Cliff Goldmacher is a songwriter, producer, session musician, engineer, author and owner of recording studios in Nashville, TN and Sonoma, CA.

Once you’ve begun co-writing your songs and have a few positive experiences under your belt, it might be worth injecting some new variables into the equation. This can be good for a variety of reasons including never letting yourself get too comfortable at the expense of your creativity and keeping your mind focused on the session. In my experience, anything you can do to keep your co-write fresh and inspired is well worth a try.

1. Go in with nothing…

If you’re relatively new to the co-writing game or simply set in your collaborative ways, it can seem daunting to consider going into a writing session and just seeing what comes up instead of meticulously preparing in advance. While there is real value in giving consideration ahead of time to your lyric concept, melody or some combination, the risk is that you’re missing an idea or hook that could arise spontaneously in conversation. Why not take a deep breath and show up to your next co-writing appointment with nothing but a willingness to work on whatever comes up?

Learn three more important things to try on your next co-write here!

Watch Cliff’s songwriting instruction videos with a free trial at www.Lynda.com/CliffGoldmacher

Download a FREE sample of Cliff’s eBook “The Songwriter’s Guide To Recording Professional Demos”!