Songwriting Ideas : Part 1

Its hard to put a blueprint on songwriting because it is such a personal thing.
There are so many different ways to go about it but these are a few things that have worked for me.

When I decide I want to write a song it's usually on a whim. I hardly ever set out a time and date to write a song. Sometimes that occurs, especially with a co-write, but for the most part on a solo song I will just get alone at a random time of inspiration.

The part to watch for is just that though, inspiration.

Its good to try and carry something you can write with just in case that happens. (notebook, journal, phone, laptop) Write whatever it is that comes to your mind down and then think on it until you can get alone.

Once you have a main idea for a song then try doing a couple different things. Just start playing a simple progression that you can obviously change later if need be. Just sing!! If its a worship song then obviously you wanted it to come out of a real place of worship. Example: when a husband tells his wife she is pretty every day with no other adjectives it might get old and she might not believe it the 30th time like she did the 1st time.

Think about your life and the things you have been through that God has saved you from or brought you out of and relate it to the topic at hand in a new refreshing way. Try and change your mindset on how you explain things. If you were talking about the sky or ocean say something different than what everyone thinks of off hand, imagine you are explaining it to a blind person (someone who hasn’t seen what you have seen).

It's the same way with worship songs.

Get alone in His presence and He will show you things no one else has seen and then you can relate it to His people. On the flip side of the table is the part where we use our creative ideas given to us by God to make something up about God. What does this mean? It means you have the ability to write not only something God shows you but also something that you feel towards Him. Like I mentioned, using different adjectives to describe the beauty of a wife, we need to find different ways to describe God.

http://chrismartin.us

Whats been happening!

It has been a while since I have had a chance to sit down and write out everything that has been going on the last few months.

If you haven’t been able to follow recently, I was in a competition online to ultimately be in a band managed by Johnny Wright out in L.A..  There were several thousand people who tried out for this and I thought it was a pretty cool idea just to throw out my audition for fun.  I never thought that I would even hear anything back at all, but I was wrong.  Throughout the process of writing songs, changing some style, dancing and an assortment of other things, I quickly realized how much amazing support I had from my friends, family and the people I’ve built relationships with over the years.  I never realized how much support you can gain just from facebook and twitter! Hah!  

I went through countless things that seriously stretched me to a place where I wanted to quit several times, but knowing I had all of your support I knew I needed to stick it out.  You guys seriously helped me stay determined through everything and I can't express how much I appreciate everything you have done!  

Against all odds I made it through 3 months of grueling challenges to stay in the competition (view my progress in the challenges here: http://onthespot.cambio.com/profile/jarofclay01/), but in the end I was one of 11 contestants to make it to Los Angeles.  I met countless people who I had only ever seen on tv or heard of through a grape vines grape vine.  We worked with people like Doc Holliday, Candece Cambell, and John Taylor. Even though I was finally among some of the most well known people in the music business and they were teaching me and showing me ways to be better (a dream many musicians have) I still felt totally weirded out being there.  I knew from the minute I got off the plane that I didn't belong and couldn't wait to get back to Dallas! At this point I really had no ambition to be there or to win but I stuck it out, remained committed and trusted that in the end, God would work it all out. I knew that just being there was a great learning opportunity and took it as so.  

On the last day of the training camp, the final decision of who would be in the band was being made (view here: http://t.co/NMZZWoH ).  Before we started our last performance and last chance to sway the judges decisions in our favor, two of the contestants bailed out, along with one other guy who did the same thing the first day.  In the end I didn't make the band, BUT I was the only one who didn't quit or didn't make it, so I feel good about the way things played out.  I don't ever quit something I have seriously committed to doing and I trust that in the end it’ll all work out for the best.

