When I hear a song I like that’s either new, new to me, or that I haven’t heard in a while, I sometimes think, ‘That’s great! Why haven’t I written a song like that?’
This can be an excellent jumping off point for a new song – writing something based on what I love but haven’t done before.
Because we all have our comfort zones. Some of us always write with an 8th note feel and never write shuffles (triplet feel); some writers are the opposite, and always write in a shuffle or swing feel.
We all have tempo comfort zones. I have a few areas (my versions of slow, medium, fast) that I immediately default to – unless I hit the reset button.
There are melody comfort zones – some writers’ phrases almost always start on a downbeat. Some writers’ phrases often last for two bars, followed by two bars of rest… and this continues through the song. Some writers tend to write melodies that go up… some write ones that descend… and some write melodies that don’t move much at all.
Some writers use major chords almost exclusively, rarely venturing into the world of minor chords… not to mention diminished and augmented chords, etc. Some never use 7th chords; some rarely use a chord without a 7th!
Some have never written a song in 3/4 time (such as a waltz) – everything is always in 4/4. And some (like me) have written only in 4/4, 3/4, or 2/4… and have never used ‘odd’ time signatures such as 5/4 or 7/8.
And we all have lyric comfort zones – most of us write a lot about our obsessions (whether we’re trying to or not).
Does any of this sound like you?
It’s not a bad idea to mix it up every once in awhile.
How about narrating as a character that is not you at all?
If you usually write optimistic songs… can you explore your dark side? Do your songs tend to be melancholy… can you lighten up? Write something happy! It (probably) won’t kill you.
The problem is that any of these kind of ‘comfort zone’ habits can lead us to create songs that are too predictable, songs with a deadly lack of surprise, songs that sound and feel too much like our other songs.
To go back to where we started, this is where the excitement that happens after you hear that song you love and say to yourself ‘Why haven’t I written a song like that?’ can really come in handy.
Listen closely, analytically, to that song. Take some element of it that’s not in your comfort zone… and use it in your new song. Is it faster – or much slower – than you usually write (or think you can write)? Etc.
Grab something you think of as being not you – and take it for a test drive… No obligation to purchase.
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