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however, be free to treat the bass notes as the foundation of major or minor chords or their inversions, since a single
note in the bass can imply a number of different chords. (There will be more about this later.)
If one of these methods doesn't work for you, then try another. Or, to stop yourself from writing the same kind of
song over and over, deliberately choose a different method.
Other Strategies for Songwriting
Here are some other stratagems you may find helpful:
1 Compose away from your instrument. This stops you from falling back on familiar patterns. Listen to the music in
your mind and shape it in your imagination. When you have an idea firmly in place, then go to an instrument.
2 Try a different instrument. Guitarists have a tendency to use chord sequences and keys that are easy to finger. Try
composing on a keyboard instead. You don't have to be able to 'play' the piano in any technical sense. All you need
to work out simple sequences is the ability to play major and minor triads.
3 Borrow a structure. This is a bit like keeping the scaffolding but changing the building inside. Take a song you like
and write down the basic structure. Eliminate the chords but keep the same form, tempo and length. Then write a
new song using the same structure.
4 Arbitrarily choose some limits – a key, a tempo, a time signature, a theme, a style – and write a song to fit.
Experiment with different genres. Set yourself a challenge by writing a song:
- that is only two minutes long
- that starts with a chorus
- where the verse is in A and the chorus in F
- that is in any time signature other than 4/
- that changes from 4/4 to 6/8 and back
- that has an odd number of bars in the verse or chorus
- that increases in tempo
- that does not have a turnaround
- where the structure is verse, verse, bridge, verse, and the "hook" is in the verse
- that is a sad song with only major chords
- that has no minor chords
- that begins with some effective rhymes picked from a dictionary and used to generate a lyric.
5 Pastiche. Write in the style of a singer or band you admire. Many songwriters begin this way, writing songs that
sound like their favourite music. It is also a useful exercise for more experienced writers, even when they have
worked through the initial phase of strong influence by one particular artist or group.
6 Read a book or magazine, see a film, go for a walk. Imagine and observe. Listen to conversations on the bus or in
the shopping queue. Then put it down in a song.
7 Visualize. Sit in a silent room and close your eyes. Imagine a box of 45rpm