I have started this blog to help, inspire, encourage, and advise fellow songwriters on how to improve your craft. I have written a number of songs myself, but as many of you know, a good songwriter is always searching, looking for that magic moment that will lead to the one GREAT song that we know we can write.
I want to start by talking a little about craft... you know, craft...the "boring" part of songwriting. That's right...boring but necessary. It's easy to think that as an artist creating your art, you should be struck by divine inspiration, and that a totally hotshit song, riff, beat, lyric, or other piece of amazing music will just burst right out of you in a flood of creativity. And that may happen, often... but, this lightning strike can only be useful to a working artist if you know what to DO with that inspiration when it comes. This is why you must learn the craft.
There's a great story that John Lennon told once, about the craft of songwriting. I'm paraphrasing him here, but it went something like this... he said that writing a song was like building a house. If you learn how to build a house, then on any given day, you can just fucking build one, even if you are not in the mood for it, or inspired in any way... you can do it because you KNOW how to build one, so if the need arises you just can. John Lennon was making the point that he knew how to write a song (gee, do you think?), so when he needed one, he could just sit down, have some tea, and jus' bloody do it, like it was his job.
I've found that story inspirational in my songwriting, believe it or not, because it keeps me focused on the craft of songwriting. Let's face it.... sometimes the muse does not visit... sometimes you are not in the mood, and sometimes there just aren't any ideas. Don't despair in these moments, just start building your house from the foundation.... pour the concrete, start building the frame, and eventually you will have built a house, and just maybe, along the way, an idea will hit you for how to make a truly special house.
Of course this means that you have the basic knowledge to begin with... how do you build a song, anyway? Where to start? What key are you in? Does that even matter? How many measures? What structure... verse, chorus, verse, etc? And let's not even think about lyrics yet.... oh, god no, don't make me write the frackin' lyrics yet. I have nothing to say. Or everything. arrgh.
So as this blog continues I'm going to be offering insight and advice, and i'm going to start with CRAFT, that boring but necessary thing that you need before you can even try to play with the big boys. I'll try to give you some more tools for your toolbox, and share ideas and techniques
Along the way I'll be sharing stuff I've found on the web and elsewhere that I think can help us with our shared dilemma.
Would love to hear from anyone reading this... who knows anything about songcraft that they would like to share?
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