Learn to improve your songwriting with these tips, stories, and resources to help you break out of a creative rut and start writing better music. For more help, check out Soundfly’s course, The New Songwriter’s Workshop.
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…
Andy on my Facebook page suggested I write about finding inspiration — and what better way to start a blog about music and creativity than the very starting point of creating music. Today I want to talk about three different ways to approach finding inspiration, and in my next few posts I’ll go into detail with some tips and…
Every once in a long while, I’ll write a song where the whole arc — from conception to gestation to delivery — will feel gloriously pointed and true. I will be struck sideways with joy and awe over how exactly this gift of a song has communicated my truest, subtlest heart. But if you’re going to make…
I believe making an album to be amongst the most profound and creatively life-affirming experiences that a musician can have. The work of creating does not end once a song is written (you can learn more about my songwriting process here). The recording process itself carries with it a vast array of different kinds of challenges, spread…
Summer is a time for love, and with that, comes a whole new chance to woo the guy or girl of our dreams. Enter: the love song. It’s that wonderful, time-honored tradition that would-be Romeos have been using to swoop a lady-love off her feet for hundreds of years. Or in my case make her…
Young humpbacks these days, all they do is just yell and scat all over the ocean, collaborating with squeaky squids and beat-boxing blowfish, no regard for the fundamentals and true craft of songwriting. For us old baleen bags of blubber, it’s important to develop an appreciation for what makes our song unique, and to honor…
The Broadway musical is such a mélange of parts — often Frankensteined together — that it’s easy to take for granted the weight that each of the creative elements bear. I think ten out of ten composers would agree that songwriting is the most integral of said elements. After all, no music = no musical.…
Most of us have watched and re-watched that Axis of Awesome video by now. If you haven’t, take a moment and do it now. I’ll be here when you’re done. The point that video makes is that countless songs we all know and love are built around the same harmonic changes. There’s nothing wrong with…
Entrepreneurship in Music Series: 003 Hum Co-founder and Designer Aaron Shekey Hum is the simple-to-use, intuitive, and aesthetically brilliant app that is currently taking the entire songwriting (or “song-jotting”) world by storm. If you’re an urban-dwelling songwriter, perpetually on the go, and can’t sit still on your commute without those inspiration…
+ Welcome to Soundfly! We help curious musicians meet their goals with creative online courses. Whatever you want to learn, whenever you need to learn it. Subscribe now to start learning on the ’Fly. By Jack McCarthy The art of songwriting is a noble one. The task of storytelling through music, whether fictional or inspired by events in one’s life, is…
