Excellent read about songwriting

[JonInMiddleGA]

No idea what thread to put this is, felt too good for the "random" thread, so I'll just throw it into its own

Hands down this might be the best overall piece I've ever seen about songwriting. You don't have to be a fan of heavy music* -- heck you might not even have to LIKE music period -- to appreciate this. I am absolutely stunned by how good this is just from a writing standpoint, the tapestry woven with the quotes, this is all just amazing. That it involves people whose work I've listened to for over 30 years and over countless hours is just a bonus. I cannot recommend this highly enough for musicians, writers (song or otherwise), psychology folks, you name it. One helluva read afaic.

The Brutal Honesty of Hard Rock Songwriting | Psychology Today

The songwriters involved are Nikki Sixx, Jacoby Shaddix of Papa Roach and Zoltan Bathory from Five Finger Death Punch. Trust me, you don't have to like their music to get what shows up here.

[weegeebored]

Good read. I got back to playing keyboards a couple of years ago after not playing for a really long time. Been messing around with a few things but never put an actual song together. The things that Sixx said about ego and fear hit home. Every time I hear a song that I really like I find myself saying "I would love to write just one great song like that". After reading the article I'm pretty inspired. Thanks for the link.

[Mota]

Great article.

They are right about the music writing itself. We are just the conduits. At least two of my band's songs were completely improvised from beginning to end, with all the parts. It was amazing to perform / write that music, there is this energy that flowed between all the musicians as we moved from part to part, somehow managing to keep it all together even though none of us knew what was coming next. An amazing feeling.

I also prefer music that is relatable to everybody. I want lyrics that don't just apply to me, but to the things that everybody goes through. The ideal lyrics make you feel that the song was written about you, regardless of our experiences. We've all felt anger, we've all felt loss, or happiness. If you can connect to those, everybody can relate to them in some way.

I also think that everybody has a certain amount of music inside of them, and once it has come out, anything else beyond that is forced. You can see when our favorite bands have hit that point and all of a sudden their music just isn't the same. Some people have a near infinite amount of songs inside of them, others only 1-2 albums. Sometimes you can extend that if you go through a lot in your life, I have seen people get rejuvenated after certain life experiences.

[Marc Vaughan]

Thats a fantastic article - thanks for sharing it, I've passed it along to one of my sons friends