Ideas and Advice for Real Songwriters (formerly songwright.co.uk)
Category
FAWM
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02.06.10How not to complete February Album Writing MonthI'm finding FAWM difficult this year. Admittedly, I found it difficult to find the time last year as well, but this year is particularly difficult. I've managed one song, called Rattle your Jewellery. Here it is: Download Rattle Your Jewellery And to be honest, the writing of it was entirely a paint by numbers affair. I used this lovely album cover generator to find a random title. That gave me 'Rattle Your Jewellery' which I started messing around with, eventually come up with the first two lines sung over an A Minor chord. Then I hit a brick wall. What was I going to write? ...
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01.14.10February Album Writing Month is here again!It is nearly February. For the last two years, the second month of the year has meant only one thing to me: February Album Writing Month! What's that then? FAWM is a songwriting challenge. The idea is to write 14 new songs or pieces of music. If you can, record them upload them and generally share them with others via the website fawm.org. Is that it? Not quite. The best thing about FAWM is the community. The FAWM forums are full of wonderful, creative fellow songwriters, all of them eager to leave helpful, constructive comments on your songs. You can find people to collaborate ...
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03.09.09A February in SongwritingSo how was your February? Mine was not nearly as productive as I thought it was goiong to be. I signed up to Febraury Album Writing Month, got all geared up to write, and then what did I achieve? Five songs, one of which wasn't really new at all. In fact it wasn't even a song. Seven Curses Download Seven Curses Started life as an audio sketch this one. Beyond the initial chorus I had absolutely no inspiration, so I had to rely on songwriting 'tricks' instead. These included the key change in the verse, the rather banal horro-film lyrics, and throwing in a ...
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02.08.09Three Fawm SongsSo Far I have completed three songs for this years FAWM. Download Seven Curses Download Fill my Head Up Download Light a Path All of which are rough drafts rather than finished versions. My latest finished songs can be found here.
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01.21.09Are you ready for FAWM 2009?It's that time of year again - we're coming up to February. If you haven't tried it yet, I urge you to have a go at February Album Writing Month, or Fawm. What's that? The Fawm challenge is to write 14 songs during the month of February, and (if you want to) post your lyrics and recordings on the Fawm website. Fawm.org also allows you to hear what other people have been writing, and the forums and comments are an amazingly constructive and encouraging experience. In short, Fawm does wonders for your songwriting, whether you manage to complete all 14 songs or not. It's a ...
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11.02.08T.C. Elliot AKA Pig Farmer Jr – A post 50/90 interviewA second interview with a songwriter who attempted, and completed, the 50/90 songwriting challenge: A gentleman named T.C. Elliot, or Pig Farmer Jr, whichever you prefer... Here's his website 1. 50 songs..... how on earth did you manage that? Having an understanding family. On Saturdays my wife works and I am off, so except for some running around for the kids I had between 6 and 8 hours to devote to songwriting, recording and posting. Additionally, I was able to squeak out between one and three hours on Tuesday and Thursday nights for the majority of the challenge. I wrote and recorded ...
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03.16.08How to write lots of songs quickly"All the posts about changing key and arranging instruments are useful, but before I start doing that, don't I need a song to arrange? How do I get things written!" There's no point worrying about the bassline, the drop chorus or the guitar solo if you haven't written anything yet. This post should give you a couple ideas about how to get things done. Last month, as I've mentioned before, I took part in February Album Writing Month. I've been writing songs for a good few years now, but in all that time I've never been forced to compose to such tight deadlines. In ...
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02.27.08Probably my last Fawm songOh dear. I think I'm going to fail FAWM. Well, I've written 10 songs I wouldn't have otherwise, so that's not exactly failure is it? But I'm not going to hit fourteen and a half, simply because I'm running out of time! Here are the last two songs. I'm particularly proud of 'Where Once They Had Hearts'. Ideas to steal from them: An ostinato that stays the same while the chords change (E Fsharp Gsharp in 'In the cellar at number 33'). Climaxing on a chromatic chord (the first chord in the chorus of 'Where once they had Hearts' isn't in the mode that the ...
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02.04.08Two more Fawm SongsI've written and demoed two more songs for Fawm which puts me up to four. Technically this means I'm ahead of schedule, but I'm sure things will happen in the rest of the month to balance this out. Spinning the Compass [audio=http://www.wellwrite.co.uk/songwright/tomslatter_spinningthecompass.mp3] To The Empty Sky [audio=http://www.wellwrite.co.uk/songwright/tomslatter_totheemptysky.mp3] Ideas to steal: Fourths and fifths. Both songs have harmonies that emphasise fourths or fifths. The guitar chords of To The Empty Sky are built using collections parallel fifths, the vox harmonies in Spinning the Compass are sometimes parallel fourths Build up to something. To the Empty Sky is a big build up to the final line. It sticks with ...
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02.03.08Second FAWM song'Black water' [audio=http://www.wellwrite.co.uk/songwright/tomslatter_blackwater.mp3] First draft lyrics: Treading water, wound in my side Overboard in the dark of the night grinning faces threw me to my doom and now my arms and legs burn with the strain Threw me right in, cursing my sins here alone, I'll admit that they're right All the traces, the things that I've done I thought I'd get away with all that pain Black water, Floating out on the tide Salt water, filling me up inside Once a while ago, thought I might stop Though I'd sinned there was time to make right And now pace has, become too much, as I go under I begin to pray Black water, Floating out ...
