Week 1: Ek sal sing

Sometimes when you lack inspiration to write it helps to change instruments. My main instrument is the keyboard/ piano, so when I’m looking for inspiration it sometimes helps to pick up the guitar.

This weekend we went away to the Bush and I grabbed my 8-year old’s Ukhelele to take with since there was no space in the car for my steel string. I only knew the few chords I’ve taught her so far, so it was lots of fun learning some new ones and playing around. This led to some chord progressions that sounded cool and a chorus for the song.

Lyrically I was inspired by our churches’ online sermon on grace and the verse in Hebrews 4:16 about approaching the throne of grace. I tried to work this into verse 2 without all the theological jargon we just seem to skip over when reading.

I normally go through quite a few updates to lyrics from the first moments of inspiration to the final song (that could be months down the line). I try to tone down my inner editor and critic in the first draft, so it does not stop inspiration. Later versions I become more strict with finding the exact word and rhyme etc.

This is what I came up with this weekend. Would love to hear if you also switch instruments when writing and how you use this technique. Please share in the comments.