Some musicians seem to get all butthurt when the truth is told about the songwriting process. Sure, there maybe no right or wrong way to write original music but that maybe okay for beginner or amateur musicians, though. It’s okay for beginner/amateur musicians to write chords, tab or other things down on paper to write songs but when you want to become part of the professional musicians community… you really gotta learn your shit. Learn music theory, learn to develop your ear, and learn how to write songs on a professional level.

How long does it usually take me to write a full song from start to finish? It should take no more than a full day to write a song. Some songwriters would spend months and months on it. The way I do things, I like to get songs done right away. I’m the type of guy who has this special rule, “If I start it, I finish it.”. I never sit on a unfinished song for a long period of time. I usually write songs pretty quickly. That new song I wrote, “Leave This Place” was done in a couple of hours. I could come up with 4 or 5 songs a day if I wanted to. Sometimes it does take a long time for me to finish a song but it rarely happens. I used to write the lyrics first but from this point on, I’m doing it the other way around. Write the music first, and then lyrics. I’m finding it much easier that way.

Like I said, it’s okay to write songs however you want to as a beginner/amateur musician but when you’re playing for years and still playing random stuff until you find something you like… then there’s something wrong there. You’re not the actual musician you say you are.

There’s nothing wrong with me saying that songwriters should write songs from the heart and writing songs you hear in your head ’cause that’s how most songs in the music industry have came up with songs over the years. They just think of them in their head and try to get it out of them on their instrument. That’s how most of my songs have been written in the past. I just think of them in my head and get ’em out of me. I’m not the best at improvisation yet but I am still able to find ways to get songs out of my mind by humming along to the melody in my head and try to get it on the guitar the best I can.

If you wanna get great at songwriting, playing from the heart is the only way to do it. Play with feeling and let the fingers do the talking.

I’m not really trying to tell you how to make your art but if you want to be taken seriously as a songwriter, you must learn to play a little more professionally. Music theory is probably the most important skill which a lot of songwriters around here ignore. Theory will help your songwriting. Learn it all… the scales/modes, learn how chords are built, the circle of fifths, intervals, etc. Learn theory and that’ll take your songwriting on the guitar to the next level.

I’ve taken a lot of time off from songwriting so I can focus on guitar playing. Wanted to improve and get better on that. Learn some theory and all of this stuff. I’ve been criticized about my musicianship in the past and I wanted to get better by teaching myself more guitar. It helps, trust me.

I’m just not afraid to take a realistic approach when it comes to music in songwriting and music over all. I’m not afraid to expose all the fakes in musicians. My posts aren’t aimed at a certain band in particular, they’re aimed at pretty much all of them, in fact.

I’m not acting like a better musician than everyone else, believe me, as I know there are talented musicians out there that are way better than me. I’m not the best musician myself but I’m always trying to improve every time. You can’t always think you’re good all the time. You have to admit that you are bad at some things and it’s not that hard to do — people won’t care. By the way, I never saw myself as a professional musician or a god at music — I’m just a regular guy who likes to play music. I just wanna write songs, be the best I can be, and just enjoy. I never took myself serious.

Kev