What do songwriters do?
Songwriters either write songs on their own or with one or more co-writers. Since most songs are co-written, the latter is more usual. Some people write music only, others write lyrics only. In this case, collaboration is even more essential. Most songwriters schedule daily time to write, others wait for inspiration to strike (this is the less productive method…) Once a song and the demo is done, they pitch it to publishers and artists.
Songwriters either write songs on their own or with one or more co-writers. Since most songs are co-written, the latter is more usual. Some people write music only, others write lyrics only. In this case, collaboration is even more essential. Most songwriters schedule daily time to write, others wait for inspiration to strike (this is the less productive method…) Once a song and the demo is done, they pitch it to publishers and artists.
The good sides of the songwriting career:
• Writing with and meeting new people all the time.
• The songwriting career is so unpredictable that you never get bored.
• Hearing your songs on the radio (and making money at the same time) is an incredible feeling.
• Writing with and meeting new people all the time.
• The songwriting career is so unpredictable that you never get bored.
• Hearing your songs on the radio (and making money at the same time) is an incredible feeling.
The bad sides of the songwriting career:
• Before you make it, expect a lot of rejections and heartbreak. This is something every songwriter goes through, it's part of the learning process. Without it, you will not become great.
• You can't predict which song is going to be successful, which isn't. You write a lot of them and pray that some will get recorded and make you some money. There is never a guarantee.
What skills do you need?
Playing an instrument is not a requirement but it's definitely an asset in the songwriting career. Also, reading music can make your job easier. So if your plans are serious, take up piano or guitar. You don't have to become a master player to write songs though. If you want to progress fast in your instrument learning adventures, I recommend Learn & Master Guitar and Learn & Master Piano. I have the piano version and I love it! (I heard L&M Guitar is even better….) The piano teacher is Will Barrow (a Grammy winner pianist). He explains and demonstrates everything really well. Another thing you may need for your songwriting career is good ears. If you don't have them, no worries! There are ways to improve this sense. There are some programs and software created especially for this purpose. If you are the software-fan type, check out EarMaster 5
(for PC / Mac). It's a personal ear trainer with hundreds of exercises. In EarMaster you can practice identifying intervals, chords, chord inversions, chord progressions, scales, modes, transcribing melodies, rhythms and more… I use this software for a couple of minutes almost every day. It really does work! Don't expect wonders in a week of course… The most important thing is that you practice consistently. If you'd like to have perfect pitch and relative pitch, and you have a musical instrument at home, you could also try David Lucas Burge's The Perfect Pitch Ear Training SuperCourse
. I use this one too. (I know… I'm such a geek…) I've finished about half of the Masterclasses and now I can recognize almost any key on the piano instantly (not by looking but by hearing of course). David Lucas Burge also has a Relative Pitch Ear Training SuperCourse
. I like that one too but I have less time for that one right now.
• Before you make it, expect a lot of rejections and heartbreak. This is something every songwriter goes through, it's part of the learning process. Without it, you will not become great.
• You can't predict which song is going to be successful, which isn't. You write a lot of them and pray that some will get recorded and make you some money. There is never a guarantee.
What skills do you need?
Playing an instrument is not a requirement but it's definitely an asset in the songwriting career. Also, reading music can make your job easier. So if your plans are serious, take up piano or guitar. You don't have to become a master player to write songs though. If you want to progress fast in your instrument learning adventures, I recommend Learn & Master Guitar and Learn & Master Piano. I have the piano version and I love it! (I heard L&M Guitar is even better….) The piano teacher is Will Barrow (a Grammy winner pianist). He explains and demonstrates everything really well. Another thing you may need for your songwriting career is good ears. If you don't have them, no worries! There are ways to improve this sense. There are some programs and software created especially for this purpose. If you are the software-fan type, check out EarMaster 5 (for PC / Mac). It's a personal ear trainer with hundreds of exercises. In EarMaster you can practice identifying intervals, chords, chord inversions, chord progressions, scales, modes, transcribing melodies, rhythms and more… I use this software for a couple of minutes almost every day. It really does work! Don't expect wonders in a week of course… The most important thing is that you practice consistently. If you'd like to have perfect pitch and relative pitch, and you have a musical instrument at home, you could also try David Lucas Burge's The Perfect Pitch Ear Training SuperCourse. I use this one too. (I know… I'm such a geek…) I've finished about half of the Masterclasses and now I can recognize almost any key on the piano instantly (not by looking but by hearing of course). David Lucas Burge also has a Relative Pitch Ear Training SuperCourse. I like that one too but I have less time for that one right now.
Do you need to be able to sing?
If you write music with lyrics, someone will have to sing on your demos. If you can't sing, and you can't afford to hire a professional vocalist, you might be able to ask someone from a music school to help you. Students usually gladly do the job for you for very little money (or sometimes for free). But if you CAN sing, your job is much easier. However, you should know that not "any kind of singing" will do for a demo. These recordings should be broadcast quality so you need to be a really good vocalist to sing on a demo. If you think you could use some improvement, I highly recommend Brett Manning's Singing Success
. It's an amazing and comprehensive program. I found it in about 2007. I had been going to two different singing teachers for three years. As I realized after some time, they weren't professional instructors to say the least. I lost all my self-confidence (and a lot of money) and hope that I would ever sing the way I wanted. I lost all hope. Then I found Singing Success. Since I stopped trusting singing teachers, I though it might be my last hope. One the first day I did the first couple of exercises. Then I started singing some of my favorite hits as usual. And OMG! I'd never felt such freedom in my voice before! And it was after about 20 minutes of singing exercises! And it only got better… Since then, I've been a fanatic of Singing Success. I'm able to sing songs I never thought I could. And I know that range is not everything but right now I have an almost 4-octave range. Isn't that great? :)
If you write music with lyrics, someone will have to sing on your demos. If you can't sing, and you can't afford to hire a professional vocalist, you might be able to ask someone from a music school to help you. Students usually gladly do the job for you for very little money (or sometimes for free). But if you CAN sing, your job is much easier. However, you should know that not "any kind of singing" will do for a demo. These recordings should be broadcast quality so you need to be a really good vocalist to sing on a demo. If you think you could use some improvement, I highly recommend Brett Manning's Singing Success
. It's an amazing and comprehensive program. I found it in about 2007. I had been going to two different singing teachers for three years. As I realized after some time, they weren't professional instructors to say the least. I lost all my self-confidence (and a lot of money) and hope that I would ever sing the way I wanted. I lost all hope. Then I found Singing Success. Since I stopped trusting singing teachers, I though it might be my last hope. One the first day I did the first couple of exercises. Then I started singing some of my favorite hits as usual. And OMG! I'd never felt such freedom in my voice before! And it was after about 20 minutes of singing exercises! And it only got better… Since then, I've been a fanatic of Singing Success. I'm able to sing songs I never thought I could. And I know that range is not everything but right now I have an almost 4-octave range. Isn't that great? :)
If you'd like some immediate singing advice, visit Singing Tips with Barbara Lewis, where you'll find expert singing tips and online singing lessons.
So all in all, becoming a songwriter is not a piece of cake. But it's one of the most rewarding careers you can have.
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