Welcome back to our Songwriters series. Remember that whether you play Guitar or Piano or any other Musical Instrument, the basics of writing a good song or piece of music, is the same. This is where you need to decide what type of songwriter you want to be - and for whom, or what - medium you want to write for, or in. Whether it is for a theatre stage production - Andrew Lloyd Webber style - or for a movie or film score; or Pop, R & B, and Rock. Or any other musical form of expression that inspires and interests you - it is time to start understanding the finer points of the craft of Song Writing. If you write for yourself, always bear in mind what audience market you are aiming for: the age group, male or female, social, economic, race, and geographical areas of your intended listeners - as well as how your music sounds and translates to international audiences.
The song: Girls Just Want to Have Fun - reaches across a broad spectrum of listeners, age groups and both sexes. But if you write a song that alienates and puts one group down, for example: men only - and your lyrics depict men (or women) as all useless and bad and never to be trusted, and the rest of your songs have the same theme, then you're going to very quickly alienate and put off a very large portion of your buying public - namely the "men" or "women" that you are putting down so badly - and the same is true for subject matter as well. So, think twice before you write against a particular group, or religious movement, or racial profile, or male or female relationship situations - that can make you sound as if you have a never-ending axe to grind. It gets boring very quickly.
Having said that, it is acceptable to use all the old themes - love, hate, passion, jealousy, cheating. The whole spectrum of: Somebody Done Me Wrong.... songs, or..... I Love You Till The End Of Time and Beyond... songs. So long as it sounds new and fresh and has an interesting angle and hook or melody line. After all, every songwriter of popular music somewhere had a: "I Love You..." line, or: "You are a Cheating No Good So and So..." line.
Some songwriters are absolutely brilliant at depicting a complete story line, whether it is political or "ban the bomb" anti-war or another "broken heart" that, in a few sentences as we listen to it for the two or three minutes duration of the song - we become hooked to either the melody or lyrics or both - even if the singer themselves are not the best of vocalists. Think of Bob Dylan, Leonard Cohen, and even some of the more recent Songwriters that are getting their messages across. Even a collaboration works well: Elton John has a fantastic vocal range with the help of the music of co-writer Bernie Taupin on most of his songs. Even Robbie Williams and Guy Chambers with "Let Me Entertain You."
In movies and film there is a situation known as the "Willing Suspension Of Disbelief" - where the audience is willing to "Suspend their Disbelief" in a situation in order to accept the possibility that there are strange creatures and spaceships -as in Star Wars and other science fiction films, and that we willingly "believe" that we are right there watching the action heroes fight alien creatures - because the presentation is so good and believable, even though we've never actually seen an alien or space-craft in real life! (Well...not most of us anyway...)
It is the same when writing a song. We have to capture our audience with the presentation. We have to make them feel and "believe" and want to sing with and, most importantly, want to hear more of what we have to say - but all without the visual help of film or pictures.
We have to create the emotional and visual imagery by word and music only, so that it becomes a memorable listening experience - an aural emotive journey for your listening audience - all within a very short space of time. Sometimes within seconds your "listener" will either "tune in - or out" to your music, depending on whether you have managed to capture and hold their "willing sense of disbelief" with your musical message. I am the first to switch channels on my car radio if I hear something I do not like!
Disco and Rave and Techno can afford to be repetitive and inane and nonsensical. People who go to clubs want to dance - and not listen to clever or romantic lyrics. But if you want to be a serious songwriter - learn your craft from the writers who you most admire. Study there words, melodies, song construction and chord sequences - and then write your own Songs in a fresh, new and interesting way... Think of Amy Winehouse: "Momma Did-Not Want To Take Me To Rehab...."
In our next article we shall discuss, as mentioned in our: Song Writing article Three - the form, substance, theme, meter and rhyme of songs. Here is to your next Guitar Song-Writing inspiration!
@ copyright P.S.Pentelbury 2010
About this Author
My 30 odd years of playing guitar and giving guitar lessons has finally culminated into-Learn Guitar Lessons Guide by http://www.guitar-howtoplay.com/ with over 200 guitar lessons. They include Free Online Guitar Lessons. Pentelbury's educational Guitar tuition offers beginner guitar lessons, acoustic, electric, rock, bass, blues lessons, finger picking exercises and more. Learn how to play your favorite music songs. Learn to play guitar from beginner to advanced. There is also a complete Guitar Chord Directory e-book.
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