Welcome... to the world of songwriting! Here you will find plenty of tips, tricks and info on the craft (and even some on the business) of writing songs, which I hope you will find helpful. As usual, this site is free for your perusal, but you can always make a donation to help keep it going! And join the mailing list to be the first to hear about any updates...read on!

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Muse's Muse Webring

Free Articles Galore!

NEW!! The Bridge - From One Side to the Other
NEW!! The Verse's Purpose - never underestimate it
Be Bold - freshen your songs up
Don't Bore Us, Get To The Chorus - a primer
Great Songs and Apple Pies!- the "write" ingredients
How Much Money Does A Songwriter Make? -
A Reality Check
Phrasing - What is it?
Composing vs Songwriting - my work in television
The Real Deal - songwriting websites I recommend
The Muse - Some Personal Experiences
Song Contests - One Opinion
The Hit Song
- do your songs measure up?
Genres- some definitions!
Pain of Separation- separating yourself from your songs
Your First Open Mic - A few tips!
Song Forms & Terms - A quick study
Song Breakthroughs How do they happen?
Songwriting Topics Take the poll!
A Web Presence Do you need it?
Where To Get Critiques!
Making Your First CD!
Results of My Demographic Survey!
Vowels and Consonants and Syllables, Oh My!
Your Songwriting Career Taking the Small Steps
The Second Verse How to Write The #@*&!! Thing!
Self-Indulgence Don't Sound Like A Beginner!
Dynamics & Tension What They Are and How to Use 'Em!
Rejection Three Stages of Recovery
The Theory of Relatively Do People Relate?
Rhymes They're Trickier Than You Think!
I'm Too Happy To Write Where does it come from?
Chord Keys Which chords sound right together
Rule #1!! There ARE NO RULES!!
Publishing A Brief Beginners' Guide
Success What's Standing In Your Way?
More On Magical Melodies - A quick study
Your Weaknesses Pinpoint, including production quality!
Recording Tips Recording your new gems!
Music Terminology For those not familiar with it
Songwriting As Storytelling Even if it isn't!
Performance Tips Playing To An Audience
Threads Tying It All Together
Putting Music With Lyrics Some simple tricks
Tools Of The Trade My tools and how I use 'em
Finding YOUR Voice A song is as individual as you are
How I Critique Or how thick is your skin?
Step By Step How I wrote a song starting with one line
Go With The Flow Getting into a creative headspace
The Magic Of Melody Writing better melodies
Getting Down to Details The nitpicking part of the craft
Why I write...how 'bout you? That says it all!
Join rec.music.makers.songwriting! Newsgroup
Meaning and Metaphor Adding depth to your lyrics
The Trouble With Lyrics Fixing those common problems
Performance Anxiety A couple of remedies
Song Structure Defining a song's parts
Attitude Is Everything! How's yours?
The Music More musical ideas
Critique and LEARN! So you thought you were too new?
Inspiration vs Writer's Block From one to the other
Other Writer's Inspirations Add yours!
Lyric Framework (by Cyril Rawson) A checklist!
Please Yourself You can't please everyone!
Who's Your Audience? Finding yours
Cliché's The good, the bad and the ugly


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Information contained herein is subject to change without notice.

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Take the poll!

 

Results of the question: How many songs have you written?

1-5 49 (29.5%)
6 - 20 33 (19.9%)
21-40 18 (10.8%)
41-100 14 (8.4%)
So many I don't know! 14 (8.4%)
None yet 38 (22.9%)

Total Votes : 166
***
Results of the question: What genres do you mainly write in? (choose up to two):

Rock. 43 (25.4%)
Pop 36 (21.3%)
Country 8 (4.7%)
Alternative 14 (8.3%)
Folk/World 4 (2.4%)
Instrumental/Electronic 6 (3.6%)
R&B/Blues 12 (7.1%)
Rap/Hip Hop 10 (5.9%)
Metal 34 (20.1%)
Other 2 (1.2%)

Total Votes : 169
***
Results of the question: What, in your opinion, is the main weakness in your songwriting?

Lyrics 61 (24.9%)
Melodies 49 (20.0%)
In a musical/lyrical rut 23 (9.4%)
Trouble getting inspired 31 (12.7%)
Not unique enough, sound like someone else
35 (14.3%)
Not commercial enough (if applicable) 11 (4.5%)
Boring chord progressions 26 (10.6%)
Other 9 (3.7%)

Total votes: 245
***
Results of the question: What are your future plans for your songwriting?

Become a pro writer (get published, etc.):
19
(25.3%)
Write just for fun: 9 (12.0%)
Become a performing songwriter: 40 (53.3%)
I don't know yet:7 (9.3%)

Total Votes : 75