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[Music]
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do you have folders full of half written
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and unfinished songs You Are Not Alone
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In this video I'm going to share with
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you a songwriting formula that has
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changed everything for me as a
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songwriter learning this simple formula
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has helped me identify great song ideas
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to know whether the idea is likely to be
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a good song at all and it has also
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helped me be able to write better songs
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faster and I'm excited to share it with
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you too
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this is a formula for thinking about
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song ideas before you've even written
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them and the formula is all about
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finding a writable idea so what's a
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writable idea well here is our formula a
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writable idea is three things a concept
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plus a title plus a song map I'm gonna
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break each of these three components
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down in detail and when we get to song
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maps I'm not only going to show you
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examples of great song maps but I'm also
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going to share with you a free pdf of a
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song map template that I've created just
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for you if you want to grab it right now
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the link is in the video notes why is
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understanding a writable ID so important
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when we have the combination of these
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three components it gives our song
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structure and a plan it guarantees
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before we've even written the song at
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all that the song can be written the
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combination of these three things is
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almost like giving your song a bucket
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and your job is merely to fill the
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bucket rather than splashing water
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around everywhere and hoping it
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accumulates into something which is
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often what the songwriting process can
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feel like when we don't have that
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structure so let's dig into the first
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component of our formula the concept
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what is a concept a concept is the
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general idea of what you want to write
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about in the book June Smith written by
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the very celebrated and famous
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songwriter Jimmy Webb Jimmy Webb gives
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an example of a song concept so a song
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concept is something like I want to
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write a song about someone who goes
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through acute mood swings from Euphoria
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to emotional exhaustion I love this
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person and want to address the song to
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him a song concept can also just be an
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interesting angle of approach for
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example I want to write a love song
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about the person I want to marry but I'm
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going to address the song to the
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person's father who's refusing to let me
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propose to that person that's the first
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component of our three-part formula but
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here is the crucial thing as Jimmy Webb
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says Simply Having the song concept is
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not yet a song idea to quote Jimmy Webb
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if however you add the following
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sentence I want to call the song Problem
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Child then you have an idea even though
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the song may not end up being called
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Problem Child the second component of
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our formula for finding writable ideas
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is having a title giving your song
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concept a title does two important
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things the first important thing that it
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does is it gives your song an anchor
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which a lot of people call a hook it
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says this song is about this one thing
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this is the way that I'm going to talk
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about this idea that I have if my idea
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is a house this is the door that I'm
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gonna walk through to get into the house
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it is actually about limiting
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possibility limiting options and putting
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parameters around all the big ideas and
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that brings us to our second important
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thing that picking a title does for your
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song concept it gives you a target for
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all of your lyrics it means that every
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line of lyric in the song has a
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destination in mind let's look at an
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example of this in Ed Sheeran's song
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first times so the concept of this song
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is all about Ed Sheeran writing a love
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song for his partner in which he's
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celebrating all of the small intimate
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daily first times that he gets with his
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partner which are way more emotionally
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significant than the Epic grandiose
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first times of being a world famous
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performer the title of this song is
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first times and if we actually peek
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inside the lyrics we can see that every
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single line of lyric from the first line
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is forging a direct path to the Target
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idea first times that first line there
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is all about the first time he played
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Wembley so that's a grandiose epic first
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time that he's using to create contrast
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to the real first times that he's
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talking about in this song all of the
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first times that he has shared with the
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love of his life choosing a title gives
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you a destination and when you have a
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destination in mind all of your lyrics
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have direction from the beginning of the
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song but let's remember an important
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thing you can change the title as you go
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you're not contractually obliged to
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stick with the first title that you pick
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but the key is giving your concept that
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directing through choosing a title puts
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you in motion and it's that momentum
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that will often set you on the path to
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discovering new and better ideas let's
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talk about our final component of this
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formula the song map so in essence a
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song map is nothing more complicated
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than having an idea in your mind about
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how you could approach this title from
