Thanks for all your encouragement about my songs on Eternity Invades. Many of you asked for songwriting advice on the blog, so here is something I’ve found really useful.
If you want to write songs, or maybe already do and want to improve, this is my advice…
Harness the power of technology and spend a few hard earned coins on a piece of software that will really give your songwriting a kick in the pants :)
It’s called “Master Writer” and it was invented by a friend of mine called Barry DeVorzon who lives in LA. I’ve used it for three years and would be lost without it.
There is a short video about how it works here.
You can download a free trial of it here.
Gwen Stefani, Rob Thomas, Steve Vai, LeAnn Rimes, Amy Grant and David Foster have a ton of Grammy”s and accolades. And they all rave about it.
It might sound unnecessary when all you seem to need to write a song is a piece of paper and an instrument. But as Rob Thomas put it "Producers have Pro Tools. Writers have Word. Songwriters have Masterwriter". He”s won 14 Grammys for his songs..so I guess what he thinks carries a lot of weight.
My favorite things about Masterwriter, having used it for three years are:
- I have scraps of paper with lyric ideas everywhere in my apartment. They get lost and are never found again. MW lets you document them all into their own folders.
- I have audio snippets of melody ideas on my iPhone and my voicemail, which inevitably get trashed. MW lets you record audio snippets in the same folder as your written notes, keeping audio and lyrics together in one place.This has made SUCH a difference to me.
- Stuck for a rhyme? MW has a built in rhyming dictionary, with soft and less obvious rhymes as well as hard rhymes. It gets you out of the ‘rhyming ruts” so common in CCM/worship (grace, face, place etc!) and provides new ideas
- It gives you a free way to copyright your songs, through emailing them to SongGuard, MW”s own secure database.
- It identifies better word choices; highlight the words you are using to describe something in your song, and MW chooses more impacting and striking ways of saying the same thing.
- It has all the text of the Bible built in, so you can search and find verses and phrases in Scripture for your lyrics.
Check out the video and the free trial, then let me know what you think.
I’ll leave you with a couple of screen shots:
Give the free trial a test-drive and see if it’s useful for you…
I’m glad I found it three years ago…it’s something I wouldn’t want to be without.
-Vicky
Disclosure of Material Connection: This is a "sponsored post." The company who sponsored it compensated me via a cash payment, gift, or something else of value to write it. Regardless, I only recommend products or services I use personally and believe will be good for my readers. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission”s 16 CFR, Part 255: "Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising."
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