The Best Songwriting Advice I've Ever Gotten

Hello. If you are reading this you are officially reading the first words ever written on The Volume! Congratulations!

Now that we've celebrated, here's the best songwriting advice I've ever received.

Beginning to be a songwriter is a rough and often cringe-filled process. People tend to rhyme the word "you" with "you" while constructing the rest of the song not much better. Maybe using the word people is too broad and this was just me. But when I began songwriting in my sophomore year of high school, I basically wrote about stuff that sounded cool but had absolutely no meaning. Often referring to designer brands like Louis Vuitton and talking about heartbreaks that I had never had, it was needless to say that I was about as bad as it got. But, over the years I started to learn not only the process of this wonderful skill but the goal as well.

I believe that every song should mean something to you. This process can be extremely beneficial for people who need a creative outlet, or maybe a therapeutic process to simply get their words out. This is where the advice comes in. Yes, trust me, I'm getting to the point.

One night while watching YouTube way too late and absorbing all that healthy blue light, I stumbled across a video made by John Mayer. Like most of John's videos, he deconstructs and explains a lot about music theory and the barebones to a good song. While watching he got into the topic of songwriting. And no, this advice was not some long cliche spiel about how underrated songwriting was to the industry and how much time someone should spend writing their heart out into a song. It was simply this: write every word that comes to mind down, no matter how ridiculous it sounds. Yes, this means that if you write a line about a blue tree riding a bicycle to work, keep it. Do this because while you may not understand what you are saying at the time, your subconscious is always speaking. When you write these words down and go back to them at a later date, you'll realize how metaphorical and powerful the words really are. I have done this with every song I've written since hearing this advice, and it has never failed to amaze me. So many hidden thoughts and emotions have been revealed throughout the process and has always allowed me to grow and learn more about myself.

Try this technique out and let me know how it goes for you!

Goodbye.