Songwriting, ep 1: How to Turn Your Ideas Into Songs

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I'm gonna do more of these. More than anything, I am the world's biggest creativity cheerleader - DO COOL STUFF!

If you know key chord functions and understand time signatures you can manipulate all your ideas into songs. Some cool progression that you came up with 4 years ago actually works well with tonight's random riff! You just gotta line them up into the same key and feel.

My Truefire "Guitar Zen" Courses:

Sound Tools Used in This Vid:
1966 Fender Mustang
Silvertone 1484

Eric Haugen Guitar

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I heard someone say that if a song comes to you when you are sleeping, you have to get up and write it down. Otherwise it goes to Bob Dylan.

nikodelrey

Don't doubt your ideas either. So much of art and especially music is not just making something. But being willing to take what you've created and expanding on it, or sharing it. Alot of greatness can be lost to thoughts of "It's just not cool or unique enough"

OriginalReact

In a world of hyperactive fake YouTubers it is so freshing to see you calmly and effectively dropping absolute knowledge bombs, thankyou

superwokemarketing

That last idea—"All your ideas that you came up with with probably work because they all came from you" (paraphrased) means a lot to me. I have so many voice memos and fragments of ideas and I've been struggling to figure out how they can all be fleshed out. But it helps to remember that they came out of my flesh and my life, so they were already fleshed out. If I was able to live a life that gave rise to the various ideas, there's evidence that there's a way to hold them closer together. Thanks, Eric.

samwisegrangee

Thank you. This is verging on a Bob Ross level of comfortable, welcoming teaching. I have come up with masses of gorgeous, sparkling nuggets of ideas that I've either forgotten, committed to memory or recorded on my phone. I do a lot of planning how to write music when I'm in the shower, but haven't just applied myself to get down to it. I'm sure your video will help me ease my fragments together. Jumping straight into the substantive content rather than starting with some long-winded (like this comment) introduction was spot-on!

sporkfindus

I was doing the same exact thing you're doing and the stray bits and pieces were fitting together fairly well, but there was one spot where I was stuck, trying to find a little connecting riff between two sections.
There was a big Grackle up in the tree outside, and he was giving his morning concert like he does every day. (He stops by for water, and I give him fruit and nuts, and he's my buddy). I noticed after a minute or two, that he was singing in the key of A, same as my song. I stayed quiet for a minute, and he sang this weird little whole tone scale. I copied it on the guitar, and it was a perfect transition between the sections that I was trying to fit together.
Now I feel a moral obligation to give this bird co-writing credits and compensate him with some extra goodies like maybe some cashews.
If you have any of these Grackles where you live, stop and listen to them for a minute or two.They often sound like Ornette Coleman or John Coltrane or sometimes Devo.
Moral of the story: Inspiration can come from places you'd never expect, like pots and pans hitting the floor, or the wheel falling off of a truck, or a Grackle in the tree.

jpalberthoward

Never be afraid to let your song jump between time signatures.

creedwooden

Great video. As a musician for over 30 years, songwriting is so intriguing. I love hearing how other people get the wheels turning.

StayHomeEatGreat

The hardest part is when you hit record, my fingers turn into spaghetti noodles and my brain turns into a meat ball! Playing consistently and cleanly is near impossible!

This is a great video! Very straight forward!

lukeswain

im so glad i found your channel. im always trying to improve my songwriting and im going to binge your songwriting and music theory playlists

AdityaSharma-hizm

Perfect timing: I just finished my work week and a new Eric video lands at this very moment. There's no better way to start the weekend. As usual, great lesson !

oliviermahe

Perfect day IS a perfect composition - Thank you Eric for always making theory more tangible & digestible - I've always loved the simplicity of the song, , but some times it can be tempting to pedestal compositions you love - thank you for succinctly demonstrating how it is possible to tastefully assimilate or ingrain cherished compositions through a blend of strong foundational theory as well as creativity.

callancutcliffe

I especially love this one, Eric. You're so good at covering this topic, I'd love to hear more from you on creativity and writing!

New

You've got your phone with you every living moment of the day. When you come up with an interesting lick or progression or melody or phrase, make a quick video. Sort 'em out later. But be sure to sort 'em out -- don't let them die on your phone!

jrpipik

Eric has both educated me on music theory with my upmost attention, as well as helped lul me to sleep with his soothing voice and playing in the background. Love it as always.

Lennyroddy