My WORK-FLOW to a hit song...maybe

WORK and FLOW – when you bring these 2 elements together with CREATIVITY I think true music and productivity can dance together to make something great. I work full time as an Energy Engineer so my days are spent fine tuning efficiencies and effectiveness in all things from pumps to operating costs. Due to my nature of organization and structure I tend to tackle songwriting and creativity with the same approach; I think with a technicolored, 88 key, lyrical soul and imagination but keep strategic, deliberate fences and hurdles for the unicorns to stay in or jump over.

Below is a template of headings for what I start every song with. I put this template in a gdoc so I can always add to it wherever or whenever the unicorns strike and it is then always saved in the cloud where the unicorns like to ride!

I realize everyone has a different way of chopping wood and I respect all of them – I have just found through years of experience songwriting that this strategy has worked really well for me to build some solid songs!

With each heading I will explain what goes in each section:

Song Title:

Pretty self explanatory but if I have a few different versions or ideas on it I will list them here here.

Homework:

If I am co-writing or even with myself I will list the next steps and what we need to focus on for the next session so we can work and develop ideas on our own and maintain the song momentum.

Song MAP:

This is basically just a high level explanation of what the song will say in each section along with a general song theme explanation. For example the main message or event in verse 1, chorus and so on. This is very simple and one sentence/idea/message for each section.

Song seeds and idea hooks:

This section is the workhorse of the song as it holds a lot of the “golden nuggets”, “one liners”, key messages, essential lyrics, that will “seed” and make up the key phrases of the song.

Phrase/rhyme ideas:

Exactly what it implies – phrases or words that I like that “roll off the tongue” or really strong lyrical rhymes that I think could be used in the song.

Verse 1 Ideas:

Exactly what it says - start writing the first verse in this section.

Verse 2 Ideas:

Exactly what it says - start writing the 2nd verse in this section.

Chorus Ideas:

Exactly what it says - start writing the chorus in this section.

Bridge

Exactly what it says - start writing the bridge in this section or as the song is being developed I will use this section to document ideas for the bridge.

Production notes and songs for inspiration:

I call this section the “talking with music” section. With many songs as the music, lyrics and melody get developed an energy and “feel” starts to be established. This is where I list songs that could be modeled for the in studio production of the song. For example maybe I like a beat of one song and the guitar tone of another.

This will also be where I will list songs for inspiration to listen to, evaluate and dissect to try and make the current song I am writing as best it can be.

Potential Artists for cut

Because I am a songwriter and not an artist, as I am developing the song I am always listing artists that I think may like or cut the song.

Music

This is also a very important workhorse section of the template as I list any potential chord progressions that I like, the song bpm range, notes on "voice notes" from my phone that I have recorded or tracks I have made. Basically this section tries to keep all the music and melody ideas consolidated and documented.

Working Chart

This section pulls from all the other sections and is essentially a working draft of the final music chart where the lyrics, chords and music tab is documented and a final music chart can be created.

Stay in tune and stay in touch,

Cheers,

Kent