How can I find a songwriting partner?

Question by Mariah:

I want to write a song about life, love and being saved from my past. Kinda to inspire others and let them know that they are not alone.


Answer:

Hi Mariah,

It's really nice of you that you would like to inspire and help others!

If you would like to find a collaborator, fortunately, you have several options. But first you should decide what kind of co-writer you would like to find. What are your strengths? What are you weaknesses in songwriting? You should find someone who can complement your skills so you can write a great song together. For example, if you're good at composing melodies and singing, you could look for someone who is a great lyricist and can play the guitar or piano. You might also want to decide in advance how you are going to make a demo or where you'll pitch your song.


These are some of the methods collaborators use to find each other:

1. Try looking around on songwriting forums (scroll down for a list of the best message boards). There is usually a thread on these forums with a title that says something like "Co-writer wanted". There you'll find some people looking for co-writers usually with some specific characteristics, e.g. a talented lyricist who can play the guitar a little and likes R&B music. You can either choose to write a message to one of them or start a new thread describing the co-writer YOU are looking for.

2. If you have some musician friends, ask them if they know someone who might want to co-write with you.

3. Visit songwriters' seminars and lectures. You're sure to find some like-minded songwriters at these events.

These are the most common methods of finding songwriting partners. Good luck with your song!

How can I complete my lyrics?

Question by Christina:

Hello,

I am trying to write a song. I already have one line that could be perfect as part of the chorus or the hook. But now I have a writer's block. What should I do now? How can I continue and finish my lyrics? I feel stuck! Help me!

Thanks!



Answer:


Hi Christina,

I understand that you're frustrated. Well, I can't write the song for you but I can give you some advice on how to go about it.

Decide what single idea you would like the song to be about. Then to make the song comprehensible for a larger audience, ask the following questions: who? what? why? where? how?
You should answer all of these in your song.

The best thing you can start with is to make a sketch of your song. Decide what each section should be about and then start working on the details, here is a little help for that: Writing Song Lyrics

How often should I write songs?

Question by Drew:


I'm busy. I work almost 10 hours a day. Sometimes it seems impossible for me to find the time. Although songwriting is the most important thing in my life, the only time when I can be alone to work on my songs is at the weekend. And not the whole weekend (that would be a dream come true...) but only 1-2 hours on Saturday and Sunday.

So I'd need a little songwriting help! How could I schedule my time better so I can become more productive?

Thanks for the advice in advance!


Answer:

Hello Drew, 

First of all, thanks for choosing HitJerker-Songwriting.com to ask for songwriting help. 

About your question: 

There are few people who feel that they have all the time in the world. Doing songwriting 1 or 2 hours a week isn't much, I know. However, it's still better than doing nothing. Most songwriters procrastinate for as much as a year (or years) before sitting down to write. You're already ahead of 90% of the other songwriters! 

I know that you're frustrated because you'd like to write as much as you can. I suggest that you get up one hour earlier every morning or a couple of days a week so that you can work. Or if you feel that it is the evening when you're the most creative and productive, set aside an hour then. (In my experience, writing is easier to do when everybody else is asleep therefore there is no-one to disturb you.) It's difficult to get yourself to get up earlier but in a week or two you'll get used to it. You can also try to go to bed earlier. You might miss some TV shows but that's the price you have to pay for the songwriting career. 

Most songwriters think that if only they didn't have a day-job, they could work so much more on their songs! It usually isn't the case though. If you have too much free time, you'll find plenty of other things to do and rarely sit down to work. Believe me. By the way, having a day job has one more benefit. If all you have to do is write all day, what's gonna inspire you? What are you going to write about? 

Well, these are my thoughts, I hope it helps. Let me know if you have other questions or comments. 


PS. A quotation by Lucille Ball: "If you want something done, ask a busy person to do it. The more things you do, the more things you can do." So true!

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Free Guitar Chord Charts

In these free guitar chord charts you will find the most common chords. If you learn these, you'll be able to play about 90% of the famous pop and rock songs out there. And the more successful songs you learn to play, the better songwriter you become. That was one of the Beatles's secrets. They learned to play hundreds of songs (written by other artists). The band had to perform some of these every night so they not only had a "chance" to practice these but also added their own flavor to make the job even more interesting. Learning to play songs written by others is a never-ending process, just like any other kind of serious learning. And it's so worth it!

In these free guitar chord charts below you'll find the most common chords. However, if you've just started to learn how to play the guitar, it's best to master some of the simpler chords first. There are some beginners' guitar chords that you should learn first.

If you're an absolute beginner, you'll need to learn how to read and play guitar chords. Fortunately, it is a very easy thing to learn, so you'll be able to read and play any chord in no time.

If you like playing rock & roll, you might need a guitar power chords chart. What are power chords? They are key elements of many styles of rock music. They are usually played on electric guitar, most often through an amplification process that imparts distortion. They sound so cool!

Sometimes you have the chords to a song but the key they are in is too high or too low to sing in. In that case, you might want to find out how to transpose guitar chords. Luckily, it's quick and easy to do.

