SongwriterAdvisor.com Newsletter
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Tune Sleuth
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Issue 1.3 - July 1, 2008
Copyright 2008 Songwriter Advisor
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Contents:
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1. Songwriter Advisor's Message
2. Worthy Songwriting Contest Deadlines
3. Upcoming Article Preview (only available to TS subscribers)
4. Songwriting Book of the Month
5. Songwriting-related Product of the Month (It's Free!)
6. "Tune Sleuth" Investigates "I'm Still A Guy" by Brad Paisley
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1. Songwriter Advisor's Message:
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Last month we launched our songwriteradvisor.com blog to a
hot reception. Unexpectedly, our website visitor stats flew
through the ceiling and the number of SA readers tripled in size!
We're very thankful and hope we can continue on our path to be-
coming your #1 free songwriting resource on the web. You can
access the blog here: http://www.songwriteradvisor.com/blog/
This month we're excited to bring you Tune Sleuth's first
country song investigation and it happens to be by the talented,
multi-platinum recording artist Brad Paisley, who happens to be
one of country music's most successful songwriters and performers.
Country music continues to get the worldwide recognition it de-
serves and songwriters can learn a lot by studying the classic
structures of many of these songs to incorporate them into their
own country songs or any other style of songwriting.
Be sure to check out the link to a free songwriting tool by
JamStudio.com. It's a neat little tool sure to keep you busy for
a while you're at work or play!
http://www.jamstudio.com/Studio/index.htm
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2. Worthy Songwriting Contest Deadlines:
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Winning or placing in a high profile songwriting contest can
bring you much exposure and improve credibility, and merely
entering a contest brings much-needed experience for many song-
writers due to preparation and hard work involved in trying to
win!
American Songwriter Amateur Lyric Contest
Deadline for next Bi-monthly contest - July 20, 2008
US 10.00 entry fee per song lyric
Winner receives - DX1 Martin Guitar, valued at $699.00., and a
chance to compete for a master production demo from Music City
Music Production, Inc. valued at over $1,500.00
http://www.americansongwriter.com
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Stay Tuned---There are quite a few other contests we
can all get ready for, and they'll be outlined in the next TS
issue!
For now, just keep on writing--there's plenty of time to meet
contest deadlines as of this writing.
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3. Preview Of Upcoming Article (available only to Tune Sleuth
subscribers until it's posted on 06-01-08)
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Songwriting Help For Songwriting Inspiration
We've all been there. With our heads buried in our hands
we race against time to submit either the last four songs re-
quired by our contracts, the two songs we need to finish our
debut or latest CD, the three outstanding songs we need
to impress a music publishing executive, or to simply write a
darn song!
But song ideas are hard to come by and the melodies and
lyrics you thought were easily within reach, are buried in
oblivion!
So what can you do? Whatever your situation, be sure to check
out http://songwriteradvisor.com/blog/2008/06/12/
so you can determine if you first need some well-deserved rest.
Ideas for songs are everywhere. That old songwriting sug-
gestion still holds true today--carry either a portable mini re-
corder or at least a pencil and pad so that when an idea or song
title slams into your brain, you're able to retain it for future
reference.
The following are 3 foolproof ways to look for song ideas:
1. Watch movies and keep your brain peeled for original lines
from actors' mouths that can turn into great song titles, which
in turn will make it easier for you to write an interesting song.
Here's a helpful guage: In my experience each movie has only
between 1 to 4 interesting lines worthy of being great song
titles, and they usually stick out like sore thumbs! This means
you don't have to sit through a movie waiting impatiently for
the lines to come, they'll actually come to you.
So pop some corn, sit back, relax, and help your songwriting
by watching the latest blockbuster!
2. Listen to your favorite songs while in your car, and, if you
just sit back and enjoy the music with the windows rolled down
while the wind hits the side of your face, you'll hear words
and/or melody parts that inspire another song idea or theme.
If you're in a convertible, you have no excuse, a complete song
should be written during your 1 hour commute to work! Yeah,
I know, I wish it were that easy.
Take either a starting note or an ending note in a phrase,
and go off in your own direction, even if you're singing over
the same song's beat. Now use the original part you just
piggy-backed off of the song as an idea for your own melody.
This idea works wonders and it's not cheating! Take comfort
knowing all music is inspired by other music!
3. If you're listening to music at home, turn the knob to a
very low volume so it's barely audible from another room. Go a-
bout your daily chores, and at some point, when an unfamiliar
song plays, you'll hear your own brain taking over the melody and
harmony of whatever song is playing into a totally different
and original direction. Voila! A new melody! Remember, the
song must be barely audible for your senses to take over.
Try this one, it takes a little practice, but you'll be
amazed with the results! Be forewarned though; once you come up
with a worthwhile melody, you'll probably forget to make up
your bed. Heck, one week of this can give you so much music
inspiration that your house will look like a disaster because
you'll spend all your time songwriting rather than cleaning up
after yourself!
