Hi all, I'm Pete--a piano and guitar player and songwriter-ish. Like a lot of us, I've got a folder full of half-finished ones--plenty of first verses, but not enough finished.
I got frustrated enough with the blank page that I ended up building a small tool for myself, and since there's a board for exactly this, I'm hoping to share this with you and get your thoughts on it and also see if it can help you out a bit. It's helped me more than I expected--I've finished songs I'd otherwise have left half-written, and every friend I've shown it to has walked away with something they felt excited about.
You tell it what the song's about--your story, the mood, a genre or an artist's feel--and it hands back a starting draft: a verse and chorus with a chord progression you can hear and see on a piano or guitar. With both diagrams for keys and guitar tabs. From there you rewrite it in your own words, add verses, swap chords around--anything to make it your own.
My honest take on AI in songwriting--it won't write the song for you--it has no lived experience or memories of its own, so a fully AI-written lyric doesn't come out personal. But for breaking the blank page and getting momentum, it's helped me a lot. A drafting partner, not a songwriter--it doesn't replace the feeling or the editing.
(If you want to check it out, it's www.thesongfriend.com--free to try. I'd love your feedback on it--anyone can email me at pete@thesongfriend.com.) Or just message me here.
Thanks. And Cheers
Pete
www.thesongfriend.com