An unusual holiday or birthday gift, but one that would be treasured for years, is to write someone a song. Writing a song for someone in particular first presumes that you can write a song! If you can, this is just a specific application of your songwriting skills. To get someone else to create the song just …

I was just reading about Ray LaMontagne, the captivating singer-songwriter who is currently on an East Coast tour. You may not know his name, but you probably have heard his song “Trouble,” which got a lot of radio play a couple of years ago. Watch LaMontagne perform “Shelter” at a BBC stage in London.   Today …

I compose music, and people sometimes ask me about how inspiration works for me. The fantasy is that a writer is struck with an idea like a bolt out of the blue and it leads directly to the creation of a song. This fantasy is appealing, but in the case of most professional writers, it doesn’t …

What does writing music for songs mean? Music in the world of songwriting encompasses both melody (the notes and rhythms that singers sing) and Harmony (the chords that are played on a keyboard or a guitar to support the melody). Even in copyright law, there is a distinction between Music and Words. They each constitute 50% …

If you’re interested in creating songs, you should by all means pursue songwriting. If you have no musical knowledge, you’re restricted to lyric writing. Your lyrics should come after someone has written a melody. A melody is a series of pitches and rhythms that lends itself to words and therefore to singing. Without a melody, lyrics …