All song writers experience writer's block at some stage. Learn about the powerful technique of using "reference tracks" to break through your blocks.

1. Break Songwriter’s Block
Using Reference Tracks
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2. All songwriters experience
writer’s block at some point
• Listening to music with an analytical
approach is the key to finding
inspiration.
• Apply active listening to reference
tracks to internalize how elements are
used.
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3. Set technical and emotional goals for
your song before you start composing
• Emotional goals: completely up to you, you are
speaking for yourself.
• What songwriting techniques will you use? (e.g.
genre, tempo and key).
• Conceptualize the purpose of your record. Why is it
being made?
• Technical goals: These can come from other artists’
recordings.
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4. Choose and actively listen to
“reference tracks” by other artists
• Artists and producers surgically dissect pre-existing
songs when composing.
• Choose a track similar to what you want to compose as
a reference.
• To find suitable reference tracks you will need to
employ active listening.
• As you listen, label each section and the number of
bars to get your song structure.
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5. Analyze instrumentation to
ignite your inspiration
• Typically, certain groups of instruments represent each
genre of music, for example:
• Rock music: drums, guitars, vocals, bass and keys
• String quartets: two violins, a viola and a cello
• Bass house: vocals, drums, FX, and wobble and growl
basses
• Write down what instruments you hear in each section of the
structure and use these as inspiration for your own track
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6. “Call and response” is the
key to melodic ideas
• Once you have structure and instrumentation, listen for
“call and response”.
• “Call and response” = two phrases where the second
phrase is a direct response to the first.
• This technique occurs frequently in all styles of Western
music and allows you to create interacting musical ideas.
• It takes on many forms and doesn’t necessarily require
two different instruments.
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7. Don’t ignore what other fantastic
musicians have accomplished -
learn from them!
• Actively listening to tracks of other
artists as references will give you great
musical ideas.
• The passing down of musical ideas
through generations is all part of
universal knowledge for us to grow on.
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8. Learn More
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