Rethink songwriting.

At the end of this section, you’ll find a list of posts discussing a variety of ways to build and rethink your songwriting practice. For example, we explore

how your ear is your most valuable resource,
how trying to write original songs can backfire,
how music theory can hurt you (but also help if used properly),
how you can take advantage of musical luck by consciously building a backlog of song ideas, and
how thinking in terms of frameworks can help you narrow your options and focus on just writing songs.

It is not uncommon for a songwriter to figure out how to write songs purely through trial and error.

You learn some chords, play them in random orders, and start to work out your first songs.

The next step for some is to learn their favorite songs and internalize some of the chord changes and patterns. These then become part of your vocabulary when you write your own songs.

Trial and error, and a (perhaps unconscious) borrowing of ideas from other songwriters. With enough practice, this is actually enough to build an intuitive sense of how music works and to write a lifetime’s worth of songs.

But on its own, this approach has a major drawback. By relying purely on experimentation and intuition, it becomes much harder to consciously build a songwriting practice.

And consciously building a songwriting practice is one of the best ways to transform your habits and consistently improve as a songwriter.

Read on to find the latest posts about rethinking your approach to songwriting and setting yourself up to keep getting better.

What matters is how your music sounds. Even if you get the theory wrong, you can still use what you learn. And mistakes can actually be a source for creativity.

The Shapeshifting Principle: Let Your Songs Become What They Will

The shapeshifting principle says you should treat every step and every idea in your process as provisional and subject to change. Your job is to help your songs become what they're going to be.

Writing with the Speech-to-Song Illusion

Music researcher Diana Deutsch discovered a surprising illusion when listening to a snippet of speech over and over. Let's see how we can take advantage of this illusion to discover new melodies.

Confidence One Day, Terrible Doubt the Next

Sometimes it seems like great music is flowing out of you. But before you know it, you feel like you'll never write a good song again. Survive the endless cycle of doubt by shifting your focus from writing good songs to building your potential.

Death of the Author, Birth of the Listener

Roland Barthes declared the death of the author in 1967. Maybe a little extreme, but there's a lesson for songwriters: the meaning of your songs will always be beyond your control. Embracing this can free you as an artist.

A map can help you see what's possible, but you need to make it your own. It's not theory that makes a musical journey worth taking.

Narrator, Perspective, and Persona in Song

Not every song needs to directly express the personal perspective of the artist. There are many ways to play with narration, perspective, and persona in your songs.

The resilient songwriter knows how to adapt to the unexpected, focus on process over outcomes, and turn luck to their advantage. Let's consider some principles that can help you get there.

Frameworks help you narrow down the universe of options you have as a songwriter. We look at a number of examples and discuss how you can use them in your own practice.