“Shambition” – noun.  “When you talk like you have songwriting ambition, but you work like you couldn’t care less.”

It’s time to take a hard look in the mirror.

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To BE a pro, you need to THINK like a pro, and this FREE ebook will help transform your thinking, your songwriting, and your success.  Get it today!

Click Here For The Book

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Statements of ambition are all over social media.  Writers and artists talk about hustle.  They talk about grind.  They talk about chasing the dream.  They share quotes over pictures of lions.   But then they sit down and binge watch Netflix.  That’s not ambition.  That’s shambition.

It’s easier to CATCH the newest season of your favorite show than it is to CHASE your dreams.

But it sure isn’t as productive.

It’s time for your reality check.  Are you writing checks with your mouth (or your Instagram) that your work ethic can’t cash? Is your hustle as big as your dreams?  Because, if it’s not, your dreams probably are NOT going to come true.

Are you happy enough playing the part of struggling songwriter or a songwriter “on the rise” that you don’t REALLY feel the drive to put in the extra hours it would take to make real progress? Do you like it when people say you’re so brave for chasing your dreams… but you’re secretly too scared to pick up the phone and call a publisher?

Right now, there’s a certain amount of comfort in struggle.  Some people will admire you for your big dreams and for not giving up.

Maybe you’re a little TOO comfortable with the struggle.

Struggle might just be your comfort zone.  After all, right now you have a psychological escape hatch:

“If I never REALLY try, I never REALLY fail.”

But is that who you want to be? Fear and comfort are your enemies.  Don’t let either one have too much space in your life.

So… are you guilty of “shambition?”  Are you talking the talk but not walking the walk?  When was the last time you finished a song?  Or played a new one for somebody?  Or contacted a publisher or a potential cowriter?  When was the last time you took a step out of your comfort zone?

I’m not saying you’re a fraud if you don’t quit your job tomorrow, pack up the car and move to Nashville, New York or LA.  I’m not saying it’s time to carpet bomb Music Row with your demo.  But I bet it’s time for you to do something you’ve been putting off.

Replace #Hustle with REAL hustle.

Not sure what your next step is?  Well, maybe it’s time to let a music industry pro hear your songs.  Maybe your songs are ready.  Or maybe you’re just ready to step out and take a chance.  If that sounds like you, I have a cool opportunity for you.

I’m hosting Songwriting Pro’s Play For A Publisher event in September.  Our guest will be Dan Hodges, who publishes hits such as “Good Directions” for Billy Currington and “Dibs” for Kelsea Ballerini.

CLICK HERE to learn more and submit your song.

Dan Hodges will be joining us for our next Play For A Publisher event in September!  He’s a successful publisher and owner of Dan Hodges Music in Nashville, Tennessee.  Tickets are on sale now, and space is limited.  CLICK HERE to check out all the details and submit YOUR song for Dan!

God Bless and Enjoy the Journey,

Brent Brent Baxter is a hit songwriter with cuts by Alan Jackson, Randy Travis, Lady Antebellum, Joe Nichols, Gord Bamford, Ruthie Collins, Ray Stevens, and more. He’s written a top 5 hit in the US and a #1 in Canada… so far.

You might have the best idea in the world, but you can still screw it up if you confuse the listener.  If you don’t write your song clearly, you’ve just wasted your best song idea.  Let me help you avoid that.

____________________

To BE a pro, you need to THINK like a pro, and this FREE ebook will help transform your thinking, your songwriting, and your success.  Get it today!

Click Here For The Book

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Last week, I covered WHY it’s devastating to confuse your listener, and I revealed the #1 cause of confusion: the curse of knowledge.  (CLICK HERE to read that post.)  Now let’s dive into some of the ways that the curse of knowledge can show up in your lyrics and confuse (and lose) your listener.

1. Too Many Characters

If the listener has to keep up with the singer, the singer’s new love, old love, mom and baby sister, they’re going to get confused.  I don’t care how carefully you craft the lyric, the more characters you put in your song, the more chance you have that the listener will get confused about who’s doing what.

Fix:

Trim the fat.  Cut out any character that isn’t absolutely essential.  Focus your story more.  Maybe combine multiple characters into one or two to simplify things.

2. Overlapping Pronouns

If you’re singing ABOUT your new love and ABOUT your ex-love, they’ll both end up being referred to by the same pronoun: “he” or “she.”  The listener may get confused about which “he” or “she” certain lines are talking about.  And just like in real life, it’s awkward when people confuse your ex-love with your current love.  Yikes!

Fix:

Sing TO your new love and ABOUT your ex-love.  Or vice versa.  That way you will have one “you” and one “he/she.”  And that’s much more clear.

3. Too Much Story

It’s a song, not a novel.  The listener only has so much attention to pay your song.  Remember, most listeners are listening while they’re doing something else- driving, eating, folding laundry, walking the dog, etc.  If your song has too much story, you might be asking too much of your listener.

Fix:

Simplify, simplify, simplify.  Find the smallest “unit of story” (the action within the story) which will get the point across.  Maybe you’re trying to cram two songs into one.  Break them up and just write two songs.

