Common mistakes songwriters are making
I want to discuss a couple things I have seen songwriters struggle with, myself included and ways to counter that. These aren’t specific techniques you are misusing but rather a series of bad habits that a lot of songwriters have. Grab your big boy pants and let’s get into some pitfalls you’re walking into.
Not playing enough
I see this all the time, someone writes a couple songs, plays them for a few friends, puts it up on Soundcloud and calls it a day. I guess this is cool if your only goal was to write a song but if you want someone to experience your music you need to get out there and play it for them.
There are millions of songs recorded out there that will never see the time of day from most people and that’s because there is no personal connection with the artist and with so many options it’s just not possible to be discovered. How do you make a personal connection? Play your music live in front of people! It is what puts your song in the mind of a listener and gives the song life. A song played for yourself doesn’t really exist, it’s merely a part of your own mind. Go get your music out there!
Not practicing enough
If you aren’t practicing just about every day then you aren’t practicing enough. Simple as that. I do believe quality of practice over quantity matters but at the end of the day any practice is better than none.
You need to be constantly learning new concepts, introducing them into your material, and practicing techniques so that when it’s time to perform (which your going to be doing more of now) you have the confidence to sound your best because you know you put in the work.
If you want to write better songs you need to practice more. Practice can include actually writing songs as well. The more songs you write the better they will get over time as each song will teach you something about the process. There are no shortcuts in music and songwriting. Do it more, get better.
Not writing enough
Sometimes writing will come naturally to you like a gift from the heavens but most of the time you have to dedicate your focus towards writing. I mean actually sit down for a predetermined set of time and focus on writing specifically. That can mean 10 mins of just trying to write lyrics or poetry even. 10 mins of putting together a chord progression and working out a melody to go over it. Set aside time just like you would for any task and focus on songwriting.
When you make a conscious effort to work on songwriting it is inevitable that a song will eventually arrive. Those people who say they have writers block are literally just not writing enough or taking enough time to focus on it. This isn’t to say every song is going to be good and realistically most of them will be average at best. The lesson here is consistently showing up will eventually lead to you writing an amazing song. Every song you write you will learn something new about the process. Over time this accumulated knowledge will lead to better songwriting practices.
In every bad song there is gold to be mined, more work to be done. They leave a longing for better music. They can keep you driven towards a goal because you know deep down you can do better. In failure there is an opportunity for redemption. Keep that in mind when you are getting down and out on yourself for not writing the next “Stairway to Heaven” right away.
Not singing enough
Look I know we aren’t all singers here and a lot of us don’t ever want to be. The problem is a song isn’t really a song until you have lyrics and a melody on it. I know there is instrumental music but be real, nobody cares. It’s simply too boring for your average person to listen to. Singing is what connects with the listener, it’s also what allows them to get involved by singing along.
The point is you don’t have to sing to be the actual performer but it helps immensely when constructing a song and showing your idea to a potential singer. If you have ever tried to write a song with all music first with no consideration for the melody or singer then you probably know it can be extremely challenging to force a melody to work rather than have it forefront in your mind during the writing process.
Singing allows you to formulate melody, lyrics, rhythm with the voice, and prevents songs from just becoming cool sounding instrumentals. It’s also going to make it easier to collaborate with other musicians or songwriters for other singers.
Not collaborating enough
I know the glory of being the sole songwriter of an amazing piece of music is something to be proud of but working with others will help you be a better songwriter. Working with someone else is going to teach you how to create music in a team environment and going to help you learn how other people make music.
Collaboration tends to lead to better sounding music too because there are now multiple people deciding if something works or not. You also have multiple minds working towards the same thing, something tribal humans have evolved to do expertly. Sometimes one person can have incredible ideas and that can inspire another incredible idea in someone else, all ending up in awesome music.
Final thoughts
A lot of what I say essentially boils down to “do more” and I am aware of that. The reason I hammer this in constantly is because I truly believe most people are not doing enough to be great at something and everyone has it within them to work harder. Most of us are coasting through and expecting amazing results when we haven’t actually put in the effort required for those results.
So get out there and meet some people to play with, start practicing more, start writing and singing songs, and most importantly go play the music for someone live!