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PostPosted: Tue Sep 01, 2015 10:34 am 
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I was going to have songwriting and promotion discussions as part of the Careers and Performance page above. Then I realized that if we do it "right," they deserve their own forum.

I tend to write songs that express things I want to say, and not necessarily songs that other people would be that interested in singing themselves. Yes, it would make me happy if someone famous would make one of my songs into a #1 hit so I could afford to play "out" more. But that's never been my goal in my personal songwriting. For that reason (and others) I'm a pretty poor songwriting "coach" for folks who are either just getting started or for folks whose life goal is to be a professional songwriter.

But I'm also a literature professor, and I often know how to make songs BETTER. All those things people charge you money to hear like, "use more vivid imagery," "use more specific verbs," etc. So I figure I'll post some of those ideas here and mix them up with posts from other folks who really do have something to say.

If you want to contact me directly or sign up and join the group, the instructions are over and under the "table" part of this page. I'd LOVE to get some great discussions going here.


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PostPosted: Mon Feb 15, 2016 5:00 pm 
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BTW, I chose the title "Songwrangling," because that's what songwriting is to me. I get an idea, maybe a topic or a tune or a riff, maybe a catch-phrase or a potential "hook." And I worry it over in my mind like you "worry over" a chipped tooth with your tongue, until the song starts to come together into a verse or a chorus I can work with. That might take days. Or weeks. At any time in the process, I might get distracted by some other project and shelve it or forget about it all together. But if it holds my attention, I worry over that until I've cranked out some sort of verse/chorus combination that makes sense (usually). By this point the song is taking on a life of its own. The second verse generally strengthens whatever theme or direction the first verse and chorus were suggesting, and the third verse either takes that to the next level somehow, or introduces some twist that will hopefully make listeners rethink the song so far and appreciate it even more. Then I try to worry out a bridge that adds to the song and makes the last chorus that much more compelling. Then I try to figure out where the thing breaks down. And that's not always where I think it does. I've discovered during performances that sometimes the parts i just plugged in because I didn't have anything really inspiring to say in that space wind up reaching people better than the parts that I thought were so darn clever. So even the most diligent attempt to go back and revisit the song I managed to get down on paper doesn't always sort out its weaknesses OR its strengths.

I once had a friend (Lenny Gault) who was an old-school Country singer. When I would run a song past him, he could instantly zero in on places where the song changed tone unnecessarily or brought in extraneous ideas that screwed up the song's focus, or otherwise fell flat. Sometimes it was a quick fix; sometimes it meant that part or all of the song was a "write-off." But Lenny's instincts were always sound. You may never have heard of him, but he spent something like forty years in the "second tier" of the industry, and he had reviewed literally thousands of songs from the best songwriters of his era. Without Lenny, it's my responsibility to take the same kind of critical look at every phrase of the "finished" song. Sometimes songs make it all the way to that stage, and I decide that whatever's wrong with it can't be fixed, period. I write down what I have and archive it, in case inspiration strikes later (it seldom does). Or maybe I can use the chorus from this song as a bridge on another one further down the line. Oh well, what was that other bit I was working on?

If that all sounds like a lot of work, it IS work. But it's fun work which is very rewarding when the song comes out halfway decent. On the other hand, it's a brute force, undisciplined, maybe even lazy approach that wouldn't last twenty minutes in Nashville. My friends down there are song-crafters. They approach songwriting the way potters or woodworkers approach a new project, with the right tools, some idea of what they want to produce, and the talent to see the job through to completion in a reasonable period of time. And the end products generally sound more "organic" and "inspired" than mine do even after all my heavy lifting.

But my brain just doesn't work that way. I'm more like an old cowpoke finding a maverick steer in a canyon, lassoing him, dragging him all the way to the camp, and wrangling him to the ground for branding. Yes, every song I write carries my "mark," but each of them has worked as hard on me as I've worked on it, if that makes any sense.

Lots of folks who read these pages are already song-crafters. Some are song-wranglers. Some wouldn't know a "bridge" if it came off the page and slapped them in the face. But we can all learn and share.

I am hoping to add some more specific resources and ideas here later, but in the meantime, enjoy the tips I have listed from "real" songwriters, and permit me welcome you aboard and wish you the very best of luck in all your musical endeavors!

Paul Race - CreekDontRise.com


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Paul Race playing a banjo. Click to go to Paul's music home page.Whatever else you get out of our pages, I hope you enjoy your music and figure out how to make enjoyable music for those around you as well.

And please stay in touch!

    - Paul Race Click to see Paul's music home page Click to contact Paul through this page. Click to see Paul's music page on Facebook Click to see Paul's music blog page Click to hear Paul's music on SoundCloud. Click to sign up for the Creek Don't Rise discussion forum. Click to learn about our Momma Don't Low Newsletter. Click to see Paul's Twitter Page Click to see Paul's YouTube Channel.



All material, illustrations, and content of this web site is copyrighted © 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006,
2007, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017 by Paul D. Race. All rights reserved.

Note: Creek Don't Rise (tm) is Paul Race's name for his resources supporting the history and
music of the North American Heartland as well as additional kinds of acoustic and traditional music.

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