A lot of bands & musicians mistakenly believe that good music is pop music. Short songs that will get the crowd dancing, all night at your gig. No. To me, that is not what makes a good song. Honestly, I’m not such a big fan of pop music, anyway. Unless, there’s a pop music artist that can write songs with heart and passion, I’ll probably end up being a fan of that artist.

The kind of songs I want to hear. I want to hear music that is played with heart. Music with more passion. Music that will immediately draw me to your songs. Something powerful. An artist must feel the song. Give the song your best. Doesn’t matter how well you play your instrument or sing, it’s about the song itself. You know how when you listen to your favorite song, and it gives you goosebumps? Well, that’s how I always want to hear music!

That’s what I hope to achieve with my songwriting. I try my best to write songs with heart every time. I’m never worried about writing pop songs where the crowd can dance to at shows. I’m all about the art.

This is why I admire my favorite artists such as Led Zep and Neil Young. They wrote songs with so much heart and so much passion. They never cared about writing radio hit singles. They never saw their songs as hit singles. That’s how I never saw my music, and I would never write songs that way.

So how do you write this really amazing and incredible song, that you want to blow everyone away? Well, if you write a song and it makes you smile, that is probably your best one that you would want to release for everyone to hear. Just release the best music that you’re proud of. If you write a song that you’re proud of, chances are everyone else will probably like it too.

It’s hard to write a really good song, but you’ll get there. When you get so many positive feedback on the song, that’s when you’ll know you’re successful at your goal.

It doesn’t always have to be fast rock n’ roll or upbeat music. They can even be slow ballads and they can still knock people out. Just listen to your favorite artists and see how they do it. I don’t know if you can tell, but most of my music is Led Zeppelin inspired ’cause I listen to them too much and still do. I look at them for inspiration more than any other artist.

“Mr. Tough Guy”, an original song, I wrote years back, that tune was kind of like Led Zep’s, “Rock and Roll”. “Evil Fred” was kind of like, “Stairway” or “Babe, I’m Gonna Leave You”. Each one of my songs will have a Led Zep influence.

It doesn’t matter what genre of music you play, and doesn’t matter your level of talent. A good song is a good song. Just play whatever sounds good to you and that’s all that matters.

Kev

In social networking sites or blogs, musicians will post things that could spark some controversy. Then when they start to get negative replies from their followers, the musician will start complaining about the negative responses and drama around it.

I know this from experience myself. Well think about it, if you didn’t want the drama, then don’t you think that you’re the one being the big drama queen yourself? Of course, you won’t think so. Musicians will always think they’re doing nothing wrong. While it’s okay for musicians to speak their mind on things whether it will be in facebook or blogs, they must do that responsibly and carefully. I’ve been learning these mistakes myself and I’m trying my very best to not be a drama queen as you can clearly see.

If you’re going to post a controversial topic that could end up getting a lot of replies, you gotta be able to handle the heat. I can take criticism just fine. No matter what you musicians post, people can read and WILL respond however they want to. So not all responses are going to be nice and kind.

It’s not the internet’s fault, it’s how you post on it. Like I said, I’m learning from these mistakes myself. Musicians will never see it, and they will never take this advice ’cause their self centered “ego” will always make them think they’re in the “right”, no matter what anyone says.

You know that old saying, “If you can’t take the heat, get out of the kitchen”? If you’re not liking the responses you get, then you shouldn’t have posted it. Musicians make these mistakes all the time. Gotta be able to handle criticism from everyone.

Kev