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at least two different angles where the
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meaning and the emotion will grow as the
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verses progress the cons concept plus
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the title needs to contain in it a clear
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way that your song idea could start
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develop and then escalate even a song
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like Happy by Pharrell Williams has a
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clear song map in it the title of that
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song is happy and the chorus is all
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about happy but let's look at the song
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map verse one is merely a description of
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how happiness feels the sense of elation
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verse one is all about describing simply
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what it feels like to be that happy but
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verse 2 is not just a reiteration of the
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same idea verse 2 introduces a new idea
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it introduces the idea of obstacle it's
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talking about voices getting in the way
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voices talking this and that trying to
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bring me down it's all about introducing
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challenge or obstacle to the feeling
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this is actually a usable Soul map if
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you ever want to write a song just about
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a clear mood or a feeling which has lots
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of applications in the market for
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songwriting so for example in film and
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TV songs need to convey a clear mood or
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emotion and this is a great song map for
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writing songs like that that are not
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narrative but really just clearly
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focused on describing a mood or emotion
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so the song map that we can extract from
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this is verse one how it feels verse two
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an obstacle or a challenge to that
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feeling and when we understand that song
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map you can see how that could apply to
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any feeling at all there are two other
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song maps that I want to show you that I
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think of as universal song maps which
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means the song map itself is a clear
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trajectory from beginning middle to end
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and a way that we can approach the same
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title or same hook every single time
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with compounding emotional impact so the
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first song map looks like this we start
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with the problem intensification
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escalation a great example of this is
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the song slow dancing in a burning room
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by John Mayer when we peek inside that
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lyric what we can see this song as a
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concept is all about a relationship that
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is on the brink of collapse the
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extraordinary sharing title of this song
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is an incredible image slow dancing in a
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burning room and the song map here
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starts with the narrator of this song
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sensing that there's a problem the two
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characters can no longer connect with
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each other then the problem intensifies
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not only are they not connecting but
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they're actively arguing with each other
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they're picking fights and then the
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final point of escalation is not just
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picking fights but deliberately trying
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to hurt each other we have a clear song
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map here of problem intensification and
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escalation another Super usable and
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repeatable song map is called Situation
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context consequence in this song map we
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tend to start in the present moment we
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describe a situation that again is
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really introducing the problem or the
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story the development is where we Zoom
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the camera lens out we might go back in
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time to talk about how we got to this
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moment we might Zoom the lens out to
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look at a broader social context in
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which this situation is happening and
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the final final part of this song map is
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consequence which is where we get the
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emotional heart of the song The
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Emotional consequence of the situation
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that was introduced and the context in
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which it's happening a great example of
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this is the song The House That Built Me
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by Miranda Lambert in this song The
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Situation sees Miranda knocking on the
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door of her childhood home the context
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then zooms the camera lens to her
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childhood it gives us a broader
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emotional context to understand why
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knocking on her childhood door is
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Meaningful to her and finally the
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consequence is contained in the bridge
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of this song the emotional consequence
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of leaving her childhood home was that
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she got lost she forgot who she was and
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coming back to her childhood home is an
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attempt to reconnect to her deepest self
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every well-written song has a soul map
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blueprint that you can extract from it
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and use to write any song that you want
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about anything that you want and I've
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created a free pdf that guides you
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through a series of specific questions
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that will help you create super
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effective song maps every single time
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you can grab that for free by clicking
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in the link in the video notes I also
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want to put a massive caveat on this
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whole idea of song formulas okay because
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I know that the idea of formulas can rub
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people the wrong way showing you this
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songwriting formula is not about saying
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that all songs should be written this
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way there's no one way to write songs
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and sometimes we absolutely need to just
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write in order to figure out what we're
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writing about however having this
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formula available to you is so helpful
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when you find yourself adrift in
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unfinished songs with no plan of how to
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get them finished if you want one more
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tip on how to make sure even the first
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songs you write sound like you've been
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writing for years check out this video
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right here happy writing guys I'll see
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you soon
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