When Your Ambition Doesn’t Match Your Talent
I’ll be honest, I don’t often read reviews. I’d rather form my own opinion of a work of art than figure it out second hand through somebody else. But recently, one particular phrase in a couple of different reviews really stuck with me: “[The Artist]’s ambition...
The 10% Principle: How to Write Your Best Songs
Aside from a handful of things that are taught in classrooms, very little in life is linear. Population growth, technological advances and the effects of climate change almost never make straight lines on graphs: they’re curves, they’re waves or something...
Songwriting Is Hard. Life Is Hard. Here Are Three Ways to Make Them Both Easier.
I don’t know if you’ve noticed, but life is hard sometimes. I don’t know if you’ve noticed, but songwriting is hard sometimes. And I don’t know if you’ve noticed, but spending some of your life writing songs can be really hard sometimes. The truth is, life can be...
Write with Your Heart, Not Just Your Head: Why Songwriting Is About Much More Than Craft
“Sex sells,” the saying goes. Well, it’s not as sexy, but songwriting craft sells too. It’s teachable. It’s concrete. It’s measurable enough that you can watch it improve. The trouble is, a song isn’t just the nuts and bolts that hold it together. Just like a chair...