Any songwriter will tell you that inspiration to write a song is unpredictable and uncontrollable. How do they find the right words to explain the inexplicable? Either way, it is as interesting as writing a music essay. Songs spring out of interesting mistakes, accidents, emotional turmoil, and private pain. Songwriting is a mystery that even the songwriters don’t understand and they seem not to unravel what happens when they are writing their songs. Over time songwriters get inspirations more times than not because they recognize tricks and tips to approaches that trigger them to write.
Aspiring songwriters need to understand a few things. In the beginning, one tends to write phrases that don’t make sense just to fill rhythm. These words or phrases that seem out of place and they should be replaced with real words. Replacing them inspires your writing in a different direction. Most instrument playing songwriters, especially guitarists are known to be inspired when they play and generate great song ideas through weird mistakes while playing. Even if they are mistakes they are worth cultivating to come up with great songs. It is not every time a songwriter comes up with the full song, sometimes they concentrate on making lists of potential titles for their songs. An example is Woody Guthrie, who has a manuscript full of song titles. A songwriter rearranges to arrange some lyrics. When a songwriter writer stares at a blank page it is louder than written content. It is important to work from the known to the unknown as the rule on any mystery. For example, take a blank page and write lyrics to an existing song, then write melodies on a new blank page.
Top 5 smartest songwriters
Eminem
Eminem’s name is synonymous with rap music after the ‘My name is’’ burst on the Hot Billboard Hot 100 in 1999. He has been recognized as one of the greatest rap music songwriters and most of his songs are based on life experiences. In the Billboard 200, he had 10 albums while in the Billboard Hot 100 he had a total of five singles which made it to the top.
Jay-Z
In the Billboard Hot 100, Jay-Z has featured on four hits. He collaborates with rappers and other hip-hop music icons. Back in the late 1990s, he racked 21 Top 10 hits. Due to his contribution to rap music he has been inducted into the songwriters’ hall of fame as one of the greatest.
Kanye West
His debut album “The College Dropout” released in 2014 Kanye West is one of the greatest rap songwriters. On the Billboard Hot 100, he had four number ones top 10 hits of 17 songs in total. His talent as a rapper has not been overshadowed by his outspoken nature which is very much criticized. He is a top award winning personality in the 21 Grammy awards.
Missy Elliott
She is best in hip-hop music and the best female songwriter. For years the songwriter has been in history churning top hits that have made it to the Billboard Hot 100. She has written hit songs for Aaliyah, Beyonce, and Ciara.
Nas
The songwriter has been accredited to Jennifer Lopez “I’m Gonna Be Alright” and Missy Elliott “Hot Boyz”. He has made top 10 Hot 100 Billboard hits twice.
Instead of starting from scratch get a songwriters template and fill it with words. Work with materials available on public domain sources instead of using copyrighted material to avoid getting into trouble. Traditional songs have interesting song templates with working structures. Songwriting is a challenging career because one can never tell when it will happen.
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