Now you may be thinking, "What are you going to be doing now?"  That’s the best part!  For about 13 years I have wanted to be a full-time musician, but I have always had a strange tugging between two worlds.  I grew up with a love for worship music like no other.  I would sit in my room for hours and listen to early Passion or Hillsong albums and just worship.  Later on I found this awesome school called Christ For The Nations and it was there that music took me to a new place in God's presence that I hadn't been before.  During this entire time I was also a lover of music that wasn't part of the “worship” genre, so I began playing music that I believe has familiar ground in both worlds.  For a long time this confused me because I wasn't sure what I was called to do.  Was I supposed to be a worship leader, or was I supposed to play more positive music that would capture the attention of the world?  

After being out in LA and seriously having some alone time with Jesus, it all made sense.  The answer is “both”. Why not? Who says I can't write music that pleases Gods ear and Peoples ears?  This is the way I was created and these are the things that I love so I will do both!  Now I have come home with a new mindset and a new desire to chase the things I am called to now more than ever.  I have met up with the members of my band and have set into place a manager to take care of a lot of the details for event planning and traveling.  I have a goal and I can see the trail I am to run on, not just a big open field.  

If you are interested in bringing my band and I to do a Night Of Worship OR a concert of original music, please let me know and we will be there!

You can check out my website at chrismartin.us and it has all the details for booking information.  

I look forward to hearing from you and keeping in touch with each of you.
Thank you for your support!

- Chris Martin

What Now? (Things are strange)

    

Well it has been a little over a month now since my last posting.  I would like to say it’s because I have been so busy that I haven't had time but the truth is I have been so bored I haven't had the motivation.  Don't look at my words with those condescending eyes of yours, you know you have felt the same way before.  I left off on my last blog talking about the album release party that was coming up and giving up the right to hold onto anything in my life as "mine".  Well now it has been a month, the smoke and gold dust have dwindled and suddenly I can actually see myself clearly in the mirror.
          Now that schools around the country have officially started back for their spring semesters and all my friends are gone during the day, I suddenly feel quite strange.  I am not forced to get up early and attend class and I don't have an enormous school bill that is yelling at me every month (YET), but things are strange.  I am going to finish my college degree in the fall of this year but as of right now I have been incognito and things are strange.  So now I am faced with two options and I could use your help in the decision making even though I know then one that I need to choose already.  

1. Take the one semester I have off (in between the 3 years I just completed at one school and the 2 more years I will complete at this other school) to relax and not stress out.  You know just take a breather and set myself up for school in 6 months, this way I will "totally be ready for whatever comes my way"....or....

2.  Act my age.

These are two thoughts in one that I had today ...."It’s so hard to choose to be responsible and to stick with it when there is no driving force behind you pushing you every single day",  and that is when it hit me....."What has my driving force really been all this time? "I thought it was my relationship with God but was I fooling myself?”

Being out of school I realize how much I was being pushed by its momentum and was totally unaware of the fact that I may have been walking when I thought I was running.  When everyone around you is moving at a high pace you just automatically do the same.  But when you are no longer trying to stick with the crowd or the direction that they are moving in it is very easy to become sluggish and slow......... Maybe that is why old people keep having all these body problems and are always angry?  They all talk about how bad life is getting and what's hurting most this month more than what hurt a lot last month.  They all start slowing down in momentum and noticing all the horrible things in life rather than the good.  Props to the older people who still keep a smile on their face and look to the positive.  I think when I get old I am still going to hangout with college kids on the weekends, that way if I die it will be doing something worth dying over. lol  Like cliff jumping...(Sorry that was a rabbit trail)

So now I am going to get up early and continue spending time with Jesus (which I have been doing but it has just been at like 10 am hahaha) and not let this whole semester slip by only to look back and say I accomplished nothing.

Please if you are in a spot where you don't have to run, run.  Because everything you encounter that puts a desire in you to run was started by someone who was running before you.  – That’s my 2 cents of the day

Chris

PS The album is still for sale :)

http://www.amazon.com/One-More-Second-Try/dp/B004EXDYVG/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=dmusic&qid=1295502454&sr=8-1