Tag: songwriting

Break out of a creative rut, find new songwriting strategies, and improve your writing process with this collection of songwriting articles from Flypaper. For more in-depth help, check out Soundfly’s course The New Songwriter’s Workshop.

  • What Exactly Does “Producer” Mean, Anyway?

    What Exactly Does “Producer” Mean, Anyway?

    + Learning to record and mix at home? Check out Soundfly’s acclaimed online courses on mixing, production, and beat making — Subscribe for unlimited access. Music production. The term likely conjures mythical images of Sir George Martin running frantically around Abbey Road Studios, or Phil Spector conducting a massive orchestra. In their time, the term “record…

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  • The Songwriter’s Guide to Nashville

    The Songwriter’s Guide to Nashville

    So you’ve made the decision: You’re going to visit Nashville. You’re a songwriter or an artist or a band, and you’ve heard some amazing stories coming out of Music City. You’re thinking it’s high time to check out this rhinestone studded, boot scootin’ music mecca that everyone is talking about. Congratulations on making the latest big decision…

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  • 4 Tips for Constructive Criticism in Songwriting

    4 Tips for Constructive Criticism in Songwriting

    As a former writing major, I know all too well the faults of bad criticism. It makes the writer feel bad, it makes the commenter look inconsiderate, and it doesn’t help the writing improve. In songwriting, something you’ve poured your heart and soul into, it’s especially uncomfortable to receive harsh criticism. The wrong things get attacked, and the…

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  • 5 Chord Progressions to Kickstart Your Songwriting

    5 Chord Progressions to Kickstart Your Songwriting

    Need a boost of inspiration? Try any of these fool-proof chord progressions to jumpstart your writing process.

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  • How to Write Songs That Get Stuck in People’s Heads

    How to Write Songs That Get Stuck in People’s Heads

    If you’ve seen Easy A, you probably remember the scene where Emma Stone receives a card that plays Natasha Bedingfield’s “Pocketful of Sunshine” and how Stone’s character hates the song — at first. Flash forward to a few days later, and she can’t stop singing it. There are songs that we can’t stand, yet can’t get out…

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  • How to Write a Musical: Find Your Song Posts

    How to Write a Musical: Find Your Song Posts

    This is part 3 of a series on how to write a musical. Start from the beginning with a brief history of musicals and explore the role of the music in telling the story. The basic question we’re looking at today is: when writing a musical, where do you begin?  First of all, it’s important to know the purpose that…

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  • 3 Professional Lessons from Film Composer Michael Giacchino

    3 Professional Lessons from Film Composer Michael Giacchino

    Anyone who knows me at all knows how much I love Pixar films. The Incredibles is still one of my favorite all-time movies. Ratatouille made me see the world differently. Up had me balling like a child within the first ten minutes. And no small part of that was the music. I only recently found out…

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  • How to Write a Musical: The Purpose of the Music

    How to Write a Musical: The Purpose of the Music

    This is part 2 of a series on how to write a musical. Start from the beginning with a brief history of musicals or jump forward to learn how to select song posts! This is part 2 of our series on how to write a musical, inspired by a friend’s efforts to write a musical about an undercooked piece of pasta named Al…

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  • How to Create Dreamier Guitar Chords

    How to Create Dreamier Guitar Chords

    Are you planning to write a romantic love song for a special person in your life, or in love with genres like dream pop, psychedelic rock, or shoegazer music? Or, are you simply getting bored of writing songs with those typical, standard-tuning bar chords on the guitar? Then here are some useful tools for you. If you’re…

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  • What Is Jazz Worth, Anymore?

    What Is Jazz Worth, Anymore?

    I love jazz. I love playing jazz, listening to jazz, shedding jazz, and talking with other people who love jazz, about jazz. I recently released, with my group the PLS.trio, a new modern jazz record in the style of greats such as Pat Metheny and Esbjorn Svensson. According to a review by All About Jazz, our music takes…

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