Songwriting Starting Points

This is a concept I haven't seen many people talk about, but it feels like an important one.

Generally speaking, I've noticed that a lot of people tend to fall pretty hard into one of two camps, and sometimes people aren't even AWARE of the other camp!

1. Transcribing
Some people think that a musician will just "hear" a mostly complete song in their head and then sit down with a guitar to figure out how it goes. The better you are at figuring out songs by ear, the better you'll be at writing songs. There are a few well-known artists that perpetuate this idea of writing music. Mozart tended to be like this, and many other artists had experiences like this. Paul McCartney supposedly woke up with part of the melody for "Yesterday."

2. Exploring
Others think that you have to just try tinkering, exploring, adjusting, massaging until - eventually - you stumble upon something nice. Beethoven was notorious for tinkering and massaging. If you start off with something in your head, you're not really "writing music."

My goal with this video is basically to let you know these stereotypes exists and THEN to have you ask: Which camp do I relate with? Did I know about these camps?

If you've been writing for a while, it's probably helpful to think about what assumptions you've made about writing music, and THEN work to be a well rounded musician.

If you're more of a transcriber, I recommend trying to explore more often. Sit down to write without any ideas in your head. Pick a key and tinker with chord progressions, melodies or riffs - whatever! As long as you're not trying to think of something FIRST and then playing it.

If you're more of an explorer, try imagining an interesting chord progression or melody. Even picturing a concept, like "I want to try a melody with lots of space, and big jumps" is a helpful way to start hearing a melody idea in your head. Also, figuring out songs by ear (aka transcribing parts) is a valuable skill regardless of wether you'll ever be someone who hears full songs in your head.

Leave a comment sharing your experience - which camp do you find yourself in?

Becoming A Musician

Hi Everyone,

Weird things start happening when you are in the process of becoming a musician. I talk about a few of them here.

1. As Mateus has noticed, learning music theory and recording software forever changes the way you listen to music. It goes from a mostly sensory experience to a more cerebral experience. With practice, you CAN listen to music without critically thinking about it (I call it "sponge mode") but yes, now you have to practice doing something that used to be easy for you.

2. Sometimes when people learn music theory, they feel like they have to have specific reasons WHY they like the music they like - AND they feel like those reasons should be theory based. I'm here to assure you that you can like music for whatever reasons you want - even if you can't put your finger on it.
ONE FUN THING is that you might start gravitating toward more diverse and specific musicians and genres. You might find yourself saying something like "wow I really like the bass line in this song, but the guitar isn't very exciting and I wouldn't write melodies like that." Then you start listening to that band just for the bass. Or you might say "I love the production (recording style) of this album, but I don't necessarily want to play guitar like that but I love the keyboard parts." Essentially, you might start liking more specific things about artists and dislike more specific things. It's kind of fun.

3. As you become more involved in your instrument, you'll feel more comfortable specializing in the things you like about music. Wether thats engineering, songwriting, soloing, fingerpicking, etc - the more you dive into your interests, the better sense you'll have about what you need to practice. This is what I was going for with my move-to-spain analogy.
Diving into your interests as soon as possible will make guitar more fun AND will help you avoid feelings of inadequacy. This is because when you don't have specific goals, you might feel like you need to at least be somewhat good at everything - thats just not true. Just focus on what you like.

HOW HAS THE LEARNING PROCESS BEEN FOR YOU?

HAVE YOU HONED IN ON SPECIFIC GOALS AS YOU'VE LEARNED MORE?

HAVE YOU TAKEN THE PLUNGE INTO THE MUSICAL AREAS YOU'RE PASSIONATE ABOUT?

Oll Korrect

In this Practice Thought, I'm drawing from the funny history of the word "okay" to demonstrate some similarities between the english language and music. Hopefully this will breathe some new life into the old trope "music is a language" and give you some encouragement to explore how you speak the language of music.

It's important to remember as you move along that music isn't about right vs wrong, it's about understandable vs unintelligible. English has words that morph and change their meaning, while music has concepts that feel different to a population over time. This gives us a more solid foundation to say "if it feels good, it is good" in music.

However you feel about it, I hope this video is interesting and encouraging. If you have any eureka moments or just general thoughts, please share in the comments below!

Music Theory Is Not Music

In this practice thought, I'm using some nerdy philosophy to draw out the difference between music theory and music. Sometimes they get confused for each other and it's important (and hopefully encouraging) to remember the difference between them.

Throughout your musical journey, you'll likely have bouts of insecurity (it happens!). Sometimes those bouts of insecurity will revolve around a thought like this "Oh no! What if I don't understand enough music theory? What if other musicians think my music is boring and simple?" 

