An Actual Blog About Songwriting

(please forgive the random asterisks and paragraphs...I hate computers.)
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*Instead of wallowing in my own self doubt I thought I'd actually write about songwriting.

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*How do you write a song? Where does it come from? What is the process?
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When I was a teenager songs seemed to flow out of me endlessly. Some of them weren't half bad, but most of them were like me at the time: immature, idealistic, YOUNG. Songwriting now is hard work. I must work harder to find that place where songs are born. I am not sure it is within me, but it feels like it comes from somewhere else, almost out of thin air. The good ones anyway.
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*My process varies. I generally start with some chords that I like. I've mentioned before that I write songs in pairs. I usually have a key that I'm stuck in, then I start with a few chords that are new to me. Something that catches my attention. From there I work on the rhythm and chords. I like to create the 'vibe' before I add the lyrics/melody. Here is where the process changes from song to song. Some melodies are thoughtfully crafted using a specific tool to get a specific sound, others are created (found) more through improvisation. Often times the lyrics and melody come together. The first verse is always easiest, then finishing the lyrics/adding additional arrangements (bridge/chorus) comes last.
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*That is where I am currently stuck on the 2 songs I've been working on. I need TIME to work on them, and that is something I simply don't have. I need time and space, darkness, silence. I cannot schedule these things. You cannot say to a painter, "All right, go paint a masterpiece between 10 and 1 while the baby naps!". Art needs freedom.
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*I will end with a quote I read recently in 'Piano Playing with Piano Questions' by Josef Hoffman. The quote is actually from Goethe: "Outwardly limited, Boundless to inward."
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