Songwriters - The Power Of Simplicity In Songwriting

The Power of Simplicity in Songwriting

By Kim Copeland

Most up and coming songwriters have been told at least once to “be original”.  Try to say something that hasn’t been said before or to say it in a new way.  Easier said than done, right?

…Maybe so. 

Kim Copeland
Music Producer

Too often we strangle our creativity by trying to be too profound, too clever, too original.  Listen to the radio.  Most radio hits contain elements of familiarity combined with a new twist.  They aren’t reinventing the wheel. They just give us enough new to make the old sound fresh. 

Listeners want to feel engaged and comfortable while listening to songs.  They don’t want to think as much as feel.  Music is more emotional than intellectual.  Complex lyrics and musical structures have their place, but in commercial songwriting, they are rarely the songs that “break” songwriting careers.  Those songs are written for the writer, not the audience.  If you hope to find commercial success as a songwriter, you owe it to yourself to try to understand what listeners respond to.  Why they are drawn to some songs over others.  What makes them willing to pay for some songs so they can listen to them over and over again?

Simplicity is a powerful tool in songwriting.  If you can wrap a deep message within a catchy, repetitive melody, you’ve got a hit.  If you can create a groove that makes the listener immediately feel comfortable wanting to move to it, you’ve got a hit.  By combining simple elements that any listener can get involved with easily and quickly, and original elements (whatever you do differently than anyone else), you create a fresh, new product that can attract a mass audience. 

When you play to your strengths by doing what comes naturally to you, you make writing songs easier and you write better songs.  Keep it simple by identifying elements that work for you and combining them in a way that works for audiences.  

Study what people respond to about your songs.  Once you have identified it, let that be the unique factor that you showcase in all of your writing.  It could be your language; the way you express yourself or your ideas.  It might be your musical gift; the chord voicings you use or the particular texture and tone of your instrument, be it guitar or voice.  Perhaps you feel grooves and phrasing that is different and hooks people into your songs.  

Study hit songs from several genres, and try to determine what about the song is infectious to listeners. Is it the groove, the hooky message, the musical riff, the sing along melody?  Next, choose one element from each of two or three different hit songs, and combine them with one of your lyrical ideas.  Maybe a repetitive chord structure from one song combined with the groove of another.  Now add your original lyric to it and see if it gives you a presentation for your song that now contains some proven elements with some fresh new ones.  Almost every hit song has something that is familiar hidden within it, either by design or accident.

I am certainly NOT encouraging you to plagiarize anyone’s work; but studying it, learning from it and using that knowledge to help you break through the wall of commercial songwriting is encouraged.  We are all conglomerates of what we have seen, heard, felt, and absorbed.  By using your experiences, talents and personal musical tastes you will create an original voice for yourself as a songwriter.  Hopefully, one that will help you stand out as original while attracting a mass audience.

When you hear “be original” and “this is a little TOO different – I don’t know what to do with it” in the same conversation, perhaps you are trying too hard.  Try being original within the structure of familiarity and see if not only makes your songwriting life easier, but also elevates your standing in the commercial market.

You can find more info about Kim at www.kimcopelandproductions.com

Songwriters: Hooks & How To Make Them Pay Off

By Kim Copeland

I'll assume you all know that a “hook” is an element of a song that hooks the listener into it; makes the song stick in their head; makes them sing it (even sometimes against their will); makes them tell their friends about it … and make them listen also; and, most importantly - sells the song to them!

With that assumption, let's talk about types of hooks and how best to make them pay off for you.

Kim Copeland
Music Producer

Different genres of music rely of different types of hooks to sell songs.  This is mostly based on what that genre's audience reacts to and what is proven to sell records (downloads, concert tickets, etc.)  

Country music has always been built on stories and characters.  Loyal listeners of Country music demand a character that they can identify with; love, hate, emulate or desire.  They also want a story, a visual scene or relationship, with a beginning, middle and end.  And they demand a lyrical and/or emotional payoff.

