Songwriting tips, techniques, and ideas
In songwriting--and the rest of life--boredom and ruts are produced by the lack of fresh, unique experience. Ever had somebody in your life who rearranges the furniture every month? This is how some …
Continue Reading about Sensory Songwriting: Take Your Lyric to the Optometrist’s Office →
To save time and energy, we ignore the world every day. Caught up in our tasks and besieged by distractions, we hurry past the tree rising out of the lawn each time we walk past it - it won't help us …
Below you'll find a great video series of Berklee professor Pat Pattison critiquing a student's song. One of the most useful lessons here is that the language of the lyric itself must match the …
Continue Reading about How to Sing as Naturally as You Speak →
"I really believe that if you don't have the strength to paint over a good painting, you could never have painted a good painting in the first place." -Norton Wisdom Performance painting is an …
Continue Reading about Nels Cline & Norton Wisdom: The Courage to Paint Over Your Own Paintings →
. . You can't play an instrument you don't own yet. You can only use whatever's nearby. - You can't become a master at your instrument. You can only sit today and practice. - You can't master …
For reasons outlined in Good Aural: Part 1, most people don't listen very closely, or don't understand the musicianship at work behind what they're hearing. As a musician, it's useful to develop an …
Continue Reading about Good Aural, Part 2: How to be a Hot Listener →