Quality Songwriting Tips I learned from the Beatles
Ok, I have written down this quality songwriting tips that any songwriter should not forget. There are certain songs that sounds exceptionally well but most of the songs sound crapped and unmarketable. Basically it is in my belief that regardless your status as songwriter, whether you are an amateur or a professional one. The word “Quality” should be kept into focus. Let me tell you a simple story of how “quality” is being measured by the Beatles Paul McCartney and John Lennon, we all know they have written hits more than anyone in this planet up to this time.
I have been reading the biography of these great songwriters especially John Lennon and Paul McCartney. “Quality” is important for them even though they are not considered as “professionals” before they become famous. What they define as a “quality” song is something that can be remembered the next day or in the coming days without the use of a recorder. Remember that these guys are busy, unfocused, always doing things informally that will increase chances of forgetting the tunes. In the next day, they will tend to forget most of the tune they have created days before.
But these great writers are not worried forgetting those tunes at all, instead they feel happy they sorted out “BAD” songs. What they can remember the next or coming days is really a great song. Then that is the time they have to spend more time developing it. Things like playing it in the band, testing the arrangement and coordinating with their producers George Martin are the things they will do to further improve the songs.
Most of the time they will remember the “HOOK” of the song, which is the most memorable part of any piece. Beatles are legends in creating hooks, this is partly to their techniques in sorting out “BAD” to “GREAT” songs. Number 1 Hits like “Yellow Submarine”, “Yesterday” and “Sgt. Peppers Lonely Hearts Club Band” are all sorted using these techniques.
Paul McCartney noted the differences between “liking” the song, and “loving” the song. We all know that if there is something we like, we tend to forget soon. This is different to something we love, we are obsessed with it. It is true when he wrote “Yesterday”, at first it is said he meet the tune in his dream. Then after he woke up, he record the song in his cassette. He keep playing the song day by day by himself, even with different lyrics. But the tune is the same, it was memorable to him and feel in love with his song.
The lesson I learned is that you need to LOVE YOUR SONG. It is the same as loving yourself first before you need somebody to love you. Loving your song means you will do what it takes to make the song a hit and popular. This is one of the effective tips.
My father told me that the Beatles never stop writing songs even they are riding on a bus to the concert. It says that to provide a good number of hits you must wrote a lot of songs. Great songwriters like the Beatles admits that there are “GOOD” and “BAD” songs. They weed out the bad songs by writing as many songs as possible, so that the “Gems” will shine through their catalog. It is hard to select quality songs if you have written a few. You need to write many so that the chances of having great songs will become higher also. Please read this post I have written about how to come up with some good songs in your demo catalog. This is a good start in how to use your math to come up with some realistic expectations of having good songs in your demo.
In fact what is the most transparent effective songwriting technique by the Beatles is the power of songwriter collaboration. John Lennon and Paul McCartney are the greatest songwriting partners of all time. The reason why this technique works is simple: “Two Heads are more powerful and creative than One”. I have tried this myself, where I wrote some songs and it is not as powerful as those produced with a collaborator. This is because when you write a song with a partner, the partner can criticize and can even improve the melodies of the song. Same technique employed by the Beatles, when John Lennon starts up the song, Paul McCartney can even make the song better, or vice versa. This is highly advantageous if both of you are extremely good. Two great songwriters working together can even write a more powerful piece than doing solo.
Learn from these legends in songwriting, observed like conversing with them as what the quotation says:
A single conversation with a wise man is better than ten years of study. ~Chinese Proverb
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