Since the early days of Country music, singers in that genre have been storytellers.  Hall of Fame songwriter, Harlan Howard, built his career on what he called “three chords and the truth”; honest characters talking about honest emotion and situations that mainstream audiences can relate to.

Today's Country music still rides on a story, even as it incorporates rhythms and lyrical and musical phrasing from other genres.

When you are writing a Country song, you still need to start at the beginning, set the scene, introduce the characters and give your audience a payoff hook at the beginning or end of the chorus or, in a 5th form structure, at the beginning or end of each verse section.  It may also appear elsewhere in the song, but because it is likely the conclusion or point to the song, it usually fits best there.

Other examples of lyrical driven Country music hits are: Your Cheatin Heart, Crazy, I Walk the Line, All My Ex's Live in Texas, Forever and Ever, Amen, When you Say Nothing at All, Always on My Mind

Pop music has always relied on melody to hook its audience.  Emotion can be expressed in melody, even without lyrics.  Today's Pop music features much more groove and rhythm as the lines blur between R&B, Hip Hop and Pop, but you still will find the most success with a melodic hook line that any four year old can sing after one listen.

Example; Taylor Swift's Shake it Off.  Though the song definitely has a message and the lyric has a payoff (after all, Taylor comes from Nashville), the song is built around a nine note repetitive melody capped off by a six-note hook.  It comes at you over and over making it very easy to remember and sing along with.   

This song is the perfect example of formula Pop writing and that is why it has been so successful commercially.

If you are writing Pop music and looking for commercial success, start with a melodic hook and make it simple and singable.

Rock music relies heavily on musical hooks to keep listeners loyal to their songs and artists.  Sonic uniqueness is achieved with instruments, outboard gear, chord progressions and voicings.  Vocal timbre and texture are often an extension of the instrumentation used by a Rock band or artist, as the musical sound usually is the first building block for a rock song.

Often times you can recognize a Rock song by a musical riff way before you hear a vocal melody or lyric.  This is what drives this genre of music and what hooks its listeners.  Think of how many of your favorite Rock songs you play air guitar to or sing the musical hook of.  When you remember the first time you heard the song, you likely remember the musical hook as what grabbed your attention first.

If you are writing Rock music, chances are you are also the artist performing your songs.  Put yourself in the audience.  Try to create an energy from the fist note you play that makes the audience react the way you want them to.  

Examples of great Rock music that has followed this strategy to the top of the charts and into our collective memories are: AC/DC - Back in Black, Rolling Stones - Gimme Shelter, Ac/DC - You Shook Me All Night Long.  

Though guitar is most often the vehicle for a musical hook in Rock, there are many good examples of other instruments being used for this, very effectively.   

Bohemian Rhapsody by Queen is a great example of a Rock song that uses voices to establish the musical hook.   Pink Floyd - Comfortably Numb is another good example of this.

When you are writing, think not only about what you want to say with your song, but also how you might say it by building around a catchy hook. (Get it…catchy - to catch an audiences attention. Hook - to hook them in.)

No matter what type of songs you write, you can elevate your chances of commercial success and increase your fan base by focusing on strong hooks that do their job well.

Country - You can also have a memorable musical hook and a great melody; but the lyrical “aha” or “I told you so” moment will take you to the top of the charts.

Pop - You can say whatever you want to say as long as your children can Shake it Off from the back seat of the car or dancing around the living room.

Rock - Make them feel it before they hear it!  Put the emotion in the music with a phrase that makes them feel something before the singer starts singing.

Hope this helps you hook the big one!

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Songwriters: Productive Co-Writing

Productive Co-Writing

By Kim Copeland

I love to co-write.  I still write by myself often because I enjoy that process too.  But sometimes writing in a vacuum can be frustrating, even painful, whereas co-writing is usually fun because you have someone to bounce ideas off of, say stupid things until the profound ones pop out, share the

Kim Copeland
Music Producer

frustration and celebrate the victories with.

