Songwriter Advisor Blog

If you’re teaching yourself to learn songwriting or improve your songwriting skills it’s wise to implement some type of structured plan on how to reach your goals quickly. This will ensure you get the most out of every practice or study session.

You can actually create a detailed plan weeks at a time and actually have an idea of where you’ll be as far as progress during a certain time frame. The easiest way to plan what you need to learn is to find  great songwriting books such as The Craft of Lyric Writing (for lyrics) and Writing Music For Hit Songs (for music), and take notes, writing down important principles that make up a song such as “song forms,” “rhyming,” and “diatonic chords in all the different keys.”

For example, if I were a beginner songwriter looking to learn guitar or piano as well as learning songwriting basics, I wold come up with a realistic weekly schedule as follows using 1 hour sessions:

Monday

(Songwriting – Learn song forms) 30 min.

(Instrument - practice diatonic chords in the key of “C”) 30 min. 
The chords would be: C, Dm, Em, F, G, Am, B°

Wednesday

(Songwriting – Learn rhyming basics) 30 min.

(Instrument – learn to play diatonic chords in the key of “G”
The chords would be: G, Am, Bm, C, D, Em, F#°

Friday

Review everything learned in a systematic and productive way, ie., review the key of “C” diatonic chords, then the key of “G” diatonic chords, then start playing all the chords randomly so you can perfect your chord fingerings and so you can begin to get a feel for how each chord sounds in relation to one another. Review “song forms” and “rhyming basics.” 1 hour

The idea is to practice weekly with a purpose, set attainable goals, and be organized as opposed to practicing whatever you feel like on any given day without any direction whatsoever.   This will lead to more productive practice and study sessions, and you’ll reach your goals much quicker! 

Is it really possible to learn the craft of songwriting on your own without any formal training whatsoever? 

An autodidact is someone who learns things on their own instead of learning in a school setting from a teacher or instructor.  History has taught us that many genius autodidacts have taught themselves successfully through available resources in a variety of fields.  The list includes Mark Twain, Benjamin Franklin, Thomas Edison and musician Frank Zappa just to name a few.

In songwriting there is formal training available whether through college, private instructors, and online one-on-one coaching.  In my opinion, these are good choices if you want to learn the basics in a controlled, structured fashion.  But this type of training can generally be tedious and limit your immediate creativity because you start clinging to sets of songwriting rules established by your curriculum, and you go at your instructor’s pace.  In other words, this is the slow, sure-fire method to developing solid songwriting skills and is worth every penny for some aspiring songwriters.

The alternative is to become an autodidact and learn songwriting at your own pace through songwriting reference books or otherwise, and the advantage you have is you can quickly start experimenting with your own ideas from day one!  Many songwriters will tell you to become proficient at songwriting you need to write, write, and keep writing.  It is conceivable to get your hands on a complete, great book like Six Steps to Songwriting Success: The Comprehensive Guide to Writing and Marketing Hit Songs by Jason Blume, to read the book in two days while taking notes, and to be writing your first song on day three! 

Now no one’s saying your first song is going to be spectacular but you never know!  

Songwriting is not complicated at all–as I’ve said before;  It is not rocket science!  Songwriting history is chock full of phenomenal self-taught songwriters (autodidacts) from Brian Wilson to Dianne Warren to Prince, and countless other musical icons.      

If you’re a beginner songwriter wanting to learn quickly for free, check out the blueprint:  Beginner Songwriting Tips to Get You Hooked.  If you’re an intermediate songwriter hoping to refresh your mind and learn innovative pro tips check out this free step-by-step blueprint.