One thing that has modified my songwriting in a radical approach is a way I name blueprinting your music.

Once you’re constructing a home, you hope that the builder is working from a very good blueprint.  That’s actually the one approach to be sure that the home you wind up with is the home you meant to construct.  In songwriting, too usually, writers simply begin “constructing” the music with no actual plan for what they need to say or how the music will prove.  That’s no extra prone to end in an excellent music than a builder simply constructing no matter he appears like within the second goes to wind up with an excellent home.

No single ability has modified my songwriting in a extra radical approach than blueprinting. With this system, I’ve developed right into a a lot better communicator with my lyrics and it has reduce my writing time in half (writing quick just isn’t a objective, nevertheless it doesn’t harm to save lots of time). It additionally stops me from ever getting caught after I’m making an attempt to jot down verse 2.  And it helps me get all of my co-writers aligned if I’m writing with different individuals.  That’s a variety of bang to your buck in case you are eager to degree up your songwriting.

When you be taught to do blueprinting properly, I predict you’ll expertise the identical outcomes.

Earlier than I started the blueprinting approach, I usually struggled to finish a music in a single session.

Previously, co-writing usually felt like herding cats. Somebody would throw out a line late into the co-write, and I’d say, “I don’t perceive how that line goes with what we’re saying.” It might prove that my co-writer(s) and I had been writing totally different songs all day. They could have had fully totally different concepts in regards to the storyline than I had, and we had been having a tough time as a result of we didn’t have a transparent, shared thought of the place our music was going.

Enter blueprinting. As soon as I began utilizing this system, I used to be in a position to get everybody within the room on the identical web page BEFORE we began writing. That’s why we wrote sooner. We had been all writing the identical music – from the beginning.  I found that having a 15 minute dialogue and arising with a blueprint earlier than we began writing saved me HOURS of writing time.  

So, are you interested by blueprinting your music?

I hope so!  I’m going to provide you step-by-step directions and, with apply, you’ll be able to grasp the ability of blueprinting.  The concept behind the blueprinting approach is that you simply give you ONE large thought for every part of your music. It’s vital to notice that your blueprint shouldn’t specify what you will SAY.  The blueprint will outline what you need to COMMUNICATE.

In actual fact, for those who write down what you will say, then you could have restricted your self.  A very good blueprint will open the door to artistic writing.  A foul one will restrict you.  When you do your blueprint properly, you’ll find some ways to say what you are attempting to speak.  I’ll stroll you thru an instance.

When you learn the lyrics to my music “Should Be Doin’ Somethin’ Proper” (which was a No. 1 for Billy Currington), I can present you what I imply.

The large thought for the music usually goes into the refrain. In actual fact, that is true 99.9% of the time in hottest genres.  The large thought for “Should Be Doin’ Somethin’ Proper” was “I should be doing one thing proper as a result of I’m getting good suggestions.” So, we had to consider how we wished to set that concept up in verse 1. We selected the concept, “Ladies are laborious for males to grasp.” We thought that concept arrange our refrain thought rather well.

So, our blueprint started to take form.

Verse 1: Ladies are laborious for males to grasp.
Refrain: I should be doing one thing proper as a result of I’m getting good suggestions.

Discover that my title is within the refrain blueprint.  Additionally word that my blueprint concepts are full sentences.  Incomplete sentences usually breed incomplete ideas in your lyric.  All the time be sure that your title is within the refrain blueprint and that you simply use full sentences.

So, we had our blueprint for our first verse and refrain. Then, we had to consider the place we might go in verse 2 to take our large thought even additional. (I speak about this concept additional in one other weblog the place I mentioned the job of every a part of the music.) The job of the second verse is to take the massive thought and both take it farther or take it someplace new.

I at all times ask myself as we begin engaged on the blueprint for verse 2, “What now?  What comes subsequent?”  We determined that our lovable, bumbling man within the music was simply going to ask her what he may do to be a greater lover. So, the massive thought for verse 2 was born and our blueprint seemed like this:

Verse 1: Ladies are laborious for males to grasp.
Refrain: I should be doing one thing proper as a result of I’m getting good suggestions.
Verse 2: Present me methods to love you higher.

That blueprint met all the {qualifications} for a very good one.  Each assertion is an entire sentence.  We had our title within the refrain blueprint.  And we had outlined what we wished to speak, which left us a world of prospects in regard to how we might talk these concepts.

I normally don’t use the blueprinting your songs

approach in a bridge, as a result of many widespread songs as of late don’t have one. Additionally, I don’t ever embody a bridge until it’s 100% important to my music. My first writer, Kim Williams, used to say, “Don’t construct a bridge until there’s a river to cross”. So, our blueprint was performed and we determined to simply see if we wanted a bridge when the time got here.

Discover a number of extra issues about blueprinting your songs:

• It’s easy.
• Every part is a brand new thought. 
• The blueprint for verse 2 takes the music deeper. On this music, it’s deeper as a result of he’s not content material to be a good lover, he desires to be a GREAT lover. That concept, it seems, actually appeals to girls.
• Every part is in the identical “voice” that the music is in. In verse 1, we’re making a normal assertion. Then we begin speaking TO her within the refrain and it stays that approach all through.
• The verse statements all level to our refrain thought properly.  They set it up.

These are all vital elements. As you apply the blueprinting your songs approach, remember to give your self the five-point checkup and ensure your blueprints meet every of these standards along with being full ideas and having the title within the refrain blueprint.  When you evaluate the blueprint to the precise lyric we wrote, you’ll see how we selected to jot down the lyric to every of our blueprint sections.

If you wish to be taught extra, take a look at the guide on lyric writing known as , “Track Constructing: Mastering Lyric Writing.”

Now, I need to let you know how I take advantage of this system within the “actual world.”

After I’m writing alone, I sit down and write out my blueprint earlier than I begin writing the music. I attempt to actually give the blueprint some severe consideration and discover many various methods to develop my thought.  One large mistake I see writers make on a regular basis is that they rush the blueprint and take what I name the “first exit off the interstate”.

By this, I imply that they only write their blueprint and their music within the first, most evident, approach they consider.  Once you try this, you’re giving your thought lower than it deserves.  Plus, you’re in all probability writing that concept the identical approach that just about everybody on this planet would write it.  Hit writers spend a variety of time making an attempt to give you distinctive angles and instructions for his or her concepts.

Within the co-write with Jason Matthews writing “Should Be Doin’ Somethin’ Proper,” Jason acquired impressed and threw out some strains. After deciding on the title, I did a fast blueprint in my head and easily mentioned, “What if we speak about how mysterious girls are to males in verse 1, then speak about him getting good suggestions within the refrain and verse 2 could possibly be about him eager to be taught to like her higher?” Jason agreed, and we had been off the races. We had a plan for what we wished to speak in every part, and we wrote the most important music of our careers in about 90 minutes. 

We didn’t cease and have a proper dialogue or put our blueprint on paper. 

However, we did get readability on what we wished to speak in every part earlier than we began.  As we wrote, that blueprint stored us on track.  It helped us know the place a line belonged if somebody threw out an excellent one.  If I threw out an excellent line about her displaying the singer methods to love her higher in verse one, Jason may remind me that I used to be stepping on our blueprint thought for verse two and we may save the road for that part.  Blueprinting can remedy so many writing and co-writing issues!

Give the blueprinting approach a strive. Observe with a few of your titles and think about to the way you need to develop every part. Do it properly and also you’ll know what verse 2 is about earlier than you even get there.   By no means getting caught on a second verse once more is properly value studying to blueprint properly all by itself! 

Write on! ~ MD