IJ's Songwriting Tips Blog

Ralph Murphy’s Law

IJ — Fri, 26 Apr 2013 17:48:45 +0000

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Songwriting veteran, Ralph Murphy, recently gave a few eager songwriters some writing tips at his recent talk during ASCAP’s Expo in Hollywood. Here they are:

The importance of writing for women: “Women physically buy 50% of all records made — and make men buy the other 50%,” joked Murphy. Seeking feedback from unbiased [...]

Stupid

IJ — Tue, 26 Feb 2013 19:34:41 +0000

No, it’s not a title for an article, it’s just the title of one of the songs on my CD Shades of Grey:

Happy 2013! Tips From Others

IJ — Mon, 31 Dec 2012 22:04:35 +0000

I was flipping through my most recent copy of SOCAN’s Words and Music and found some interesting songwriting tips from Matt Mays, a Canadian songwriter who finds himself on the road quite a bit. Check out his website.

Here is his list of tips:

1. “One thing that has really helped me is [...]

McCartney: The Consumate Showman

IJ — Sun, 02 Dec 2012 22:43:37 +0000

Paul McCartney (Photo credit: darioferrini)

All the way to the Paul McCartney concert in Vancouver BC last week, my family listened to old Beatles and Wings songs in the car. That was when it occurred to me that this one person has the song catalogue of a thousand of us menial songwriters out [...]

Open Tunings

IJ — Fri, 02 Nov 2012 18:48:26 +0000

I recently began to coach a local songwriter on a weekly basis, and he has inadvertently re-introduced me to open tunings on the guitar. He writes some interesting songs, and part of what makes them interesting is his penchant for all kinds of alternate tunings that cause lots of broken strings, but plenty of [...]