This practice thought is a friendly reminder to ponder these ideas:

a) Music Theory is a tool to describe what you're doing, not a system of rules to dictate what you ought to do

b) Never confuse music theory for music

c) Never worry about how "simple" your music is (some of my favorite songs have only 2 chords, for example)

d) Make music for yourself and for fun, not for the musicians who have learned all the theory (unless thats actually fun for you!)

e) I like music that makes me feel, not music that makes me think

These are some of the mantras that I like to keep in mind while I'm writing music - do you have mantras you use when you're being creative?

If you feel like I got some philosophical terms wrong or you want to continue the discussion and share your personal writing mantras, feel free to hang out in the comments.

Don’t Move The Goal Post

In this Practice Thought, we'll discuss the idea of moving the goalpost. This is a common problem: we set a goal, and then if we reach it, we say "well that doesn't count because it was too easy" and then we set a goal farther away, and then if it's not too difficult it doesn't count again.

Sometimes this feedback loop can happen almost instantaneously to the point where someone can't even sit down to practice because it doesn't count unless it's the most intense, mind-blowing practice.

The way to counteract this is to enjoy and focus on small goals - maybe even keep a journal of small goals that you've set and reached.

I see people getting discouraged because they are not as good as they think they ought to be. Journaling practice is a good way to counteract that. Always set one small goal at a time and don't worry about how easy it ought to be or how long it ought to take you. Progress is progress and each small step adds up to quite a distance over time.

Always set your goals in a realistic, achievable place and don't move them once you get started.

Shame And Holistic Musicianship

The journey of musicianship is a journey into your own emotional complexities. Performing can reveal you to yourself in new ways, and that can sometimes be scary and embarrassing. Learning anything can be a powerful mirror that helps you see different parts of yourself more clearly. No one likes feeling like a fool or a newbie.

In this video I discuss the idea of shame in musicianship. Present shame is the feeling of "I need to play this perfectly" or "I need to know everything about this concept before I use it to write music" or "I need to have this technique down before I can call myself a real musician." These are all varieties of present shame.

Retroactive shame is the feeling that "wow I was so confident about that performance a few years ago, but I didn't know how melodic minor works and I did it wrong" or "I didn't realize I was playing the wrong chord in that spot" or even "wow I wasn't singing in tune when I thought I was back then." These are all examples of times when you didn't feel shame in the moment, but you do now after you've learned more.

These are complicated feelings and I'm not going to say "DON'T HAVE THESE FEELINGS" because, well, how is that a request you can possibly consider? These feelings are often uncontrollable.

What I can offer is an opportunity to consider that this shame is a small facet of the whole person and the whole musician. Every musician can look back and cringe at certain aspects of their musicianship or even feel shame or embarrassment about a current lack of skill or understanding.

But the positive feedback loop looks like this: the more you accept this feeling as a normal part of musicianship development, the less power it will have over you. The more you see it as an aspect of musicianship that shouldn't be removed, but nestled in alongside all the other variety feelings you have, the less you'll focus on it as a negative thing and the less it will take over.

Essentially, thinking "I shouldn't be having this feeling" can cause the biggest feedback loop. Acknowledge that feeling AND all the other feelings that shame is blocking - be proud of your progress, your increased finesse of your songs or your technique, your greater awareness of how to play your instrument and write music, and so on. Because musicianship is a journey, you will never stop learning as long as you keep trying and being mindful.

Don’t Aim For Normal

I've been trying to figure out a way to articulate this concept for a long time. And I don't think I did a perfect job in this video, but I think I get my point across.

BUT I'm going to reiterate this idea here anyway -

Basically, I'm trying to contrast these two ideas:

1. Everyone want's to know what "normal" or "standard" is when they pursue a new job, a new hobby, a new skill, etc. This is a good, healthy, thing to do! People tend to do this when learning music too, which isn't inherently a bad thing to do...

HOWEVER,

2. When it comes to being a musician, our favorite artists are not known for being "standard" or "normal." They are known for pushing a style to a new level, pushing a technique outside of what is standard, adding layers and new ways to look at music theory, helping people question what "normal" is.

So how do we balance these things? Or, maybe a better question is why do we balance these things?

The number 1 reason this is important is because of BURNOUT.

For those who aren't familiar with the concept, burnout often occurs when you've pushed yourself too hard for too long, or you've spend too much time doing something you don't enjoy or that feels exhausting for you.

Musical burnout can happen when you focus too much on "things I think I'm supposed to learn" and not enough time on "things I'm really excited to learn."

