Song Writing

        On my last post, there were lots of you wanting insight into the writing process. I gotta tell you guys, I'm honored. There are literally thousands of other bands that could be occupying your listening time, and it really means a lot that you guys not only listen to us, but you wonder things about us. And honestly, sometimes I wonder things about you guys, too. I really want this whole thing to be interactive. More than you guys just reading stuff I write, you know?
        Anyway, I gotta get on topic, so I'll get right to it. Song writing in and of itself is extremely diverse. It varies to a very (get the wordplay?) great degree from one individual to another. That being said, I do believe some things are true:

1. Your approach will very heavily depend on what you want your song to accomplish.
2. The arts are all meant to be enjoyed. It's the way we express ourselves. This means that song writing can be very spiritual. I would encourage you to worship God with your writing. I don't mean that you have to write a worship song. Rather, enjoy the process and thank God for it.
3. While there is no wrong way to write a song, there are plenty of ways to write a song no one wants to listen to. lol

        If you're wondering why I'm coloring everything differently, the answer is I don't know. In fact, I'm gonna randomly color a word green. There I just did it. It's good to not be too rigid. Helps the blood pressure. You can trust me, I'm not a doctor.

        So... the writing process... I think I'll just share how I approach song writing. I'd like to have some sort of workshop on this, or maybe record a video on it. Like I said before, something interactive. What if we wrote a song together? Comment below if you'd love that. I'm not sure how we would do it, yet, but The Lord (and skype, Google Hangouts, etc.) is on our side. =]

        When I write a song, the number one thing on my mind is vocals, and not just because I'm a vocalist. Think about it. If someone hears your song, what are they going to walk away humming 90% of the time? The vocal melody. Obviously there are exceptions, and I'm often one of them. I'll hum guitar riffs and synth parts, sometimes, but this is usually more common in musicians and doesn't reflect the vast majority. 

        I would encourage you, song writers, to start with a melody or at least have a melody in the picture very early on, so that it can shift and mold along with the rest of the song. If you develop the music too much, it affects the melody that pours out of you. You might have sung it differently if this part or that part had not been in there, yet. When you have a melody very early on, you get music and vocals and mesh together way better than you would otherwise.

        As far as what you write, it's really hard to give solid advice because it so heavily depends on your goals for the song. Are you writing for yourself? Are you writing for a loved one? Are you writing for an audience? Are you wanting to earn a living with your music? All of these questions have to be answered on an individual basis and that leaves no room for a blanket statement. In fact, in most cases, more than one of these can be true, further complicating things. 

        That's why I would love to have a workshop of some sort sometime in the future. You guys could give feedback and I could answer questions. This blog just isn't the format for such a thing. I'll be brainstorming about how to pull it off. In the meantime, leave your thoughts.