SONGWRITING PRO ADVICE

BERNARD BUTLER

ARTIST, PRODUCER AND PROFESSIONAL SONGWRITER

The acclaimed guitarist is also a prolific songwriter and producer. Bernard is Songwriting Tutor at BIMM London and has recently conducted a masterclass at Abbey Road Studios…

I think creating was always my interest and when I began to play the guitar (and before that, I had dabbled in piano and violin) it was my instinct to create my own music. I was very curious about the process and as soon as I began to notice the ‘brackets’ under song titles which we used to see on records and CDs, I realised that was where I needed to be. I also realised there was a reason why these names seemed to be more important than other band members and producers.

There are of course typical approaches to begin with, which usually lead you into an unknown path and from there, a great deal of mental strength comes into play – to know when you have a song, to be disciplined and self critical and most of all, to feel comfortable with what you have created. There are too many approaches to list, but it ultimately tends to depend on whether a collaboration is involved, I think, whether you are writing for yourself or to a theme – and technically how you are going about it, from sitting at a piano with paper and pen to staring at a laptop.

SECOND OPINIONS

Collaboration can be extremely healthy and also very challenging. Rarely is it appropriate to sit and write words from scratch with 10 people. Often, having a personal starting point, a tune, half a lyric, unstructured and unfinished, maybe missing a chorus, can be a really useful starting point for a group of writers. Songwriters tend, in my experience, to be supportive and positive in that situation and are able to