There has been a lot of confusion over my, “How to Write Songs” post previously. There has been quite a bit of response to it. Allow me to clarify some things so you may understand better.

Yes, pretty much all musicians have different ways of writing songs. Even the professional musicians who do this for a living have different ways. However, when I say things like “Songwriting is better when you think of songs in your head” — what I said is true. It’s true that musicians start writing a little bit of a song and then take their time with it. Start writing and finish it until it’s perfect. The point that I was trying to make that most songs have come from people’s heads. Most guitar riffs in rock songs and some of the most famous solos have come from their heads. Yes, they write little bits and put them together while editing them in the studio — I did the same thing with a lot of my own songs. Write little bits here and there and finish the song later. When musicians write — they already have a vision in their head of what they want their song to sound like when they get it on recording.

If you aren’t able to write songs that you hear in your head and you’re just playing random stuff on the instrument until it sounds good — that’s the wrong way to do it. In other words, not being able to get a song off your mind and get it on recording. Some musicians seem to be banging out random stuff and say, “How does this sound, what do you think of this?”. Not good.

Songs do come from the heart and the mind. That’s where most of the great songs in the industry have come from. Especially, the classic rock era. The real way to play music is play whatever comes out. Play with feeling. If you don’t play with feeling then you don’t have what it takes to be a real songwriter.

When I wrote that post, I’ve gotten slammed by some musicians and it turned out to be a controversial post. Some accused me of being selfish and told me, “You shouldn’t tell how others how to write songs just because they don’t write the way you do…” blah blah blah. The thing is, I wasn’t being selfish and wasn’t trying to tell people how to write.

I’m just speaking the reality of songwriting when it comes to the industry.

Think of it this way… have you ever hear a guitar riff idea in your head and or even hear a vocal melody and you want to get it out of you? That’s the way songwriting is done. That’s the point I was trying to make from the beginning. Believe me, I used to write random stuff without thinking them in my head but that’s rushing things and songs will sound like crap if they’re written that way (that’s how amateurs write).

Over the years, I learned to write songs out of my head and songwriting is so much better that way. It’s not me being selfish, I’m only trying to help you become a better songwriter. If I’m getting musicians slamming me about this — then that means, they can’t write like that and they have a lot of learning to do as a musician. Seriously, the world of music is no joke. If you want to enter the world of professional musicians… they’re gonna expect good musicianship. So you gotta know your shit and be ready. If they find that you don’t have the professional songwriting skills… you’re not gonna get anywhere.

Learn to play things from your head. It requires improvisation skills. You don’t necessarily have to learn music theory ’cause there’s a lot of professionals out there that don’t even know it. You just have to have a good ear. There’s no other way around it. Hope, I made myself a little clear.

Kev