My songwriting toolkit - what’s yours?
In the “Songwriting” magazine, there is often a section for people’s songwriting kit. Here I share mine.
A keyboard of sorts.
I’m no good at guitar (fingers press two strings when I only want to press one!), but I can play any chord in any key on the keyboard. That is enough for me to be able to play a melody, construct a chord sequence, add harmonies. A proper piano is my preference for this, but equally a cheap yamaha keyboard would do (both pictured!)
My phone
I do love an iPhone. But regardless of the make/model, what you do have is a voice recorder. You also have access to a web browser which can give you dictionary, thesaurus, rhyming dictionary, related words sites that can totally help with lyrics. My favourite apps for lyrics are: Writr (Rhyming dictionary). OnSong for capturing the chords and song once it’s a song “shape”.
Collaboration
Friends, colleagues and/or family. Some of my best songs have come together through collaboration. I took part in some songwriting collaborations where a group of us were in a mentor/mentee setting, and on the retreat we had we were thrown together with others to write songs together in groups of 3 in half-day sessions. We always came up with something and they were amazing.
Cheat-sheet
Having a ‘cheat-sheet’ is probably the best way to be the most productive you can be as a songwriter. By this, I don’t mean a reference page to read, I mean a structure for capturing your songwriting ideas and giving them their best chance. The cheat sheet needs to include:
Names of song-writers, date of songwriting and agreed % split/ownership.
A list of inspirations
Bible verses
Interesting or key words
Tunes/vibe of other artists
Artwork
Ideas
Song structure - using Graham Kendrick’s 3R’s of songwriting teaching, a useful guide is ‘revelation, reflection, response’. A similar guide is “What? So what? Now what?”
My mac
My mac, with a reasonable mic and midi-keyboard attached - to capture the song as it’s being formed. Being able to transpose it all on the fly, play it back, tweak it, change it easily and quickly.
Other instruments that assist me in taking it further.
Cajon (rhythm), Cigar box guitar, baritone ukulele (like a guitar but only the top four strings) - allows me to have a different vibe/feel for the song than you can get just on keyboard.
Let me know what’s in yours?
