Nothing Is Important

Sure, there are lots of different genres nowadays, and lots of ways to write music, but each day the lines seem to get a little blurrier. Hit songs can have misspelled words, bad grammar, cross genre lines and have lyrics that are totally unintelligible to most listeners, and can still be a hit. You can include instruments from obscure countries or make your own from trash items, and in a few months they will become a trend with scores of songwriters asking you advice on how to make them work on their tunes. Here are a few things you can count on to make a song work for you even in these uneasy songwriting times, and keep things fun even when it seems you know nothing.

DO WHAT SOUNDS GOOD TO YOU

Whatever path you decide to take with your lyrics or instrumentation, be sincere about it, and do what sounds fun for you. Dare to try things that seem unfamiliar, and enlist the help of others if you feel they can teach you what you need to make it sound right if you aren't able to figure that part out on your own. If you really don't have a good feel for a certain genre, but know you can sell a song using it, find people who do have that feeling and hire them to do the parts you find distasteful or that you just can't seem to get the hang of to give the song the best possible chance. If your gut tells you it sounds good, go with that, because chances are that someone else out there will have the identical feeling about it.

YOUR BACKGROUND DOES NOT MATTER

The industry is full of people who have had little or no musical training. Sure, you can keep learning as you go, and you should, but don't let the fact that you can't read a note keep you from playing guitar if you have a good ear and can improvise just fine off the cuff. On the flip side, if you are a music geek that has played since you were little but can't write a note, don't let this keep you from trying your hand at being a studio musician and slowly learning how to jam and write your own songs. If you can't seem to rhyme without it sounding stilted, but can write prose all day long, try your hand at blank verse songs-there are plenty of those out there-or try narration over instrumental music. If you always seemed to flunk English class but can write plainspoken lyrics that the common man can relate to, you might be the next Springsteen, so don't feel you have to be flowery to be good. The important thing is to write and keep writing, play and keep playing, and just find others that you either fit in with or that can be strengths where you are weak. You have to get out there and look, though, and not let your background or lack of one keep your talents from the limelight.

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