Songwriting Techniques - Jeffrey SteeleFor a great lesson in songwriting techniques just watch Jeffrey Steele sing his songs or listen to his songs. Each song is a lesson on how to write a song. Jeffrey Steele is a "Hitman" in the songwriting business. On top of all that he is a star performer in his own right. Below is a photo I took of Jeffrey at the Taxi Road Rally in Nov 09 in Los Angeles. 
Jeffrey Steele has over 500 of his songs recorded in eight years. That more than 80 songs in the top 1, 2, 5 and 10 of the Billboard charts. He's been BMI or NSAI writer of the year 6 times and his songs have had more than 35 million airplays on television and radio, 75 gold or platinum records and his songs on records sold is more than 50 million. In 2007 he had three number one songs. He's been nominated for a Grammy three times. He also was a Judge on the 6th season of Nashville Star. One aspect of his songwriting talent I want to focus on is the build and sectional differences in his songs. When you listen to one of Jeffrey's songs you know something emotional is happening. His music invades you and you feel, see and hear it right into your body's core. Try listening to his three #1 hits in 2007 - "Brand New Girlfriend"(Steve Holy), "My Wish"(Rascal Flats), and "What Hurts the Most"(Rascal Flats). All three songs are a great demonstration of songwriting techniques. I downloaded them from iTunes. It was worth the three dollars as a songwriting lesson. If you can't afford them all, try going with just "What Hurts the Most". What Hurts the Most has a song structure of Verse, Prechorus, Chorus, Verse, Prechorus, Chorus, Chorus. Here are the Lyrics. Listen to the slow quiet first verse with spaced lyrics and then the change in the volume, forward motion of the Prechorus and quickening pace of the lyrics in the Prechorus. Next, listen to the huge climb in the chorus. Its a text book example of how to build great sectional differences into a song. My "Brand New Girlfriend" is Verse, Chorus, Verse, Chorus, Bridge, Chorus. Here are the Lyrics. The opening verse is slow, quiet with little music and "talking" lyrics. When he hits the chorus it takes you on a country rock trip through the roof. The sectional differences are huge both in music, volume and speed. "My Wish" is Verse, Chorus, Verse, Chorus, Musical Bridge, Chorus. Here are the Lyrics. He uses the last two lines of the verse as a lift or prechorus into the chorus. Interestingly in the second verse he drops the second to last line then does the prechorus lift. (Helps give variation to the song). But the same blueprint for quiet verse, stronger lift in the prechorus and then a huge lift in the chorus. If you want to write successful songs like Jeffrey Steele, one of the songwriting techniques you can use is make you songs stand out like his with incredible sectional differences. Obviously he does many other things in his songs but this is one of the things you should be doing when you write your songs. |
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