Mini Songwriting Workshop - How to overcome writer's block

Especially in songwriting, the demands and expectations on ourselves are high. After all, great lyrics should be written and instrumentally implemented. But writing lyrics can be really tricky. It's all too common that songwriters quickly discard every idea because it feels too intimate or too shallow; or doesn't meet your own requirements in some other way. And no sooner do you get it right than you're right in the middle of writer's block! To prevent that block from taking hold, I'd like to give you a little songwriting workshop here in the form of directly applicable tips. They will help you to overcome your writer's block(s) so that you can quickly get back to creating and writing. Ready to go? Then let's get started right away with the first tip.

Songwriting Workshop Overview

1. Distinguish between "private" and "public" lyrics
2. Create an alter ego
3. Make it easy with clear framing
4. Nutze die Cut Up Technique
5. Write "morning pages" first

1. Distinguish between "private" and "public" lyrics

The first two tips of the songwriting workshop are especially for you if you feel that your lyrics are too personal. Personal lyrics are perfectly fine in themselves - it can be very helpful and liberating for your personal development to process deep-seated emotions musically. However, if you find it difficult to share this music with others, you may keep it just for yourself indefinitely. Perhaps one day the moment will come when you have found enough distance from your song. If you want to share it then - go for it. If not, okay. The most important thing is always that you feel comfortable with what you are doing.

2. Create an alter ego

However, if you want to write songs that are also meant for other people's ears, the following tip from this songwriting workshop is for you: find or create an artistic alter ego (also called a "stage name"). This is also about gaining distance from yourself. An alter ego can also help you to talk about the world and also about emotional things from the perspective of another person. The practical thing about your character is that the person you're writing about isn't actually you. You can put a lot of personal stuff into your alter ego, but you don't have to. You are free to take stories, change them, add to them, or leave them out. You can also create a fictional character (with name, appearance, backstory) and freely invent their thoughts, problems and desires. Many great musicians like David Bowie, Prince, Paul McCartney and Eminem have worked with Alter Egos for years - creating great, musically groundbreaking works (see this article for more info). How much distance you want your alter ego and yourself to have from each other is up to you. Just try it out and play with the idea of not always having to be yourself.

3. Make it easy with clear framing

The next tip of the songwriting workshop has to do with clear framing: Think about a specific time period in which you want to pursue a clear task. For example, this could be the task of coming up with a theme for your next song within five minutes. Or the task of writing a chorus, a verse or even a whole song within ten minutes. All you need is a tidy workspace, a timer on your phone, a piece of paper, and a pen. Keep it as simple as possible and don't use any other technical tools that might distract you. Then set your specific task and time frame and start implementing it without thinking too much about it. Don't stop the exercise prematurely, even if you seem to be running out of ideas. Especially when you have writer's block, it can be super helpful to go by the motto "quantity over quality". If you find that writing a perfect song lyric right away overwhelms you, try focusing on the essence of your lyrics. Also, you can outline several versions of your lyrics. It's better to have five mediocre ideas on paper than none at all. You can always make decisions and take care of all the details afterwards.

4. Use the Cut Up Technique

The next method of the songwriting workshop may seem a bit unusual, but it is no less effective. The Cut Up Technique is a method of working with various text clippings from newspapers, magazines, diaries and other text sources. These are physically cut out and arranged on an open space in a way that makes sense to you. In addition to words, the cut-out snippets can have notes, chords, melodies, pictures, photos, or similar things on them. Anything you find interesting is allowed and can be used to shape and inspire your songwriting. And of course, you are free to modify the individual elements so that they fit into the big picture in a meaningful way. David Bowie, by the way, used the Cut Up Technique for writing some of his greatest songs. In the video clip below he explains the technique himself.

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5. Write "morning pages" first

The fifth and final tip of this mini songwriting workshop is perfect for those who feel like they can't get a clear thought. Here it can help enormously to write so-called "morning pages" in the run-up to songwriting. For this you grab three pages of paper, a pen and simply write down everything that comes to your mind. And that can (and might) be complete bullshit. You only stop when all three pages are full. The point of the exercise is to empty your head of all excess and blocking thoughts. In addition, the exercise helps enormously to get into action without constantly discarding and questioning everything you produce. This is strictly forbidden when writing the morning pages. If you want to know more about how the exercise works, have a look at this video. Here I present the morning page exercise along with two other creativity techniques so you can get a clear picture of how to proceed with the exercise. You'll also find a free workbook I created (in German) that you can use to develop and implement your songwriting idea step by step. Do you want to learn more about songwriting? Then I have an article for you about creating meaningful music.

Looking for musicians for your project?

And if this article has whetted your appetite for joining forces with other musicians for a joint project, take a look at our mukken portal. Here you can find musicians from your area with whom you can exchange ideas, meet and make music. I wish you a lot of fun with your project!