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Songwriter’s Tip: Escaping ruts with unstructured jamming

by Joel Falconer

I was falling into a bit of a songwriting rut from a compositional point of view over the last two weeks and tried all my usual tricks to free myself from it. But this time, it wasn’t that there was no melodies building up inside; I had been so caught up in the structured process of songwriting and working to expand the band’s repertoire and improve on the existing material, that I’d forgotten the creatively liberating power of unstructured jamming.

Then the other night, at a friend’s house with a bunch of musicians in the living room, the curse broke. Why? Simply put: a few beers and six hours of jamming for fun, for no reason and with no goals in mind, with a few like-minded musicians and a bunch of acoustic instruments.

Better still, none of these musicians were members of my band. My band is made of fantastic musicians, but working incessantly with the same people - no matter how skilled - can turn off some creative lights

After six hours, I felt free again, and the musical ideas have been pouring out just as fast the lyrical ones.


Posted in Songwriting on July 12th, 2007

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Do you know which essential questions to ask yourself when starting a band? What is your strategy for reaching an audience? Which tactics are you using to promote? Can you answer in 4 seconds or less what the strongest theme of your music is? Most musicians answer these questions with a shrug and glazed-over eyes, but they're just a few of the things a musician must know to create exposure and audience. Read Musician's Notebook with Joel Falconer and discover how to make your music sharp, focused and successful.

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