In my opinion, the best way to avoid burnout is to make a list. Start by making this list one time, but likely you'll want to make this list over and over so you can continuously course correct.

Here is the list: On one side, list the things you think you're probably supposed to learn. On the other side, list the things you're REALLY excited to play - however general or specific.

Then ask yourself "what steps can I take toward fulfilling the things on the EXCITING list?"

THEN ask "are the things I feel obligated to learn keeping my from focusing on the stuff I'm excited to learn?" OR "Are the things I feel obligated to learn making me feel exhausted?"

My philosophy when it comes to learning music is simple: Everything helps with everything

What I mean is, anything musical you're curious about, excited about, or just sounds fun is going to be something that keeps you actively engaged in music. If you're interested in bass guitar, TRY it out! You don't have to say "maybe I should get better at guitar first."

The most exaggerated example of this kind of thinking that I've heard MORE than once is the phrase "if I want to learn guitar, should I learn piano first?" The answer is NO! This kind of thinking sounds productive, but it leads to burnout. just focus on the things that sound fun now, because those are the things that will keep you wanting to pick up your guitar every day.

The one exception I mention is this: if you want to understand what you're doing, play with other people, write music OR just write your own parts in a band setting or recording studio - music theory is the common thread for ALL genres, all styles, etc. It's very important to learn and thats why I focus on it.

Doing vs Thinking

In this lesson I'm tackling a concept that has been really hard for me to articulate in the past. I have really tried my best to look back and try to figure out how I got here, as well as try to figure out what the incredible musicians in my life all have in common.

Also, I chose the words "thinking" and "doing" for simplicity. There are probably more precise or specific words I could have used, but these will have to do! The category of "thinking" is in no way related to how smart you are, it's just a word to describe your general approach to playing music.

I made an effort to pinpoint this really crucial concept: balancing and deliberately practicing two somewhat opposite things.

On the one side, you have thinking - being mindful and painfully aware of as much as possible while you're practicing AND making sure to be very specific about what your goal is. Am I writing music right now? Am I trying to implement a specific technique? How do I achieve this specific goal?

On the other side you have pure experiential creativity. NOT thinking, just doing. Wether that's playing a solo, writing a chord progression, adding a melody over the top of something - developing the ability to just create without thinking (too hard) and without needing to stop and ask "what EXACTLY am I doing?"

The best musicians I know are good at both things, and my goal is to help you practice both things to the best of your ability.

Once you watch this video, consider which category you tend to occupy: do you lean toward thinking or toward doing? Neither camp is better or worse, but if you consider which one you tend toward, it might be easier to see what you need to practice!

THINKERS: Your job is to learn to let go sometimes. NOT all the time! Just sometimes. You don't always have to know what you're doing. I'd recommend these prescriptions:
• Loose soloing: find a jam track on YouTube or My Website and just explore making phrases in the key - not worrying about the chords, not worrying about chord tones - just tinkering and exploring without thinking too hard. Have fun and let go!
• Vague Community Challenges: Try writing little compositions for the community challenges that say things like "write something sad" or "write something spooky" without
• Try writing random chord progressions without thinking too hard about what key you're in!

DOERS: Your job is to sometimes sit down and do things exactly, specifically, and know what you're doing the entire time with absolutely ZERO guesswork. This can be tough, but here are some ways to approach it:
• Specific Community Challenges: check out Community Challenges with specific technical theory concepts, like "write something using a i - III - VI - V" or "Write something with a secondary dominant."
• Write with a specific goal: Write music with a very specific goal and write everything out along the way so you're sure you've got it right. Imagine a math problem where you're supposed to show your work. Imagine someone like me is going to ask you to explain every aspect of your composition.
• CAGED Soloing: My CAGED Soloing series requires you to very specifically map out shapes on the guitar AND write specific melodic phrases over these progressions so you KNOW where that phrase starts and ends. It's a lot of work, but the more you do it, the easier it gets!

If you've got more questions, or you'd like to get into a discussion about this, come hang out on the community forum.

When To Start Performing

Here is some food for thought about how/when to start performing. There is a delicate balance to find for yourself between practicing enough to feel confident on stage AND waiting for the right moment/people/location to get started.

I start with the most basic way to practice performing and that is to record yourself. Don't book studio time! Just record to your phone or a simple device to listen back. For most people, this gives you the first chance to imagine what you sound like and imagine how other people might hear you. With this sneaky trick, you can practice playing in front of people without actually playing for anyone! It's a great first step.

