I’ve seen a quote online, attributed to James Taylor, that goes, “I started being a songwriter pretending I could do it, and it turned out I could.” It’s worth thinking about that statement, because there’s a positive aspect to it, pertaining to one’s basic zeal for songwriting: “If I just dive in, acting as if […]
If you ever spend time reading or listening to interviews with some of the world’s best songwriters, you’ll probably notice how much time they spend talking about other people’s music. McCartney often talks about how he was influenced by Dylan, The Byrds, The Beach Boys, and many others from many genres. To McCartney, listening to others […]
As you write songs, you’re digging into your creative mind to concoct something imaginative — something that the world hasn’t heard before. That level of creativity isn’t easy to maintain. If you’re a daily songwriter (and most of the successful ones write almost every day), there is an unwelcome partner working alongside you: frustration. Frustration is normal […]
Most songwriters are well acquainted with the frustration of having a great song idea, but having it fizzle out. You had such high hopes, but now your idea seems to have gone nowhere. To properly address this frustration, we need to look at two aspects of it: Why the idea went nowhere; and What to […]
A couple of posts ago, I wrote about what to do when you think all your songwriting ideas sound bad. Thinking about that always seems to bring things around to writer’s block, and it’s possible that you’re going through that right now. Is it bad enough that you find yourself asking, Can my songwriting abilities […]
I wonder if someone has ever asked you where you find your motivation for songwriting. And if so, I wonder if you would give a different answer if they asked you to describe where you find your inspiration? Inspiration is a favourite word for people in the creative arts. By inspiration, most artists mean the initial “spark” that causes […]