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4. Songwriting Book of the Month: Writing Better Lyrics, by
Pat Pattison
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Pat Pattison's book, "Writing Better Lyrics," is an advanced
in-depth lyric songwriting book that can improve your ability to
communicate your lyrics far more effectively than the average
songwriter.
The book will show you how to unlock an abundance of fresh,
unexpected rhymes, how to use imagery by detailing a daily
ten-minute exercise to help you make your songwriting interest-
ing, and among so many other things, my favorite: how to use
conventional rules then BREAK them to your advantage!
Pattison is a professor of music and songwriting at the
famous Berklee College in Boston, MA and I must say my song-
writing improved vastly by applying principles learned in this
book.
Read more about this by clicking the following link:
http://www.songwriteradvisor.com/songwriting-books.html
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5. Songwriting-related Product of the Month: JamStudio-the
online music factory (It's free!!!!!!)
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JamStudio.com has come up with a really neat little online
songwriting tool that lets you pick out chords on a staff and assign
an instrument and tempo to the song. The result is, it plays the
chords you pick out, for however many measures you like at your
preferred tempo.
This little tool is great for quickly putting down chord
ideas for your songs, or better yet, for arbitrarily picking out
chords and inspiring your own original melodies. It even lets
you transpose your chord creations into different keys!
Watch out, though! If your boss finds out you've been play-
ing with JamStudio for hours on end he or she might take away your
coffee priveleges!
It's actually conceivable to write an actual quality song
using this songwriting tool. Way to go, JamStudio!
Check it out at:
http://www.jamstudio.com/Studio/index.htm
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6. Tune Sleuth
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Brad Paisley's "I'm Still A Guy," written by Brad Paisley,
is the subject of the Tune Sleuth's investigation for the month
of July, 2008.
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Here's the full report from the Tune Sleuth's desk files:
Enjoy!
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.........................Tune Sleuth
After receiving a confidential informant report that "I'm Still
A Guy" was Brad Paisley's seventh consecutive #1 single as an ar-
tist, I was left with no choice but to investigate further to find
out what all the hoopla was about:
My findings will be based partly on facts and a lot of object-
ivity and subjectivity, and those songs found in violation will be
subject to the full extent of songwriting law!
As a free song reference, I can click virtually anywhere and
audition either the promotional video or hear the audio file. For
this song, I visited AOL music to hear and analyze the single.
Like any other consumer, If I like what I hear I will purchase
his CD to support and enjoy his music.
************ I always try to lead by example when it comes to
preserving copyright laws, so I can only provide a few lines at
a time for educational purposes only. Luckily, most artist web
sites provide lyrics as a courtesy for their fans. So grab or
write down the lyrics and follow along:
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"Im Still A Guy"
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Writers:
Brad Paisley, Kelley Lovelace, Lee Thomas Miller
Here are the first few lines:
When you see a deer
You see Bambi
And I see antlers up on the wall
When you see a lake
You think picnics
And I see a largemouth up under that log......
........
To conduct my investigation, first I'll run the song through
the song checklist found at:
http://www.songwriteradvisor.com/songwriting-checklist.html
I will then point out good techniques used as well as possible
flaws in the song's construction.
Most importantly, at the conclusion I'll list all the cool
techniques we can all apply to improve our songwriting.
1. Song Title
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As in many country tunes it appears the title came before any
of the final lyrics in this song because of its purposeful lyrical
structure totally based on the theme, "I'm Still A Guy." **Picking
the song title first is the best and easiest way to structure
lyrics around the theme because it is always clear from the start!
I guess I'll have to ask one of the writers if the title was
picked first, but until then, let's just use that assumption for
the rest of this song investigation.
The meaning of the song's title becomes abundantly clear
after the first verse, and this works well for this song. But
another great strategy would be to delay the payoff of "I'm Still
A Guy" until somewhere in the first chorus, or even the final
verse or chorus!
2. Song Form
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The song is in Verse-Verse-Chorus-Verse-Instrumental-Chorus-
Verse (AABACBA). Wow! Talk about an interesting song form!
This song form has been used before, but you can hear how
interesting this song becomes when, after the third verse, the
song goes into an instrumental instead of the usual chorus.
3. Hook/Chorus
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The phrasing in the chorus starts with lead-in notes before the
downbeat of the chorus (And I'll pour out my heart.....). This
is usually the 2nd most powerful way to begin vocal phrasing in a
chorus (right on the downbeat is usually the strongest)--but this
depends on many variables such as song tempo, lyric structure of
other sections, etc.
Notice the hook "I'm still a Guy" is NOT contained in the
chorus. It occurs in the end of each verse and ends up making the
verses more memorable than the chorus.
