Some questions regarding your songwriting experience :)

wilderplain · 04-16-2014, 09:27 PM

Hi everyone,

I'm a music tutor, and I had the thought that I could start to figure out and incorporate some solutions to common songwriting problems into my lessons. So I have a few questions for you if you have a second to answer them with your experiences. Feel free to elaborate as much as you like!

1) How old are you and how long have you been writing songs?

2) What do you love most about writing music and songwriting?

3) Are you self-taught or have you had instrumental/songwriting lessons?

4) What do you struggle with most in terms of the musical process? (melody, structure, rhythm, etc)

5) What do you find most difficult about the lyrical process? (coming up with ideas, avoiding clichés, etc)

6) If you are a working musician, what do you find hardest about the music industry? (building fan base, getting shows, etc)

7) What mental barriers do you struggle with? (procrastination, not finishing songs, confidence, etc)

8) If you could get better at one element of the above, what would it be?
Thanks for your time everybody

Jake Fontes/Keep the Fate · 06-14-2014, 03:54 PM

I am 21 years old, i have been writing songs since about 2008.

What i love about songwriting is the ability of a person to express themselves in a creative way, and put their emotions on display for the world to see/hear. I think it's wonderful that so many people write songs for a hobby, cause it gives people (including myself) an outlet to let others know what life means to them, what's on their mind, and how they are feeling at the time. And use those feelings, life lessons, or whatever characteristics your lyrics/songs have to touch the hearts and/or challenge the minds of music listeners.

I consider myself both self-taught, and formally trained. Because i started playing the violin and taking lessons when i was young, which eventually started evolving into a passion for music. Then i started playing the guitar at a much older age, and that passion was solidified. I started taking guitar lessons when i was 17, and although i haven't mastered the guitar, i have become proficient playing my own style of music. Some of my playing style and expertise is self-taught, and some of it came from taking lessons.

What i definitely struggle with the most while creating music is the song structure, which is actually why alot of my songs have a very unorthodox song structure. Sometimes i'll have 2 completely different verses in a song, but one chorus. Also, sometimes i'll just have a song that doesn't even repeat at all (haha)! And although i think alot of this is fueled by how ambitious i am with making music, it can also serve as a detriment when i'm just trying to write a simple song!

What i find most difficult about the lyrical process is probably keeping everything organized, and not going off on any tangents. Cause i tend to have ideas flow through my head very quickly, so it's difficult to stay completely on topic. For example if i'm writing a song about heartbreak, i don't want to drift off into writing about anger or rage. Despite some of my difficulties with this, the lyrics i write almost always turn out really good, and lyricism is probably my biggest strength as an artist.

I don't work as a musician at the moment, but if anything i find building a fan base online to be excruciating... Especially when there are a million other artists out there fighting for the same exposure that you want. You just gotta stick to your guns i guess!

The mental barrier that plagues me the most about music is definitely confidence, although i'd say taking way too long to finish a song is a close second. When i'm happy or in a good mood, i come across as very confident. But when i'm not, it's very difficult for me to muster up the confidence to be able to record a vocal track for a song without sounding bored. Even if i am feeling what i'm saying. So i always try to do like a million vocal takes before i output the song.

If i could get better at one element (assuming this question is a reference to the last question)
Confidence would definitely be the answer.
IF you're talking about all the questions, i would probably say the same thing :-)

04-16-2014, 09:27 PM	#1 (permalink)
wilderplain Groupie Join Date: Apr 2014 Posts: 1	Some questions regarding your songwriting experience :) Hi everyone, I'm a music tutor, and I had the thought that I could start to figure out and incorporate some solutions to common songwriting problems into my lessons. So I have a few questions for you if you have a second to answer them with your experiences. Feel free to elaborate as much as you like! 1) How old are you and how long have you been writing songs? 2) What do you love most about writing music and songwriting? 3) Are you self-taught or have you had instrumental/songwriting lessons? 4) What do you struggle with most in terms of the musical process? (melody, structure, rhythm, etc) 5) What do you find most difficult about the lyrical process? (coming up with ideas, avoiding clichés, etc) 6) If you are a working musician, what do you find hardest about the music industry? (building fan base, getting shows, etc) 7) What mental barriers do you struggle with? (procrastination, not finishing songs, confidence, etc) 8) If you could get better at one element of the above, what would it be? Thanks for your time everybody

06-14-2014, 03:54 PM	#2 (permalink)
Jake Fontes/Keep the Fate Groupie Join Date: Jun 2014 Location: North Attleboro Ma. Posts: 2	I am 21 years old, i have been writing songs since about 2008. What i love about songwriting is the ability of a person to express themselves in a creative way, and put their emotions on display for the world to see/hear. I think it's wonderful that so many people write songs for a hobby, cause it gives people (including myself) an outlet to let others know what life means to them, what's on their mind, and how they are feeling at the time. And use those feelings, life lessons, or whatever characteristics your lyrics/songs have to touch the hearts and/or challenge the minds of music listeners. I consider myself both self-taught, and formally trained. Because i started playing the violin and taking lessons when i was young, which eventually started evolving into a passion for music. Then i started playing the guitar at a much older age, and that passion was solidified. I started taking guitar lessons when i was 17, and although i haven't mastered the guitar, i have become proficient playing my own style of music. Some of my playing style and expertise is self-taught, and some of it came from taking lessons. What i definitely struggle with the most while creating music is the song structure, which is actually why alot of my songs have a very unorthodox song structure. Sometimes i'll have 2 completely different verses in a song, but one chorus. Also, sometimes i'll just have a song that doesn't even repeat at all (haha)! And although i think alot of this is fueled by how ambitious i am with making music, it can also serve as a detriment when i'm just trying to write a simple song! What i find most difficult about the lyrical process is probably keeping everything organized, and not going off on any tangents. Cause i tend to have ideas flow through my head very quickly, so it's difficult to stay completely on topic. For example if i'm writing a song about heartbreak, i don't want to drift off into writing about anger or rage. Despite some of my difficulties with this, the lyrics i write almost always turn out really good, and lyricism is probably my biggest strength as an artist. I don't work as a musician at the moment, but if anything i find building a fan base online to be excruciating... Especially when there are a million other artists out there fighting for the same exposure that you want. You just gotta stick to your guns i guess! The mental barrier that plagues me the most about music is definitely confidence, although i'd say taking way too long to finish a song is a close second. When i'm happy or in a good mood, i come across as very confident. But when i'm not, it's very difficult for me to muster up the confidence to be able to record a vocal track for a song without sounding bored. Even if i am feeling what i'm saying. So i always try to do like a million vocal takes before i output the song. If i could get better at one element (assuming this question is a reference to the last question) Confidence would definitely be the answer. IF you're talking about all the questions, i would probably say the same thing :-)