Beginning Songwriting

Starting to write songs can be quite difficult, and unlike the mechanical guitar playing techniques, there isn’t really a way of conclusively saying something is “right” or not. That isn’t to say that you can do whatever you want, everything is subjective, and since it is your art it is great, because that isn’t it either. Rather the following are things to think about when starting out and can save a lot of frustration in the long run. Just because your process of actually writing a songs might be different from someone else’s doesn’t mean one is right or wrong. Instead, the important thing is figuring out what one works best for you, which may be quite different from how even someone in the same band might operate.

1) Music Theory and Composition Exist for a Reason
One of the weirdest things is that many guitarists think that music theory and composition stifle creativity. Coincidentally, the musicians that popularized this notion have either a superficial or complete lack of understanding as to what music theory is. The reason people with a knowledge of music theory tend to be dismissive of certain musicians isn’t because they are breaking rules of music theory, it is because they are writing incredibly simplistic songs from a theory standpoint. It is the same reason that world famous chefs, on a whole, probably aren’t huge fans of McDonald’s.

Obviously no one can force you to learn music theory and composition, and plenty of musicians have got quite far without it. However, learning those will only strengthen the quality of your writing, not to mention make it much faster since you won’t be sitting there playing random notes until something sounds good.

2) Know Your Audience
Yngwie Malmsteen by any stretch of the imagination is a better guitarist than Mick Mars. If you ask the average person whether they like Motley Crue or Yngwie Malmsteen better, then you will probably find a landslide in favor of Motley Crue (not to mention many of them will have probably never heard of Malmsteen). On the other hand, if you ask musicians and fans of symphonic metal who they like better, it probably will be a landslide for Yngwie Malmsteen.

If you want the average person in the street, with no ear training or great knowledge of music to like your songs, then simple is best. When you start adding lots of nuances and complex tricks to your songs, then it tends to appeal more to people than understand music and have the ear training to actually pick up those things. Even the progressive bands that did have mainstream success, like Pink Floyd or Yes, it was only with a handful of songs in a rather large discography that only the more dedicated fans are aware of. If you want to do more complex music, you shouldn’t be shocked that the average person isn’t going to find it as appealing as you or a fellow musician might.

3) Don’t Let Bad Songs Throw You
When you start writing songs, you shouldn’t be shocked if most of the stuff you are writing is garbage. Songwriting isn’t a magic skill you are born with, it is one that takes practice. The thing is that you don’t ever hear the garbage songs that bands write, you usually only hear the ones they are actually happy with. The more songs you write, the more you see what does and doesn’t work, and that is something that helps with the next song. Eventually, you will get to a point where you can consistently produce decent songs, but you do need to realize that it does usually take a decent amount of time to do it for anything but the most simple of songs.

Keep on rockin'!