4. The Verses/Pre-choruses
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The intro begins with a sweet acoustic guitar until the vocal
starts in the first verse. During the 4th bar of the first verse
(And I see antlers up on that wall) an electric guitar plays an
ascending riff into the third line (when you see a lake....) ma-
king the third line explode powerfully into the rest of that
verse.
The second verse builds even more momentum by incorporating
a cool, busy, underlying electric guitar riff until the chorus
strikes!
The song continues to build momentum into the first chorus
and the first chorus has only slightly more intensity than the
second verse.
****If you were to play this song with a solo instrument,
you'd start quietly for the first two lines, add intensity for
the 3rd line by playing notes louder and perhaps adding more notes
with your finger picking (guitar) or finger work (piano) for the
rest of the two verses, and finally add even more intensity during
the chorus by playing straight chords.
5. The Bridge
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The song doesn't contain a bridge but it does have an instru-
mental part after the third verse, just as we're expecting the
second chorus, and it works well! Let's put this one into our
neat little bag of tricks.
6. Point of View
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It's hard to argue with the successful point of view used by
Brad Paisley in this song, 1st person narrative.
Paisley uses tongue-in-cheek humor about his perspective on
how guys and girls have different views, something he's already
sung about before.
However, this song could also have been easily written in 3rd
person---check this out:
{Chorus}
And he'll pour out his heart
Hold your hand in the car
Write a love song that makes you cry.....
Also as an example, in 3rd person, the 1st verse would be:
When she sees a deer she sees Bambi
And he sees antlers up on the wall
When she sees a lake she thinks picnics
And he sees a largemouth up under that log
The point here is:
Always try your song in all three different points of view.
I actually think this song would be even funnier and more interest-
ing if the writers would have chosen 3rd person narrative. I'll
bet you these pros at least thought about it!
7. Rewrite
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Like most country songs, "I'm Still A Guy" appears to be
rewritten and polished to near-perfection. There's hardly a
wasted word and the song moves logically forward.
It's hard to find country songs by major artists that are
not super-polished, because the Nashville, TN music in-
dustry demands it! There are so many great songwriters in
country music and many industry pros swear the best songwriting
in the world is right over there in that city called
Nashville! It's easy for me to believe that based on the acts
I've seen and heard performing at Music City.
I'm a firm believer that if you want to learn general song-
writing principles these days, you should consider studying
some of the best modern country songwriting and perhaps country
songs that cross over into the pop arena.
Verdict
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Although this is not my favorite Paisley song it's a
strong one that points out a few helpful songwriting cues
for all of us. see LESSONS LEARNED below>>>
It's easy to see why it's such a monstrous hit right now.
Although it's a great song, if you're a devout country music fan,
if you listen to the top ten country songs as of July 15, 2008
you'll probably hear what I hear--the top ten is a little below
standards as far as quality. But this happens in every genre,
and history tells me this won't last very long--there are
simply too many great writers and artists in this genre!
There have been no detectable songwriting crimes committed
in this song, so Mr. Paisley, you don't have to worry about
an officer knocking on your door and confiscating your guitars
via a search warrant. Rest easy and write another one of your
monster hits for our listening pleasure!
Lessons Learned
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It's hard to pick out any obvious flaws in this song's
construction.
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Here are techniques and cool tips we've learned from this
song to improve our songwriting:
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1. Write a song by coming up with a clear-cut, deliberate
title, referring to a person's characteristic traits, and how
they affect you.
An obvious hit that used this approach was Shania Twain's
single "You're Still The One."
2. Put your hook/song title at the end of each verse for a
change and either include or exclude it from the chorus.
3. Vary your verbs, i.e., When you see a deer you SEE Bambi
when you see a lake you THINK picnic
4. Instead of going into the 2nd chorus after either the 2nd
or third verse; go into another section such as an instrumental
or a bridge.
5. If you're using humor in your song, use it throughout the
song or in a consistent manner such as the next-to-last line
of each verse or any other section you see fit.
6. Consider adding intensity during the middle or end of the
first verse instead of the usual 2nd verse or prechorus.
7. Remember to try all "points of view" either during your
songwriting or during a rewrite.
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Tune Sleuth is Songwriter Advisor's monthly newsletter con-
taining valuable insight, information, tips, and techniques to
benefit the songwriting community.
It is released two weeks early for subscribers during the 2nd
and 3rd week of every issue's preceding month. Subscribers are
authorized and encouraged to recirculate and reprint this news-
letter for non-profit use as long as the entire newsletter text
is included, and we ask that subscribers only release this news-
letter on or after the official issue date (Always The 1st of
each month).
Feedback is welcome and appreciated and suggestions for future
Tune Sleuth songs for review are also accepted and very
important to us. Visit:
http://www.songwriteradvisor.com/feedback-suggestions.html
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