Songwriting For Guitar Podcast

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Gina Zimmitti is the person who puts the musicians in the room for film, TV and video game scores. She just wrapped Ice Age, works with major studio music departments. We get into what actually gets composers hired again and again. It’s not just talent. It’s relationships, communication, your team, and knowing which hill is worth dying on.

Watch the Weekly Video Podcast: https://shorturl.at/qmP6f

Join the Next Songwriter Reset Masterclass: https://www.songwritingforguitar.com/songwriterreset

Find Your Coach → https://sfg-accelerator.com/

Part 2, from our songwriting retreat in the Cotswolds. In Part 1 I talked about the co-writing skill nobody talks about. Now we're at the end of the week, and I'm sharing what changed for the writers in the room: what they showed up with, what they left with, and what you can take into your own writing this week.

Watch the Weekly Video Podcast: https://shorturl.at/qmP6f

Find Your Coach → https://sfg-accelerator.com/

Get Your 7 Day Trial Of SongFlow AI → https://tinyurl.com/2pmyr82k

Get Your 7 Day Trial Of SongFlow AI → https://tinyurl.com/2pmyr82k

I’m not in the studio this time. I’m in Stroud, in the Cotswolds, on day two of a songwriting retreat I’m co-hosting with Judy Stakee (former head of A&R at Warner Chappell). Songwriters flew in from Australia, Ireland, the US, and all over the UK, and we’re pushing them to co-write write 6 in five days

In this one I talk about why a long duration doesn’t mean a great song, the co-write skill that has nothing to do with melody or lyrics, and the shift from “what can I deliver” to “how can I pull the best out of the person across the table.”

Watch the Weekly Video Podcast: https://shorturl.at/qmP6f

Join the Next Songwriter Reset Masterclass: https://www.songwritingforguitar.com/songwriterreset

Hire a Coach: https://sfg-accelerator.com/

Get Your 7 Day Trial Of SongFlow AI → https://tinyurl.com/2pmyr82k

I was talking with a songwriter about their co-writes, and the more questions I asked, the more I realized they'd never actually met their co-writer. No Zoom, no room. Just email.

Y'all... that's not co-writing. In this episode I get into why email co-writes have you finishing songs at a snail's pace (if you finish them at all). I talk about what my first 600 co-writes taught me about melody, speed, and getting to quality through quantity. I also explain why the messy, uncomfortable moments in the room are where the gems show up.

Watch the Weekly Video Podcast: https://shorturl.at/qmP6f

Join the Next Songwriter Reset Masterclass: https://www.songwritingforguitar.com/songwriterreset

Hire a Coach: https://sfg-accelerator.com/

Ever feel like you should be further along on guitar by now?

You're not alone. Marin Music's Stuart Lehman-Brown (1M+ subscribers) joins me for his first ever podcast to talk about the messy middle: that stretch where guitar and songwriting get hard, and most people quit.

We get into why Stuart almost gave up, the one sentence from a dad that crushed a kid's love of guitar, why the pros sing gibberish in the studio, the "write 5 more songs" lesson, and the thought that nearly stopped Stuart for good "If it was meant to be, it wouldn't be this hard."

Watch the Weekly Video Podcast: https://shorturl.at/qmP6f

Join the Next Songwriter Reset Masterclass: https://www.songwritingforguitar.com/songwriterreset

Hire a Coach: https://sfg-accelerator.com/

Sync isn't where songs go when they didn't work anywhere else. Geoff Duncan (SFG coach and sync producer) and I get real about what it actually takes: listening to what's getting placed, never pitching a near-miss, and the song that sat for four years before landing Abbott Elementary.

Watch the Weekly Video Podcast: https://shorturl.at/qmP6f

Join the Next Songwriter Reset Masterclass: https://www.songwritingforguitar.com/songwriterreset

Hire a Coach: https://sfg-accelerator.com/

I never got work because I was the best guitarist in the room. I got work because I was a guitarist AND I could do the next thing.

Everyone walking into a co-write says the same two things: lyrics are my strength, or melody is my strength. So how do you create separation? You pair. In this episode I break down the AND — what it is, why most writers never build one, how to find yours without signing up for another forty courses, and the three questions that tell you what yours already is.

Your skill gets you into the room. Your AND is what keeps you in the room.

Watch the Weekly Video Podcast: https://shorturl.at/qmP6f

Join the Next Songwriter Reset Masterclass: https://www.songwritingforguitar.com/songwriterreset

Hire a Coach: https://sfg-accelerator.com/

Apply For The UK Retreat: https://hitmakersretreat.com/

Ever write a song that just doesn't land, and you can't figure out why?

Try the Three Room Test: split your song into lyrics, melody, and chords, and check if each one delivers the same feeling on its own. Nine times out of ten, one room is sending a completely different message than the other two, and that's your real problem, not the mix.