Co-writing is very popular in Nashville.  There are a few great reasons to co-write songs.  One is that it typically builds catalog faster.  Another is that it multiplies the potential exposure for the finished song.  (Presumably all writers involved in the song will use their connections to get it heard, pitched, recorded and released. The royalties are divided, but the marketing efforts are multiplied.)  Also, the costs of recording a demo and/or hiring a song plugger are diminished when there is more than one writer.

Some writers are very self-contained.  They are good musicians, lyricists and vocalists.   Most are not.  Most of us are stronger in one area - lyrics, music or melody - than in another and can benefit from writing with others whos strengths play to our weaknesses.

If you struggle with lyrics, but are a great musician, look for a lyricist that could benefit from your musical talent.  You will both write stronger songs by combining your talents.  You will likely both enjoy the process as well as the success more.  If you write strong grooves and lyrics, but are weak on melody, you might look for an artist who has a natural ear for melody, but has little interest or talent for music and/or lyrics.

A good place to find co-writers is at shows.  If you have a local songwriters night, or even a band performance venue, go and listen.  When you hear someone displaying a talent that you lack and that could enhance your songwriting, approach them and ask to try co-writing.  If you are a member of a songwriting group, look for co-writers within your group, but do not limit yourself to them.  With email, Skype, etc., it is easy to co-write long distance.  

If you are a triple threat songwriter, you may enjoy co-writing because it brings your new perspectives and new ideas.  There are many, many examples of great co-writing teams with both similar talents and complimenting, but different talents.  

Deciding when, where and how to co-write can be as challenging as the actual process of co-creating a song.  If you are good at melody, music and lyric, you should always write by yourself.  But that does not mean that you should not co-write as well.  Sometimes we can all benefit from another point of view on a topic or another's way of saying the same thing differently than ourselves. 

The trick is in knowing when to co-write; which ideas to offer up for co-writing.  Productivity is not just quantity, it is also quality.  Co-writing can help you write more songs and stronger songs if both writers are focused on the same goals.

When you have a topic that is near and dear to you - a therapeutic song; you should give it a try solo first.  It may be that the writing process is more important than the finished product in some cases; i.e., the commercial outcome of the song may be enhanced by bringing in another set of eyes and ears, but the satisfaction might not be as strong.

If, on the other hand, you are not as emotionally connected to an idea, it can be very enlightening and fun to see how someone else approaches the idea differently than you.  (A different payoff to the story; angle for the character; tempo; groove, etc.)

Co-writing can not only bring in other ideas from the other people in the room with you; it can also inspire you to new ideas that you would not otherwise have found on your own.  Creative energy is a powerful force and sometimes it is magnified when two or more writers are batting ideas around and reacting to each other.

Another secret of productive co-writing is to find a couple of writers whom you feel comfortable bringing anything to; whom you know will be honest with you, but also willing to follow you down any rabbit trail, and stick with them.  Have regular writing appointments and set goals for yourself as a team.  Challenge and encourage each other and share in each others successes.  You will grow together and find opportunities are multiplied by your co-writing relationship as you cross pollinate your audiences and resources.

I once had two co-writers who I wrote with every week.  We began many sessions with golf clubs before we picked up guitars.  9 holes of golf almost always produced a germ of a song idea for us to chase in the writing room.  It made us more productive than sitting, staring at walls would have.  It relaxed us physically and creatively.

One secret to productive co-writing is to “get naked”.  To be a good co-writer, you must be willing to bare your souls with each other; to explore without inhibitions whatever the subject matter is.  That is the only way you can write honestly with another person in the room.

This doesn't necessarily mean that you have to share all of your very personal experiences with the other person, but you have to be able to get into character in front of them and share whatever honest emotion drives the song you are writing.  

Productivity comes from practice.  The more you co-write, the more access to ideas you have and the more help you have writing those ideas to completion.  

When you become a good co-writer, you will also become a better solo writer. 

Better writers write more songs because they spend less time in angst over what is good and what is trivial.  They understand the craft of songwriting better and things that may once have been stumbling blocks are now second nature.

Most often, productive co-writing is also fun co-writing.  

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