I've heard songwriters say things like "would you rather write 1,000 songs and have a bunch of crappy ones, or really focus hard on a handful of songs and make them all great?"
A question like that is sort of silly. The truth is to be great at anything you have to do it a lot. Imagine if Michael Jordan would have said "I'll only take a few shots, and they'll all go in." That wouldn't make much sense, would it? I'm not sure why songwriters tend to view their craft differently than any other skill. If you want to become a great songwriter, you have to write a lot of songs. Some of them will be bad, but that's okay. It's a learning process.
Maybe you're afraid to write a lot of songs because you're one of those people who wants to only write great songs. You're a perfectionist and you're afraid to write something that might not be amazing. If that's you, realize that everyone who's considered great at what they do has hit stumbling blocks and weak points along the way. They've had to. It's contributed to them being great. They learned from what tripped them up and they moved on. Not only that, but they became better for having experienced the hardships.
Don't be afraid to take risks and try things that might not work. If it doesn't go as planned, take a lesson from it. Take note that what you tried didn't work out maybe you shouldn't use it again. Or maybe it's something to be tried again later in a different context. Evaluate what you did and let it help you move forward.
Some people think that songwriting, singing and guitar playing are only about natural talent. Either you have it or you don't. It's not true. Natural talent is a factor, but it can only get you so far. It takes a lot of practice to become great at what you do. Slash is of course a naturally gifted guitar player, but he's admitted to practicing for eight hours a day when he was learning.
In his book Outliers, Malcolm Gladwell makes the case for this exact point. He makes the argument that it takes 10,000 of practice to become a master in your field, and he made the point by referencing musicians, specifically. To put that in perspective, 10,000 hours equates to almost five years of time, assuming you're putting in forty hour weeks, every single week of the year. If you put in twenty hour weeks, every single week of the year, it'll take you ten years to become a master. So, how many hours a week are you spending writing songs?
Additionally, getting good at anything takes education plus experience. A lot of songwriters have a lot of experience with writing songs (except those who only write a handful of songs hoping they'll be the "great ones") but they don't bother to learn anything about their craft. Reading this book is a great way for you to get into the educational side of songwriting. I also recommend attending songwriting conventions and classes as well. Getting educated feedback on your songs is another hugely important learning tool. Learn your craft, apply what you've learned, and repeat. Constantly continue this loop and you can only improve.
To learn more, download my free EBook here:
http://www.SuccessForYourSongs.com/freeoffer/
Anthony Ceseri is the owner of http://www.successforyoursongs.com/, a website dedicated to the growth and development of songwriters of all skill levels. Anthony's writings appear as examples in the book "Songwriting Without Boundaries: Lyric Writing Exercises For Finding Your Voice" by Pat Pattison, an acclaimed lyric writing professor at Berklee College of Music.
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