Songwriting Ideas

Songwriting ideas are easy to find. Even if you have no inspiration, intentionally looking for themes or phrases that help you get started is something you can always do. And fortunately, there are several ways you can do this.


✓ There are some books written especially for this purpose. In The Frustrated Songwriter's Handbook by Karl Coryat and Nicholas Dobson you will find several techniques for finding ideas and getting creative. If you use some of the many tricks listed in this book, soon you'll be able to summon your inspiration on command. There are methods for getting inspired to write music and lyrics too. What I did was write each of the techniques on a 3 by 5 card then when I needed some inspiration, I randomly chose one of the cards and started working with the help of the technique on it. It has never failed to work for me.


✓ Another great resource for songwriting ideas is The Songwriters Idea Book by Sheila Davis. There are 40 songwriting strategies in this book. Each one is guaranteed to spark your imagination. There is also some information about personality types, brain function and writing styles. I found this part of the book incredibly useful because understanding ourselves and our working style is essential if we want to get better at our craft and stay productive.

✓ Sometimes a good title can ignite our creativity and lead to a complete song in a short time. You can find great titles by reading magazines (especially tabloids), reading some book titles in a bookstore, watching films and TV shows, etc. And sometimes song titles just come to you out of nowhere (and you should write them down as soon as they come!). But if you feel you really can't come up with anything, try the Song Name Creator. This is a great website where you just have to push a button and you immediately get a list of song titles. They are randomly created of course. You would think you just can't get really great titles from a machine but you'll be surprised. There are always at least 1 or 2 incredible titles out of 10.

✓ Still have no idea what to write about? Need some inspiring songwriting ideas? Just think of other, successful songs and what they are about. Let me help you. 99% of them are about love. But love isn't simple, which makes it easy for all of you to write something unique in connection with this concept. Some angles you might consider:

• Wanting to be loved
• Finding love
• Hitting on a girl/boy
• Partying
• Being in love
• Jealousy
• Suspicion
• Breaking up
• Love disappearing from the relationship
• Cheating
• Leaving your lover
• Remembering how it all started
• Your love is everlasting
• Thoughts about the meaning of love

✓ And there are some (usually less commercial) but just as interesting topics for you to write about:

• Religious themes
• Problems in society
• The nature of life
• Thoughts about yourself and your feelings
• Family
• Friends
• Places
• Reaching your goals
• Being yourself no matter what

✓ Another one of the best songwriting ideas is to do songwriting on assignment. There are some A&R companies and music libraries who release a list of the types of songs they need. For example: "We need a song about flirting a la Rihanna's What's My Name. The demo should be broadcast quality. The deadline is…". Sometimes it's much easier to write songs if you know what you would like the end-result to be - exactly or more or less exactly.


✓ Increasing your songwriting creativity is really easy. You just have to find the right methods and resources to find the best route. However, I don't want to burst any bubbles but usually it's not like you get some divine inspiration and start working but the other way around. Sit down to work and the inspiration will eventually come. And the more often you do this, the faster it comes.