Free Guitar Chord Charts

A-Chords: Ab, G#m, Ab6, Ab9, G#m6, G#m7, Abmaj7, Absus, A, Am, A6, A9, Am6, am7, Amaj7, Asus

B-Chords: Bb, Bbm, Bb6, Bb7, Bb9, Bbm6, Bbm7, B, Bm, B6, B9, Bm6, Bm7, Bmaj7

C-Chords: C, Cm, C6, C9, Cm6, Cm7, Cmaj7, Cdim

D-Chords: Db, C#m, Db6, Db9, C#m7, Dbmaj7, Dbsus, D, Dm, D6, D9, Dm6, Dm7, Dmaj7, Dsus

E-Chords: Eb, Ebm, Eb7, Eb9, Ebm6, Ebm7, Ebmaj7, Ebsus, E, Em, E6, E9, Em6, Em7, Emaj7, Edim

F-Chords: F, Fm, F6, Fm6, Fm7, Fmaj7, Fdim, F#, F#m, Gb6, F#9, F#m6, F#m7, Gbmaj7, Gbsus

G-Chords: G, Gm, G6, G9, Gm6, Gm7, Gmaj7, Gsus

I hope this piece of music theory helped you. If you'd like to learn music theory thoroughly and master it like a music major graduate (but for much less money and in much less time of course…), I recommend Getting It Down Cold Music Theory Course. If you are familiar with music theory, you improve everything you do with music!

Related pages:


Learn how to read chords quickly 

Guitar Chords for Beginners

There are some guitar chords for beginners that are easy to learn and master. These are the chords that you should start practicing as soon as you can put your hands on a guitar. If you can play these basic chords, you'll be able to play many songs right away.

Examples for basic, well-known songs you'll be able to play:

✓ Ode to Joy, Jingle Bells (using C and G7 only)
✓ When The Saints Go Marchin' In (using G, D7, C, D)
✓ America The Beautiful (G, D7, E7, A7, D, Am, C)
✓ Home On The Range (C, F, G7, G, Am, D7, Fm)

There will be two types of guitar chords for beginners below:

• Basic open chords: open chords are the kind of chords that are not fingered or fretted. They are the opposite of a barre chord.

• Barre chords: barre chords are chords for which you use one or more fingers to press two or more strings on the fretboard. In some cases you might encounter the expression "movable chords". They are just another name for barre chords. They are sometimes called movable because it's easy to move your hand up and down the guitar neck in only one movement.

Basic Open Chords

Open A Chords

Open B Chord

Open C Chords

Open D Chords

Open E Chords

Open G Chords

Barre Chords on the 5th String

Barre Chords on the 6th String

I borrowed the images of the chords from the Learn and Master Guitar lesson book. It's an awesome DVD/CD/lesson book course that has helped many beginners and more advanced players become really good. The way the instructor, Steve Krenz explains theory and practice is clear and easy to understand. Since I'm a pianist, I haven't tried the guitar course but I've heard it's amazing. But I can easily believe it because I have the Learn and Master Piano course and it has done wonders for my piano playing. It's also great for beginners or more experienced players who would like to deepen their knowledge with the help of a Grammy winner pianist, Will Barrow.

When you are ready to move beyond basic chord shapes into more sophisticated harmony (drop2 and drop3 chords) check out these guitar chord charts at www.guitar-theory-in-depth.com




Related pages:


What chords are made up of 


Learn thousands of chords in minutes! 


More on Guitar Chords 


How to read and play guitar chords 


About Guitar Power Chords 

How To Play Guitar Chords

Learning how to play guitar chords is easy. You just need to know how to interpret chord blocks. If you do that, you can play any chord you want on your precious instrument. You'll find them in sheet music above the stuff.

Chords blocks look like diagrams and they show you how a chord is played. If your learn to read guitar chord blocks, you'll immediately know which frets are to be played by which fingers and which strings you'll need to play.

This is what chord blocks/diagrams in sheet music usually look like:

So here is how to play guitar chords reading chord diagrams:

• Chord blocks always contain 5 horizontal and 6 vertical lines.

• The thickest horizontal line at the top represents the "nut". It's the thickest horizontal line on the neck of your guitar at the top. It's made of some kind of medium-hard material.

• The horizontal lines represent the frets. They are metal strips that are fixed into the fingerboard. What string you press will decide what pitch you play.

• We already know that the first, thickest horizontal line represents the nut. The next line represents the first fret, the next one the second and so on.

• The six vertical lines stand for the strings/notes. They are not in the same order as on the piano. Their order from left to right is always: E, A, D, G, B, E.

• The chord name is always above the chord block. Therefore if you've already learned how to play a chord, you might not need to "read" the chord block. If you'd like to read it, however, it's easy to do, fortunately. (On HitJerker-Songwriting.com you'll also find a great chord chart and information on how to learn thousands chords literally in minutes.)

• There can be two types of symbols under the chord name and above the chord block. If there is an "X" above a note, it means that you shouldn't play that string. If there is an open circle above a string, it means, that you should "play this string open".

• We can talk about open strings when you don't press any of the frets when playing the guitar. Also, if (in the chord diagram) there is a circle that's filled, it means that you have to play the note on that specific string and fret shown in the diagram.

• So the last thing to know about reading chord blocks is what the numbers in circles mean on the vertical lines. First you must consider in which fret it is on then on which string. In the image above, for example, there is the number 1 in a circle on the right. It means that you have to put your 1st finger on the 2nd string at the 1st fret. Oh yes, and there is sometimes a note with a diamond in the chord diagrams and it means the root of the chord and the note that you will start from to move the chord into different keys.


I sincerely hope this explanation of how to play guitar chords was clear enough. If not, I guess if you just look at the image above it'll be easy to understand. I borrowed the chord block explanation image above from the Learn and Master Guitar lesson book. There is even more information on how to play guitar chords in it. However, I'm not a guitar player rather a pianist so I haven't tried this course of theirs but I've heard it's amazing. But I have the Learn and Master Piano course and I love it! Courses by this company always come with DVD instruction by someone who's really one of the best at what they do. They also include a lesson book, workshop book, audio CD's to practice with, etc. These courses are great for beginners and more advanced players alike. I know I've learned a lot from them!




Related pages:


More on Guitar Chords and Free Guitar Chord Charts 


What chords are made up of 


Learn thousands of chords in minutes!