to help you to improve.  Before you part with your 3 or 400 dollars annual subscription you need to know that these people require BROADCAST QUALITY recordings and not the simple demo disk you made in your bedroom.  A home recording is acceptable but this will involve the very best state of the art equipment and not the sort of stuff discussed in lesson 19.  If it is not good enough to play on the radio don't bother submitting it.  

I don't want to curb your enthusiasm but each listing attracts thousands of submissions.  If you don't mind spending the money and have a super duper recording studio at home then by all means give it a go.  (Make sure you have expanded your chord vocabulary first!)

Let a musically competent friend listen to it.  They might have some good suggestions that you had not thought of.  A friend is not likely to tell you it is rubbish but is more likely to suggest something like changing that chord by adding a flattened fifth.  Perhaps a new set of ears will pick up something wrong or maybe they think it is a bit repetitive, too long etc.  It all helps.

Finally

If you get tired with your effort and pack it in.... Don't give up.  Put it to one side.  You might find that after time, even a year or more, you come back to it and know exactly what needs to be done to turn it into a hit.

Listen to a lot of music - really listen.  You will hear great effects that you might decide to modify and include in your own music.

Is all this worth doing?  Yes it is because it keeps you playing.  Your skill and level of understanding will improve.  You may never become a number one selling songwriter but you will become a superb musician.

And above all - Have fun.

This article is by Stephen Parry, author of 'Learn To Play Keyboard'