Hello and welcome to my blog on songwriting! The purpose of this blog is to share what I know about writing songs in a way that will help YOU as you explore the art of songwriting. Let me start by getting a couple things out of the way...
I am not famous.
My songs are not on the radio.
I do not make a living off music.
However, I have been writing songs for many years and have been blessed with a lot of opportunities to share my songs with people. Through the years (and especially recently) I've had several people ask me about the process I go through when writing a song. I know the process can be quite different for different people, and it's not always the same formula even for me, but I hope this blog will at least give you a jump-start into the world of songwriting.
(KEEP IN MIND: If you don't like rock music, you may or may not find my musical-oriented posts helpful, but you should still find some helpful hints on lyric-writing later on...)
I would also like to encourage you to keep looking for different ideas and techniques. There is a LOT of information on this beast called the "internet." :) Learn to be well-rounded by seeking advice from several different sources.
Now, a little bit about me. This should help you get an idea of my musical background which will obviously have an affect on my songwriting style.
I started taking guitar lessons the week of my tenth birthday. I started out with a cheap little acoustic guitar. I continued lessons for a little less than a year, practicing every single day. By the time I hit my eleventh birthday I had already written my first song. It was a silly little song that hardly made any sense, but it was a song. I was still young enough that I hadn't developed any solid musical influences yet. Sure, I knew I liked certain bands/artists, but that was it.
Then came middle school.
I was in sixth grade and it was time to grow up! ;P Everyone around me suddenly started having their own opinions about things like music and movies... It was about time I developed some of my own! I started listening to bands like Switchfoot and Lifehouse. Meanwhile, I had formed my first band with three friends of mine. Although I didn't take on singing duties at the time, I was the primary songwriter. Were they musical masterpieces? No way! But every song I wrote added more and more to my experience and maturity. And the songs hardly left the garage anyway. :)
Fast-forward to high school.
I feel like the middle of my high school career is when I started writing genuinely good songs. I started another band and we started playing shows around the area. It was a huge learning experience because suddenly I was sharing my creations with people I didn't know. They didn't care about the time and energy and HEART I poured into the songs. All they cared about is if it sounded good. Some of the tunes were well-receieved; others weren't.
Since then, I have been involved in several serious music projects, most of which were rooted in songs that I either wrote or co-wrote. I have grown tremendously as a musician (mainly guitar, but splashes of other instruments) and as a songwriter. I've written at LEAST a couple hundred songs in the past ten-plus years, most of which haven't stood the test of time.
Along with my artistic growth came the growth of my musical library. I listen to a very wide variety of music. Some of the artists you know and love, but most of them you've probably never heard of. Here's a small list to give you an idea of who my influences are...
As Cities Burn (my FAVORITE), The Almost, Circa Survive, Coldplay, Edison Glass, Emarosa, House of Heroes, Jon Foreman, The Listening, Phil Wickham, Progress In Color, etc.
Some of those artists are musical influences, others are lyrical influences, and some are both.
But that's enough about me! :) Please keep checking back. I will continually update this blog until I feel like there's enough content to make some sort of an impact. Like I said, there are a lot of great websites and resources out there already... I'm just hear to add to the conversation. :)
Thanks for reading.