From there I guide you through some positive ways to imagine listening back to your own recordings and practice being less fearful and less critical. This is a great way to start learning how to perform - how to develop your mindset toward performing in front of people, how to walk yourself through some of the jitters, and how to imagine you're listening to someone else.

Then we gradually walk through a handful of ways to approach getting on stage with some questions - should you start playing for family or strangers? Should you play alone or with another musician? Will you perform something difficult or something simple? And more!

I hope you enjoy this lesson and I hope you're able to make safe choices while we all navigate how to perform and attend live music events again during a pandemic!

If you'd like to discuss elements of this lesson, let's talk about it on the community forum!

The MANY Kinds of Musicians

In this Practice Thought, I'm talking about different kinds of musicians. Why? To be encouraging! Let me explain:

Many of us have grown up with very high (and very specific) standards for what it means to be a musician. Often, when we compare ourselves to famous musicians, we think "wow. I will NEVER be like that." In my case, I actually thought "yikes, that sounds too intense for me."

In my head, the only kind of musician I could be was the frontman of a band, writing and performing all my own music, showing all the musicians that played with me what parts to play.

I've since learned something important: that dream is not my dream. There are many many many different ways to be a musician and make money. You do not HAVE to be on stage performing to be a musician. You do not HAVE to write songs or sing.

In this video, I walk you through a wide variety of different ways people have used their musicianship to make money.

You'll always be a happy musician if you focus on the things you enjoy, and this video is an effort to encourage you to find, explore, and pursue the areas of musicianship you enjoy. Also, you have permission to dislike aspects of musicianship that you may have previously thought were core requirements of musicians.

Imposter Syndrome & Dunning Kruger

Welcome to another practice thought! My goal with this one (as with all my Practice Thoughts) is to try to be as encouraging as possible. Also, there are always people who will say things like "just practice more" instead of digging into the complicated aspects of musician mindset. I think it's important to dig deep into these kinds of things so that you're prepared for (and don't feel alone during) those situations where you're feeling discouraged or weird about music.

In this lesson, what I was hoping to point out was the general idea that as you learn more, your confidence level might go through some strange places. This is actually a normal part of learning anything, but with musicianship it seems to hit a lot harder.

Beware of the Gatekeepers

This one tackles the idea of gatekeepers. We all have varying levels (and maybe kinds) of insecurities about wether we're doing things the right way. It's pretty easy to find confident people out there that will tell you "this is definitely the right way to play music and those people are wrong!" But music is pretty complicated and these kinds of things are not so cut and dry.

Basically, I want to encourage each and every one of my Patrons to play music and write music and not to be too concerned with the people who tell you "if you're not doing X, you're not a real musician."

On the flip side, if you have the urge to find someone to tell you:

"this is definitely what music is and these people over here are definitely not making music,"

I'd like you to know that this urge is pretty normal, pretty human and - to some extent - unavoidable at least in some sense. I mean, your preferences are a big part of what makes you you. In other words, it's definitely OK to have preferences, but to define one kind of music as "the only true music," would be comparable to saying that 1500's English or 1200's English is "the only true English."

Music is nuanced and interesting and if you're always worried about doing it right or wrong, you might be missing the point that it's about you doing it the way you like.

Don’t Say, “I Suck At Guitar”

For some reason, the music world is plagued by this idea that the good musicians have this magical thing called "talent." This idea is so solidified into music culture that people often feel like a failure or a fraud as soon as they pick up the instrument. Any resistance on their learning path is met with this feeling of "I knew I sucked at guitar and now it's becoming apparent."

Now, some of you might think I'm exaggerating but some of you might know what I'm talking about! Anyone on any level will probably get something out of this video, but I think this Practice Thought will really resonate with those of you who are struggling with perfectionism, imposter syndrome, and general frustration or dissatisfaction with your guitar playing.

If you struggle with feeling like you suck, this lesson will help you get a sense of how to focus those insecurities or frustrations toward progress.

Scott’s Practice Method

This Practice Thought is all about my practice method. I think it's easiest to apply this method to learning songs, but the more you integrate this practice method into your practice time, the more you'll notice the massive impact it can have on the way you play guitar.

A lot of self-taught guitar players start learning guitar as a way to unwind, relax, and drift off into music land. While this state of mind is important and useful - especially for performing or getting yourself into a good, relaxed mood - it is not useful when you're trying to learn something new. This practice method is designed to help you get the most of the time you spend trying to improve your technique and general hand, arm and body awareness around your instrument.

I know this is a departure from learning a specific technique or music theory concept, but this is at the core of my approach to improving my actual guitar skills. I hope you enjoy it.