Songwriting Skills - Engage Listeners

Songwriting skills in song-writing include engaging the listener when you write songs. Learn these important songwriting ideas for writing good songs that the listener will love.

Our job is to hold the listener for every breath from beginning to end. Keep them engaged in our song. That’s the test. We either hold them or we don’t.

But it’s more than just holding them. We have to keep them involved in the song, this is one of the very important songwriting skills. They have to be emotionally involved not just a passer by.

We should write our songs so we talk to people the same way as they talk to themselves and each other. Be conversational in whatever market we are writing for.

We should tailor our language and story to the listener. The listener rewards us when our song speaks personally to them. In the same way they speak to their own friends. How else are we going to reach them?

But what does that mean? We must put the listener first and connect with our listener on an emotional level. To do this, we should try using the listener’s language instead of our own. Country writers say “think WalMat not Hallmark”

So try framing songs about something the listener’s are interested in, not only what we the songwriters are interested in. In a conversation people have the chance to clarify what they don’t understand by asking questions.

A song is a one way story. Listeners don’t have the chance to ask questions and engage us to clearly understand our message. In today’s market there are no second chances for your song.

The listener either gets it or they don’t. If they don’t they move on and tune you out or at least find your song forgettable. That’s not good for the songwriter because we’re in the making memories business.

Ever had a conversation where someone has asked you what you mean? We often say things that are general and not focused enough for our friends to understand what we mean. So then we dig deeper and provide more details.

A song is exactly the same except we must provide the unique details upfront or the listener feels left out of the conversation. They don’t get the chance to ask questions.

We don’t want them to get distracted by wondering what we’re saying or intending. When they’re not engaged they won't form an emotional attachment to the song. We to base our writing on a sound communication principle and need to ask whats in it for the listener.