Beverley Knight talks songwriting

UK soul singer Beverley Knight knows a thing or two about writing songs.  She's been in the business for 16 years, released six studio albums and has just  released her seventh,  Soul UK, which features covers of British soul songs that inspired Knight whilst she was growing up.

Here, Beverley provides a few tips to help out budding songwriters.

• The first thing that comes to mind is chord progression.  When you're putting this together for a song, don't be afraid to change it as you go along.  You don't need to stick to the first one - it should be a fluid process.


• When it comes to melody,  always make sure you have a dictaphone handy, to commit it to recording.


• Take a break from your recording, go have some lunch - then come back and see if you can remember your melody without replaying it on your dictaphone.  If you can, then it's a keeper.  If you can't remember it at all, then maybe it's best to start again.


• Lyrically,  I was once given some great advice - make sure your lyric fits in with your perfectly constructed melody, as that's what the public will grab on to.  If  you have a profound lyric that doesn't quite fit in with your melody, then tweak it - not the melody.  That's a tip from Robin Gibb!

Find out about Beverley's musical inspirations,  and dream collaborators -watch the full interview with Beverley Knight here

www.beverleyknight.com