After each meeting of Forge, I thought it would be a good idea to condense some of the discussion into helpful songwriting tips. Please add your own thoughts/tips in the comments section!
Tip #1: Get advice from musicians.
Since I often primarily focus on the words in songwriting, I was especially impressed by the feedback given by people who are primarily skilled musicians. Skilled musicians can give insights into rhythm, melody, harmony and song structure that most songwriters can hardly imagine existed.
Tip #2: Play with obscurity and clarity.
Pop songs tend to err towards clarity, while artsier indie/alternative songwriting tends to err towards poetic obscurity. I believe both clarity and obscurity are necessary for good songwriting. For the pop songwriter who wants to delve deeper, you can try adding elements of mystery to your songs-- unusual turns of phrase, reversed expectations, intentional gaps in the plot, contradictions, paradoxes. For a more poetic songwriter, it may be beneficial to add elements of clarity -- cliches, choruses, repetition, simple language, catch phrases.
Two tips is all I have time for now. I know we discussed much more last week, so please do not hesitate to add your own tips.
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