4. Unclear time jumps

Sometimes you might want to do a time jump in your song.  Maybe a character is a teenager in verse one then a twenty-something year old in verse two.  If the time jump isn’t immediately clear, your listener will probably be confused.  “Wait… you had a girlfriend in verse one, and now you’re talking about your wife.  What?”

Fix:

Avoid the time jump altogether if possible.  If you decide to do the jump, just make sure you make it very, very clear at the front end of the jump.  Simplify and clarify.

Remember, when you confuse the listener, you lose the listener.  So it’s important that you get these things right and get your song tight.

If you feel that your songs ARE tight, and you’re ready to take a shot- to play your song for a pro, I have  a cool opportunity coming up for you.

I’m hosting Songwriting Pro’s Play For A Publisher event in September.  Our guest will be Dan Hodges, who publishes hits such as “Good Directions” for Billy Currington and “Dibs” for Kelsea Ballerini.

CLICK HERE to learn more and submit your song.

Dan Hodges will be joining us for our next Play For A Publisher event in September!  He’s a successful publisher and owner of Dan Hodges Music in Nashville, Tennessee.  Tickets are on sale now, and space is limited.  CLICK HERE to check out all the details and submit YOUR song for Dan!

God Bless and Enjoy the Journey,

Brent

Brent Baxter is a hit songwriter with cuts by Alan Jackson, Randy Travis, Lady Antebellum, Joe Nichols, Gord Bamford, Ruthie Collins, Ray Stevens, and more. He’s written a top 5 hit in the US and a #1 in Canada… so far.

If you CONFUSE the listener, you LOSE the listener.  And the scary thing is… your songs might be confusing and losing your listeners without you even knowing it.

____________________

To BE a pro, you need to THINK like a pro, and this FREE ebook will help transform your thinking, your songwriting, and your success.  Get it today!

Click Here For The Book

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First off, does it really matter if the listener gets a little lost and confused by your song?  If it’s hooky and has some cool lines, isn’t that enough?

NO.

If you’re a successful signed artist or writing with that artist, you might have more wiggle room.  Or if you’re an artist in a different genre.  But if  – especially if – you’re a country songwriter, you need to communicate CLEARLY in your songs. I’ve had an A&R rep turn off songs and “pass” because they “got a little confused in the 1st verse.” Getting a song on an album is hugely competitive.  And having your song be a “little confusing” may be just enough reason for the artist or label to turn down your song.

Don’t give the artist or label a reason to turn down your song.

Also, if the song somehow makes it through the gatekeepers and hits the listeners’ ears, it’s not going to be as successful as it could’ve been.  It won’t connect with listeners’ emotions as deeply as it should. If I have to decode what’s going on in your song or ask myself what just happened or what you’re singing about, I end up “in my head.”  But that’s not where my emotions are.  You want the listener to be “in the heart” NOT “in the head.”

So why would you write, record and pitch a confusing song?  Well, that’s the scary thing.  You might not even know your song is confusing.  You might listen to it and it makes perfect sense- to you.  You read the lyrics, and they make perfect sense- to you.  But your listener may cock their head to the side and say, “huh?”  If that’s the case, your songs may suffer from…

The Curse Of Knowledge

This is when you know what happens in the story, or you know what the song is about, but that knowledge doesn’t end up on the page.  Since you know all the details, you can fill in any lyrical blanks in your own mind.  But your listener can’t.

The listener only knows what you actually write into the song.

The curse of knowledge is kind of like making your listener listen to one half of a phone call.  You know the whole conversation but the listener doesn’t.  They’re just confused and frustrated, waiting for you to hang up so you can tell them why you were so excited, sad or whatever.

Basically, you’re leaving out vital pieces of information that your listener needs in order to connect with and understand your song.

So how do you overcome the curse of knowledge in your songwriting?

Sometimes it helps to put the song away for a while before coming back to it with fresh eyes and ears.  Practice helps.  Write more and more songs and keep asking yourself, “Is all the necessary information ON THE PAGE?”

But it can still be tricky to catch the curse of knowledge.  Even playing it for friends and family may not be good enough.  Maybe, since they know you, they’ll know what you’re talking about.  Or they’ll understand the basic point of your song without pointing out the “small confusions” which are “cut-killers” on a professional level.

Sometimes you need to play your songs for a professional.

And if you’re ready to take a shot- to play your song for a pro, I have  a cool opportunity coming up for you. I’m hosting Songwriting Pro’s Play For A Publisher event in September.  Our guest will be Dan Hodges, who publishes hits such as “Good Directions” for Billy Currington and “Dibs” for Kelsea Ballerini.

CLICK HERE to learn more and submit your song.

Dan Hodges will be joining us for our next Play For A Publisher event in September!  He’s a successful publisher and owner of Dan Hodges Music in Nashville, Tennessee.  Tickets are on sale now, and space is limited.  CLICK HERE to check out all the details and submit YOUR song for Dan!

God Bless and Enjoy the Journey,

Brent

Brent Baxter is a hit songwriter with cuts by Alan Jackson, Randy Travis, Lady Antebellum, Joe Nichols, Gord Bamford, Ruthie Collins, Ray Stevens, and more. He’s written a top 5 hit in the US and a #1 in Canada… so far.