Is songwriting much different than writing poetry ? Could you put music to some of your poems ? Get inspired by reading songwriting quotes written by the world ‘s greatest musicians, how they do it and why they do it.
From an article by Alon Cooper
If you ever tried writing songs, this post is going to make you think, and perhaps even give you some inspiration.
I have gathered a bunch of quotes about songwriting and the process of songwriting – so we can have a look on some insights from people who have already “done it” and perhaps soak some inspiration and tips for ourselves from in between those lines. Enjoy!
“Imagination is the key to my lyrics. The rest is painted with a little science fiction.”
Makes sense when you think about some of the stuff that Hendrix played like “Hey Joe” and “Little Wing“…
“I never sit down to write. When I’m moved, I do it. I just wait for it to come. You just hear it. I can’t really describe writing. It’s in my head. I don’t think about the styles. I write whatever comes out and I use whatever kind of instrumentation that works for those songs.”
“As a songwriter, Gram (Parsons) worked very much like I do, which is to knock out a couple of chords, start to spiel and see how far it can go, rather than sitting around with a piece of paper and a pen, trying to make things fit neatly together. But he would also work very hard, harder than I ever did — on honing it down.”
“I have a structured songwriting process. I start with the music and try to come up with musical ideas, then the melody, then the hook, and the lyrics come last. Some people start with the lyrics first because they know what they want to talk about and they just write a whole bunch of lyrical ideas, but for me the music tells me what to talk about.”
“I wish I were one of those people who wrote songs quickly. But I’m not. So it takes me a great deal of time to find out what the song is”
“I got this cheap little empty plastic notebook at my local drugstore, and bought a little slab of filler paper and the very first title I wrote in it was ‘Proud Mary‘. I had no idea what that title meant. I work hard at that, but the fact that there are a lot of good songs means there are also a lot of really bad songs I’ve written that you’d never hear.”
John Fogerty of Creedence Clearwater Revival
“I think songwriting is the ultimate form of being able to make anything that happens in your life productive.”
“If you like someone’s work, the important thing is to be exposed to everything that person has been exposed to.”
“I hope that what it comes down to at the end of the day is that people believe that I believe what I’m singing. It comes down to being believable.”
check out more quote’s at Alon’s website at:
https://guitarsongsmasters.com/songwriting-quotes/
One more thing:
Dan Fogelberg
