Songwriting with Stu G

I recently started working on co-writing (twice) after writing by myself in the past. Both times it was a fellow songwriter coming to me for help (as if i can be help!) with their idea and shaping verses, etc. So we crafted from there. So to me it felt like it was their song and I was just kinda helping out.

How do you just sit down with someone and say, “let's write a song?” Do you start with an idea and go from there? How about Glory to God, Forever with Fee?

Keith

Thanks for opening up this question! I love the pictures, how you cropped the wider one, and the lighting lends itself very nicely to the black and white as well. Hope we get to hear some of the fruits of that Stu G songwriting session at some point!

I have tried doing some co-writing before, but it seemed that we didn't know what to do with ourselves in that setting. Even though each of us had written lots on our own, we didn't know how that process should work when you're trying it together!

Here's an updated/pruned copy of some questions I posed a few weeks back about the collaboration process. :o) Of course please don't feel like you have to specifically address any particular one of these (and certainly not all of them!). Maybe one or two of them will spark some advice you think we budding songwriters will find useful. (Just for fun though, I've starred a few of the questions I'd be most interested in hearing your answers for!)

Of course, all of these aspects of co-writing are likely to work in different ways for different people. I really appreciate your being willing to share some about your experiences though as I'm sure they will prove helpful for those of us who aren't as far along that path.

* What does the collaboration process typically look like for you? What have you discovered that works (and doesn't work)? The first time working with someone, do you try to set up any ground rules or expectations at the beginning or do you just hop in and go for it and see what happens?

Do you prefer that both people try to come to the table with some ideas to work on together, or do you sometimes brainstorm for even the original idea together?

Do you sometimes have successful collaborations with several people at once? If so, how did you structure that collaboration (time, space, roles, etc)?

Do you tend to confine your collaboration to a single session, or do you sometimes/often follow that up with a lot of back and forth over a longer period of time if things are turning out well but not yet complete?

Do you try to let one collaborator own a particular song and have the final say about it, or do you generally keep an equal footing for all input? (How do you keep a strong unified voice and avoid getting something that sounds like it was written by a committee?)

Have you ever had success with one person focusing primarily on the words while the other focuses on the music, or do you generally contribute equally to both?

* Any practical tips or advice on how best to approach and handle pointing out and working on parts of the song that… well, still need some work? :o) (Constructive criticism, etc)

Do you know of any good resources that might help budding songwriters get a leg up on the collaboration process?

* For the guys here, can you give us a feminine Christian songwriter perspective on how single guys might best approach collaboration with single girls? How can we best respect and honor our Christian sisters in this sort of situation? (Or is this actually easier than it sounds? You seem to have figured out how to do this well in reverse.)

* How do you recommend we go about deciding who are good candidates (and who are not) for collaborating with?

I suppose their might be two basic schools of thought about this:
– try to collaborate with practically everybody and see what comes out of it
– collaborate only with people you have strong mutual respect and trust with

I am a second-degree seeking Songwriting major at Belmont University in Nashville, TN. I hope and pray to one day collaborate. I write poems of praise and worship. I also write poems of encouragement. I focus more on lyrics. Quite honestly, hymns are poems set to music. I hope and pray to collaborate with different people.

I have done some co-writing recently, and thanks again for the advice you gave a few weeks back. I have yet to have any bad experiences. I've had a few sessions where you do more looking at the other guy than anything else though… which is probably the reason you told me to always come with ideas. : )

Well your descriptor is something I have yet to experience, but if that's song writing at it's best I am thinking I may decline future writing sessions, especially with my guy friends… lol

Not scared at all. The only things that scare me are heights, out of tune guitars and industrial size cans of food (especially mayonaise).

I love the pictures, how you cropped the wider one, and the lighting lends itself very nicely to the black and white as well.