Watch the Weekly Video Podcast: https://shorturl.at/qmP6f

Join the Next Songwriter Reset Masterclass: https://www.songwritingforguitar.com/songwriterreset

Hire a Coach: https://sfg-accelerator.com/

Apply For The UK Retreat: https://hitmakersretreat.com/

Two songwriters, same Zoom feedback session. One showed up in bed and got defensive at every note. The other said thank you before we even started and took notes the whole time. Same feedback, two completely different nights and it's a reminder that a feedback session was never really about the song. It's a snapshot of where you're at as a songwriter.

Mike breaks down both reactions and why your attitude is one of the only things in this business you fully control. If you've ever gotten notes and felt that sting, this one's for you.

Watch the Weekly Video Podcast: https://shorturl.at/qmP6f

Join the Next Songwriter Reset Masterclass: https://www.songwritingforguitar.com/songwriterreset

Hire a Coach: https://sfg-accelerator.com/

Apply For The UK Retreat: https://hitmakersretreat.com/

In this one, Grace and I get into what it's actually like producing in a 96% male industry, the comments that tell her the mix is wrong before anyone's even heard the whole song, and why she leans into being called a "female producer" even though she hates the stigma attached to it.

And we talk about Girls Who Write, the community she built in Nashville that's grown from five friends in an apartment to 60+ women at a time, because the thing most people are actually missing isn't more information. It's knowing they're not the only one figuring it out alone.

Watch the Weekly Video Podcast: https://shorturl.at/qmP6f

Join the Next Songwriter Reset Masterclass: https://www.songwritingforguitar.com/songwriterreset

Hire a Coach: https://sfg-accelerator.com/

Apply For The UK Retreat: https://hitmakersretreat.com/

In this one, CB, SFG Coach/Nashville based Artist, breaks down what artist identity actually is, the songs, the visuals, the way you dress, the genre you're willing to claim out loud.

We get into why so many songwriters dodge the genre question "it's hard to describe my sound" and why that's usually just another way of thinking you're the exception to the rule. Spoiler: you're not, and that's actually good news.

Watch the Weekly Video Podcast: https://shorturl.at/qmP6f

Join the Next Songwriter Reset Masterclass: https://www.songwritingforguitar.com/songwriterreset

Hire a Coach: https://sfg-accelerator.com/

Apply For The UK Retreat: https://hitmakersretreat.com/

Work With Mike: https://sfg-accelerator.com/fall-intensive

Your guitar isn't the problem. How you're recording it is. SFG Coach, Zachary and I get into why so many home demos end up sounding muddy, and it's almost never the playing.

It's proximity, it's reflections you don't even know are happening in your room, it's reaching for a plugin instead of fixing it at the source.

We also get into the "rule of three" for mixes, why relaxing (not tensing up) is actually what makes you sound tighter, and why Suno can't replace the thing you're actually trying to build. If your demos have been sounding thin, flat, or just off, this one's for you.

Watch the Weekly Video Podcast: https://shorturl.at/qmP6f

Join the Next Songwriter Reset Masterclass: https://www.songwritingforguitar.com/songwriterreset

Hire a Coach: https://sfg-accelerator.com/

Apply For The UK Retreat: https://hitmakersretreat.com/

Work With Mike: https://sfg-accelerator.com/fall-intensive

I told you my biggest regret in music a couple weeks ago. This one's the flip side.

600+ songs. Written on purpose, knowing most of them wouldn't go anywhere. Here's why I'd do every single one again, plus the three other things that built my songwriting career from the ground up.

If you're in the middle of your own reps right now and it feels pointless, this one's for you.

Watch the Weekly Video Podcast: https://shorturl.at/qmP6f

Join the Next Songwriter Reset Masterclass: https://www.songwritingforguitar.com/songwriterreset

Hire a Coach: https://sfg-accelerator.com/

Apply For The UK Retreat: https://hitmakersretreat.com/

Work With Mike: https://sfg-accelerator.com/fall-intensive

Ever write a line you thought was great, only to realize it's just a list of facts with no feeling behind it? In this one I sit down with Alden Hedges, touring bass player, songwriter, and one of our SFG coaches, to talk about why that happens to almost every songwriter, and what actually separates a lyric that lands from one that doesn't.

Alden shares some brutally honest lines from his own catalog, the "maybe I can do better" mindset that keeps him improving without burning the notebook, and why your own voice, not the polished stuff you see online, is the one thing nobody else can write for you. If you've ever finished a lyric and thought "this is fine" but knew deep down it wasn't quite there yet, you'll walk away from this one with a real shift in how you think about your next verse.

