Writer and musician Ellie Mckinsey explores one of the most common chord sequences and explains how to harness its power...
Where do songs come from?
Interview: Diane Warren
Interview: Teenage Fanclub
Interview: Hailey Whitters
Interview: Tom Grennan
Interview: Newton Faulkner
5 Minutes With… Peggy Seeger
How I wrote ‘Cool For Cats’ by Squeeze’s Chris Difford
Interview: Jamie Cullum
The creative process
Writing team dynamics
How I wrote ‘Turning Japanese’ by The Vapors’ David Fenton
How I wrote Art Garfunkel’s ‘Bright Eyes’ by Mike Batt
How I wrote ‘Stay’ by Shakespears Sister
Interview: Gary Barlow
Interview: The Flaming Lips’ Wayne Coyne
Interview: Bróna McVittie
Interview: Tom Walker
Interview: Elles Bailey
Four chords that changed the world (and how to use them)
5 Minutes With… KT Tunstall
How I wrote Christina Aguilera’s ‘What A Girl Wants’ by Shelly Peiken
How I wrote ‘Rabbit’ by Chas & Dave
Interview: Stereophonics’ Kelly Jones
How I wrote ‘Teenage Kicks’ by The Undertones’ John O’Neill
Songwriting Magazine Autumn 2020: The Quotes
Interview: Roachford
Interview: James Taylor
Songwriting Magazine Autumn 2020 edition out now
8 things to know about co-writing
Jamie Lawson’s Songwriting Survival Kit
Interview: Miranda Lambert
8 ways to resolve songwriting conflict
Interview: Rob Thomas
The Album That Changed Everything
16 song starters
Interview: Guy Chambers
Interview: Gabriella Cilmi
How I wrote ‘I’m Just A Singer (In A Rock And Roll Band)’ by The Moody Blues’ John Lodge
Diary Of A Songwriter: Sunny Ozell
Nerina Pallot’s Songwriting Survival Kit
Using scales to write songs
How I wrote Bristol
How I wrote ‘What A Beautiful Day’ by The Levellers
Interview: Tori Amos
Jenna Andrews’ tips on getting the most out of a publishing deal
Diary Of A Songwriter: George Montague
Principles Of Modern Songwriting
The Album That Changed Everything
Interview: P.P. Arnold
Interview: Eels’ Mark Oliver Everett
How to come up with 100 new song ideas
How I wrote ‘Is It Any Wonder?’ by Keane’s Tim Rice-Oxley
Judith Owen: how to find your own truth in other people’s songs
Chris Gantry’s Songwriting Survival Kit
How I wrote ‘Underdog (Save Me)’ by Turin Brakes’ Olly Knights
Dear songwriter (are you in a boredom funk?)
Interview: Isobel Campbell
Interview: Jonathan Wilson
5 Minutes With… Judy Collins
Interview: Kelvin Jones
How I wrote ‘Farewell To The Fairground’ by White Lies’ Charles Cave
Frankie Cosmos’ Songwriting Survival Kit
Want to see Songwriting Magazine in print?
Interview: Garbage’s Shirley Manson
5 minutes with… Midland’s Mark Wystrach
How I wrote ‘Enola Gay’ by OMD’s Andy McCluskey
Fink’s top 10 songwriting tips
Diary Of A Songwriter: Serafina Steer
Bruce Soord of The Pineapple Thief’s Songwriting Survival Kit
How I wrote ‘Rhythm & Blues Alibi’ by Gomez’s Ben Ottewell
Songwriting Magazine
Articles
The man behind the music of The Wombles and Katie Melua shares his tips for digging deeper with your songwriting
It sometimes helps to go back to basics. So here’s a useful cheatsheet taken from writer Ed Bell’s latest book...
The talented Scot shares some valuable lessons learned from an illustrious career, “a lot of heartache” and the Skywalker Ranch
We discover that a hangover, a view and voice memos are among the items that fuel singer-songwriter Mike Rosenberg’s creativity
From delighting in positive reviews to working on mythology-infused demos, the Nottingham-based rising talent shares a week in her life
Flute-toting frontman of prog-folk group Stackridge, Mutter Slater, recalls a time before the words ‘boundary’ and ‘taste’ had been discovered
We look at the ingredients which make up the English folk musician’s “love song seen through the prism of cooking”
In writing a song for the film ‘City Of Angels’, the frontman created one of the 90s’ biggest crossover hits
The Australian rock band’s songwriter and keyboardist discusses his intimately personal song which their iconic frontman Michael Hutchence did justice
The singer-songwriter reflects on the creation of her No 1 single with a lyric that was suggested as a joke
We make a point of getting to know the Londoners with a pioneering dance-inflected indie sound and plenty of substance...
How I wrote 'Stay' by Shakespears Sister
1
How I wrote 'Luka' by Suzanne Vega
2
How I wrote Art Garfunkel's 'Bright Eyes' by Mike Batt
3
16 song starters
4
How I wrote 'Enola Gay' by OMD's Andy McCluskey
5
How I wrote 'I Alone' by Live's Ed Kowalczyk
6
How I wrote 'Place Your Hands' by Reef's Gary Stringer
7
How I wrote ‘Beds Are Burning’ by Midnight Oil’s Rob Hirst
8
How I wrote 'I'm Just A Singer (In A Rock And Roll Band)' by The Moody Blues' John Lodge
9
Shelf help: 10 of the best books for songwriters
10
Comments
I'm going to keep songwriting by reminding myself that overflowing emotions can be relieved when I write them down or sing them out.
I’ve kept writing songs all through lockdown and have just released currently have 4 tunes waiting for me to find the right words. The songs
My best mate and I have been writing songs together for just under a year and we've just released our 1st single! I am so
I have been writing songs now for over 40 years and I am not about to stop.
Notebook writing even day
I wrote 'Start a party' for Freedom day and the nightclub scene. It all started with Gary Barlow's course, I am now on the TSA
I have plenty of ideas and try to get one end product at one time! Focus, making, listen to it until I am satisfied with
Continue to build an incredible music catalogue
I have been writing songs privately for the last 5 years, but never recorded any. I almost gave up on recording, and was going to
It's my passion, to be honest.