Songwriting Advice

Apr 15, 2008 - 19:04 PM PST

well: maybe to offer some advice for those who are stuck- i asked my friends a little while ago to send me any advice they have on songwriting. because I had hit a wall. This is how they replied, and I thought others might benefit from it as well. I certainly have.

"Isn't reality what causes certain emotions to come out through your song? I'd say, write about YOURSELF, or people you care about. In this case, I'm sure, you don't need to think outside the box in order to reach certain people, or even yourself. I'm not looking for factual accuracy in a song, I'm looking for emotions."

"play and if you like what you hear, write it down, remember it. then get somebody honest to tell you what they like and what they don't like. constantly keep changing and making it better. know as much music as you can so you can draw inspiration from different things. don't write stuff that sounds like it's already been written. keep your words simple. try to make it sing. if your heart's in the song, it'll always be better. make it mean something."

"Write what you want. The moment you write for someone else you're writing something you think they want to hear. Which then is no longer what you want to say (these two things might coincide, but you know what I mean.) So if you want to write about reality, write about your view of reality, or your reality"
The last one's a bit confusing. but that's the advice I've gotten.