Watch the Weekly Video Podcast: https://shorturl.at/qmP6f

Join the Next Songwriter Reset Masterclass: https://www.songwritingforguitar.com/songwriterreset

Hire a Coach: https://sfg-accelerator.com/ Apply For The UK Retreat: https://hitmakersretreat.com/

Work With Mike: https://sfg-accelerator.com/fall-intensive

I sat down with Alex Lake, a producer who's worked on ad and brand campaigns for DIRECTV, BuzzFeed, and WWE Legends, and asked him to break down what actually happens between "I wrote a great song" and that song landing in a commercial. Turns out most of us are thinking about it completely backwards.

Alex pulls back the curtain on how brands actually pick music for ads and commercials (it's not what you think), why your "perfect" track gets tossed before anyone even finishes listening, and the one shift in mindset that separates songwriters who get placements from the ones sending emails into the void.

Watch the Weekly Video Podcast: https://shorturl.at/qmP6f

Join the Next Songwriter Reset Masterclass: https://www.songwritingforguitar.com/songwriterreset

Hire a Coach: https://sfg-accelerator.com/ Apply For The UK Retreat: https://hitmakersretreat.com/

Work With Mike: https://sfg-accelerator.com/fall-intensive

Four things quietly killing your songwriting and you've probably got at least one. Matty Finn and I break down the patterns we see over and over: no direction, knowledge over application, unwillingness to write bad songs, no consistent systems.

Application over knowledge. Once you know which one's yours, you can move past it.

Join the Next Songwriter Reset Masterclass: https://www.songwritingforguitar.com/songwriterreset

Watch the Weekly Video Podcast: https://shorturl.at/qmP6f

Hire a Coach: https://sfg-accelerator.com/

Apply For The UK Retreat: https://hitmakersretreat.com/

Work With Mike: https://sfg-accelerator.com/mike-premium-overview

In 2007 I was sitting on a phone call with the manager of McFly and Busted, multi-platinum-selling bands that were selling out Wembley Arena. He gave me key advice, I completely ignored it. Didn't touch it for almost nine years!

Join the Next Songwriter Reset Masterclass: https://www.songwritingforguitar.com/songwriterreset

Watch the Weekly Video Podcast: https://shorturl.at/qmP6f

Hire a Coach: https://sfg-accelerator.com/

Apply For The UK Retreat: https://hitmakersretreat.com/

Work With Mike: https://sfg-accelerator.com/mike-premium-overview

Suno is everywhere right now but is it actually helping songwriters, or quietly sabotaging their careers? In this episode, Mike and Matty Finn dive deep into AI music generation, breaking down why relying on Suno might feel like a shortcut but is actually shooting yourself in the foot if you're serious about songwriting as a career.

Join the Next Songwriter Reset Masterclass: https://www.songwritingforguitar.com/songwriterreset

Watch the Weekly Video Podcast: https://shorturl.at/qmP6f

Hire a Coach: https://sfg-accelerator.com/

Apply For The UK Retreat: https://hitmakersretreat.com/

Work With Mike: https://sfg-accelerator.com/mike-premium-overview

In this episode, I sit down with music supervisor Jessica Gramuglia to talk about what's actually happening on the other side of that inbox.

Jess has worked in music supervision at Warner Brothers TV and has seen thousands of cold emails from songwriters, publishers, and artists trying to land sync placements.

She's not holding back. We break down the emails that get instantly filed into her "Who Are You?" folder, why following up aggressively is killing your chances, and why AI-generated pitch emails are making things worse, not better.

But this isn't just about what NOT to do. Jess shares the one email that actually worked perfectly (hint: it involved Maren Morris before she was famous), what makes her want to actually listen to your music, and why relationships will always beat cold pitches in sync licensing.

If you’re a songwriter trying to get your music placed in TV, film, or ads, this is the episode you need to hear before you send another email.

Want to stop writing songs that go nowhere? Apply for coaching → https://songwritingforguitar.com/coaching-application

Grab my book "The Songwriting Guitarist" → https://songwritingforguitar.com/book

New here? Start with the podcast → https://songwritingforguitar.com/podcast

Watch the Video Podcast Every Friday at 9am Central →https://www.youtube.com/songwritingforguitar

This podcast has been downloaded over 100,000 times. And I almost deleted it. I took a 7-month break. I coach songwriters on showing up every day and I wasn't doing it myself. No consistent system, even for the guy teaching systems.

In this episode, I'm being honest about what happened, why I almost killed the whole thing, and what's changing now. If you've been stuck, sitting on half-finished songs, or waiting for the "right time" to start, this one's for you.

Watch The Video Podcast: https://youtu.be/zP_FOHu2rR0

Join the Next Songwriter Reset Masterclass: https://www.songwritingforguitar.com/songwriterreset

Hire a Coach: https://sfg-accelerator.com/

Apply For The UK Retreat: https://hitmakersretreat.com/

Work With Mike: https://sfg-accelerator.com/mike-premium-overview