Hello readers! Hope this new post finds you all well. This month I am here to share a few tips, tricks and techniques for when it comes to that songwriting block and… lyrics are just not flowing at all. As songwriters we all experience that moment once in a while and that’s totally fine. Not every session can be the ‘perfect’ and/or ‘easy’ one. In those moments, especially if pressured by time or deadlines, it is vital to remain as calm as possible, and think about the following points to hopefully reignite the creative fire.
First of all, everyone works differently. So whatever atmosphere you need to be in for you to be focused, relaxed or inspired… please feel free to seek that place (mental and/or physical). If you now are set up nicely yet cannot produce anything that satisfies you, take a little 10 minute-break and then come back to the rest of the article. To effectively create we need a clear mind that is not busy trying to find out what is causing the block, but to find focus once again in what the task requires. Creative blocks can happen for a lot of different reason, however this post won’t focus on the causes but on the solutions. So here’s a little list of things to try out!
- Meditate. If you are in a stressful or frustrated state of mind, this will 100% help. There are lots of 5-10min tutorials on YouTube and apps that can guide you through a short session if you’re unfamiliar with meditation. This really helps clear your mind and will reset focus.
- What can you see? Think about this. What can you see in your mind? Are you writing about a situation? A feeling? An object? Start describing whatever the topic of your song is; make it simple at first, and then play with lines, phrasing, syllables and words.
- Look around you. If what you’re working on needs a sense of reality… you might be better off surrounding yourself with that feeling. Be in the situation. Feel the situation. Write about it in a journal-like way.
- Think about ALL your senses. So far we talked about sight and view. But what about the other senses? They can provide a really nice touch to your piece and inspire you to take a step forward with the ambience you are trying to create. What could it smell like? Or taste? Or what can you hear? Is it tangible? Make comparisons, find differences, or even common ground.
- Find it, somewhere, anywhere. This next exercise is usually a really fun one. If you are struggling with topic inspiration, grab a newspaper, a blog article or a piece of writing in general. Randomly hover around the piece with your finger without looking and… stop. Did your finger land on a word (possibly a verb or noun)? If so, write it down. Then rinse and repeat twice more. You will end up having three totally random words that you can now use to start thinking about. What do they mean? To you specifically? What’s the first thing that comes to mind when reading them? Do they relate at all? Is there a thread? Play with them. They hopefully will inspire you to think outside your own mental barrier.
- Break it down. Sometimes this kind of creative process can become extremely overwhelming so it is important to break it down into smaller steps. Start with a word; this can be the theme of the song, or the concept or even a short phrase/quote. From there, start writing down 5 more words or concepts or phrases that relate to the previous, and keep chaining this process until you feel like you’re drifting too far. At this point you probably have a good list of ingredients for your recipe, it’s all about mixing them together and shape them up. Arrange them, rearrange them, swap them around, make them rhyme, or don’t, make them make sense, or not. The only thing to keep in mind here is the primal word/phrase that represents the concept of your musical piece.
So there you have it. A small list of six very strong tips to hopefully improve your lyrical creations. If you are curious to know more about songwriting, please feel free to get in touch with me via email. I hope this was a fun and helpful article for you all, let me know if any of these worked for you!