And there I came across to a comprehensive list of songwriting tips by TheProAudioFiles.
http://theproaudiofiles.com/songwriting-tips-writers-block/
I’ll copy here for convenience with summary of comments they made on each point and I’ll highlight the ones that seem most useful to me 😉
- Start by remixing a song and then remove the base track
- Write off of a chord progression (fix the base structure and then write up lyrics on it)
- Create a storyline to write around
- Build a world in your head and describe it
- Tap into your own experiences (create honest music)
- Tap into your feelings (go back to a past experience that provoked a strong emotional response and hold on to that feeling)
- Listen to music that inspires you
- Listen to a different type of music
- Play with samples
- Make some sounds
- Come up with a “feel” (focus on the “sound” you want for your music)
- Take a walk outside (take a break and come back when you feel you will work productively)
- Write down a list of things that matters to you (the aim is to isolate some sort of human connection and develop it to a full fledged song)
- Be inspired by visuals
- Go record your own samples
- Don’t force your works (this will avoid cheesy lyrics that will kill your song)
- Put yourself in a different environment (go out somewhere new and be influenced by new experiences)
- Write from a unique perspective (far from the clichèd characters of boy/girl in love or who broke up)
- Write off a melody (come up with a melody and write later the chords progression/s)
- Open old projects (something not as bad as you remember is ready to be developed)
- Write using a universally relatable principle (write about things most people have experienced or have being affected in some way)
- Use the “opposite” tool (move from the DAW on the computer to the instruments or viceversa)
- Return to your original inspirations (what fires you up and motivates you?)
- Start your writing in the middle (write the song in a nonlinear fashion)
- Borrow song structures
- Keep it simple (you don’t need to be fancy to write something cool)
- Go through the common components (analyse songs similar to what you want to make and try to throw common components to your mix)
- Chop up and a cappella (chop with sample/slicer and place MIDI triggers, you will hear new melodies that may be useful)
- Listen as a listener (it is very easily to lose perspective on what you are doing, you will find areas to improve)
- Keep your goals in mind (who’s the audience? there is a particular emotion you want to evoke? a style you are trying to make?)