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Post by tonycamphd on Apr 3, 2014 10:28:45 GMT -6
There seems to be two schools of thought...Drbill and I are on opposite ends. However, whatever works for you should be what you follow. I can see working on your craft every day...Flexing the muscle every day - even if the idea ends up in the trash...but I think the idea of writing a song a day is setting you up for failure. Who has 365 good ideas a year? I don't. The world doesn't need another shitty song. There are plenty of them. Why waste your time on something that isn't worthy? Spend it on ideas that inspire you. Quality over quantity. Hugh Prestwood - one of my favorite writers ever - wrote 10 songs a year. About 8 of those would get cut. Of course, the guy is a genius, so we can't all achieve that...But he crafted those 10 incredible ideas over time and didn't let them go until they were perfect. Find your balance and go from there. i couldn't agree more with this ^, i try to write about what matters to me the most, then it means something, if it means something, it's worth working on..otherwise its just doodling/talking for the sake of talking...like we do on some forums?? lol Anyway, i come from a school of guys who are improvisors, rock funk jazz musicians, it's all about cutting loose and seeing where stuff goes when we jam, if you're not pushing for something out of your comfort zone, it becomes boring and un eventful. I'm not a professional song writer, but I have found personally that writing songs is not exactly like this, great songs take whimsical inspiration yes, but it's like anything else, you have to work hard on a piece, the initial inspiration can come quickly as i said, but forming it into something worthwhile takes passion, thought, time and work. Youtube outtakes have proven this to be true to me, lots of bands worked on those classics for good amounts of time, John Lennon worked on strawberry fields forever for over 7 years! The only thing i do 354 times a year is poop lol of course, as always, this is JMO(except for the poop part 8) |
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Post by chrisbramble on Apr 4, 2014 15:25:39 GMT -6
I agree with the school of thought that its better to work on songwriting every day, rather than writing a new one every day. Of course, a 'new one' might only be a complete verse, that becomes a complete song further down the road. I mean, what *is* a song, anyway? It seems to me like the philosophy of finishing a song a day is for people who never finish songs, to get in the habit of actually finishing them.
But as far as some songs being better than others and therefore more worthy of your time, I agree with whoever earlier pointed out that often what we think was unworthy is exactly what someone else sees as genius, and vice versa. And then there's what Richard Thompson says: "Write songs. Write lots of songs. Write lots of bad songs - because if you write eleven bad songs and the twelfth is a gem, wasn't it worth it?"
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Post by scumbum on Apr 4, 2014 15:45:49 GMT -6
John Lennon worked on strawberry fields forever for over 7 years! The only thing i do 354 times a year is poop lol of course, as always, this is JMO(except for the poop part 8) Interesting........you might actually be on to something..... If we can figure out how many times John Lennon Pooped a year and divide that by how many years he took to write Strawberry Fields ....we might unlock the secret formula to the Beatles Songwriting ......well its worth a try . |
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Post by tonycamphd on Apr 4, 2014 16:00:34 GMT -6
I agree with the school of thought that its better to work on songwriting every day, rather than writing a new one every day. Of course, a 'new one' might only be a complete verse, that becomes a complete song further down the road. I mean, what *is* a song, anyway? It seems to me like the philosophy of finishing a song a day is for people who never finish songs, to get in the habit of actually finishing them. But as far as some songs being better than others and therefore more worthy of your time, I agree with whoever earlier pointed out that often what we think was unworthy is exactly what someone else sees as genius, and vice versa. And then there's what Richard Thompson says: "Write songs. Write lots of songs. Write lots of bad songs - because if you write eleven bad songs and the twelfth is a gem, wasn't it worth it?" welcome to the forum Chris! the only problem with the above highlighted, is i don't give a rats ass what anyone thinks of my writing lol! funny but true, i write for me, if someone else appreciates it?... thats nice 8)
I believe the origin of the word art, is derived from "of thy self" or some fancy shit like that? |
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Post by Johnkenn on Apr 4, 2014 20:13:10 GMT -6
Richard Thompson says: "Write songs. Write lots of songs. Write lots of bad songs - because if you write eleven bad songs and the twelfth is a gem, wasn't it worth it?" See - I don't see any point in finishing a bad song...why? I think the point of that quote is to flex the muscle every day...I just feel defeated if I write something I don't think is worthy...I mean, not that everything I write is great, but I don't waste my time on anything I don't THINK is good at the time. |
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