An Informal Living Room Jam Among Friends

 What You’re Getting Yourself Into before listening to Scott Cooley

Before you hit play on any of my music, you should know what you’re getting yourself into.  If you haven’t heard any of my music before, you might be surprised.  It’s not like anything that’s popular right now.  It’s not perfect, and not all that professional-sounding.  Sometimes music that isn’t awesome by music teacher standards can be really appealing.

Historically, people have gotten into music that wasn’t polished to perfection.  Before recorded music, it was always experienced live.  You can picture friends and family on the front porch, picking banjos and blowing into jugs in rural America.  Cowboys playing Home on the Range on harmonica around the camp fire.  Those Old Weird America records by Harry Smith and field recordings by Alan Lomax are so cool, and I for one am glad someone made them.

Going way back to skiffle, for example, known for a blend of American folk and blues played on homemade instruments, back in the 50s, this genre had a big influence on early British invasion rock like The Beatles, which led to the Beatles-influenced “garage rock” in the 60s, there have been brief surges of popularity.

The Grateful Dead started as a “jug” band, playing all acoustic instruments, and blending a lot of different American styles of music.  They became pioneers in what is now called Americana in addition to what is now called jam-band music.  They were also arguably one of those garage bands influenced by the Beatles.

Before it sort of morphed into punk, garage rock was sort of like a combination of surf rock, fuzzbox electric guitar effects, played with an amateur quality, influenced by psychedelia, with a DIY approach, lyrics about lying girls, and a raw, naïve quality.  All but the electric fuzz apply to my sound, although I’ve rarely played in a garage.

I have called my music “acoustic garage rock” and it’s fairly accurate, though it’s not an officially defined genre anywhere.  As far as I know, I made it up.  I’ve been heavily influenced by Tenacious D, seriously, and although I’m not as good or as funny as them, I like the way they described their music as being “heavy acoustic” which some of mine might be as well.

To describe my music with genres that are somewhat more familiar, or that are more commonly understood maybe, I’d go with these:

• Slacker rock:  American indie rock and lo-fi music that is laid back and relaxed, and thus more "authentic" than sellouts of contemporary rock.  Misplayed notes, out-of-tune instruments, cool laziness, mellow swagger, made by generation X'ers.  All accurate when describing my music.

• Lo-fi:  Low fidelity production sound quality is a deliberate stylistic choice.  Imperfections recorded in bedroom studios are intentionally left in.  The DIY punk ethos is there, it's primitive, and has some cultural nostalgia.  Minimal production on cheap equipment, amateurish, raw and unsophisticated.  Again, all me.

• Indie folk:  Usually acoustic guitar-oriented.  Independent from being signed to a major label.  Creative freedom and control, resistance to popular mainstream culture, realistic, stripped-back, strays from sounding commercial, earnest and emotive lyrics.  A rock approach to contemporary folk, often by singer-songwriters, using acoustic instrumentation.  Yep, me.

• DIY:  Circumnavigation of the corporate mainstream music industry by doing everything yourself with limited means.  Check.

• Singer-songwriter:  Writes their own lyrics/melodies, performs their own music, typically on acoustic guitar.  Emphasis on the song itself over the performance.  Personal lyrics.  Me.

Could my music be slacker rock?  

Am I a slacker?  As a student, I am proud I did as little as possible to pass so I could prioritize my social life.  There was no draft for me to dodge, but I was involved in some delinquency in my teenage years, which carried over to my young 20s in the early 1990s, and as a member of Generation X, I was apathetic about political and social causes, and since then, I've been aimless in developing a “conventional” career, but I've always worked hard at whatever I've done to pay the bills.  I’m definitely a slacker when it comes to punctuation and run-on sentences, aren’t I?  It's true I don't put much effort into writing or recording songs either, and it's true that rock music is my biggest influence.  

"Lo-fi indie rock originating in the United States in the early 90s" sounds about right.  Yeah, I guess "slacker rock" is not a bad way to describe my music, and it might not go without saying that I do music for fun, not for work.  I'd like to think I have a mellow swagger and a cool laziness as an artist, because I don't try very hard.  It's a hobby.  I am definitely laid back and relaxed about it, and it's certainly authentic music that I create, despite not taking it too seriously.  I don't really feel closely aligned with or sound like artists who get put into this category such as Pavement, Beck, Alex G, Mac DeMarco, or Courtney Barnett, but I do like their music.  I have my own style, do my own thing, and still struggle to define it, but maybe this one is the closest.

So, then to put them in a better-sounding order, I might type them like this:

Lo-fi / DIY / Singer-songwriter / Indie folk / Slacker rock

It’s a lot to wrap your head around, I know.  It begs the question “why would anyone like music that isn’t perfect?”  I think I may have an answer:

“An Informal Living Room Jam Among Friends”

I intentionally record my songs with the strumming of an acoustic guitar being the primary instrument sound so that if I ever play live and solo, it won’t sound a whole lot different from the records.  Also intentional is that I don’t want it to sound so polished that I can’t reproduce it live.

Here I find myself revisiting the topics of “understanding your audience” and “describing yourself as an artist” – and the challenges non-performing/self-releasing music acts like me have with them.  

If you enjoy complex arrangements and virtuosic performances, or if you have high objective standards, my music won’t be for you.  Subjectively, however, since I’ve been an artist for quite a long time now, people have become familiar with my music, and when I offer something new, they say they like it due to a feeling of nostalgia.  It’s like a fix for something they were already familiar with, without knowing they necessarily craved more of it.  

Even though it’s not considered cool or popular or critically acclaimed, the combination of things my music offers gives them a hit of adrenaline.  Most importantly, I’ve been told my music stirs up memories for people, and despite my lack of skill/talent, it makes them remember certain times in their lives, or people they love.  In other words, it causes people to feel emotional.

Chicks Dig It

I ran across some data recently about my audience, and the analytics showed that my listeners are predominantly female.  I had no idea.  As I continue to write and record new songs, that is in the back of my mind.  The appeal to women certainly isn’t my body or dance moves in my music videos, nor would it be my vocal chops, so it’s got to have something to do with the music and the songs.  

https://app.chartmetric.com/artist/991782

Maybe it’s the lighthearted humor, the simplicity, the sensitivity, the intimacy of being an acoustic guitar guy with a lot of love songs.  I think I’m going to really lean into that more.  Why not?  It’s a good thing, and maybe it’s confirmation of the emotional response I’ve heard my music produces, which is what all songwriters want.

The Modern, Informal, Intimate Live Experience

I have a feeling that many of you have been in someone’s living room before when a few amateur musicians were hanging out together.  Sitting on sofas and chairs in somewhat of a circle, playing acoustic guitars and hand percussion, having a great time.  A few musically-inclined friends who come over to your house for an impromptu, unplugged jam session.  Now imagine me as the lead singer-songwriter involved in such a get-together.  Someone hands you a shaker or tambourine, and you’re intimately involved.  That’s the essence of what I want my recorded music to sound like.  You either get into it, or you just don’t get it.

I’m reminded of a quote by one of my favorite songwriters:

“There's always that argument to make - that you're in better company historically if people don't understand what you're doing.” --Elliott Smith

He also said “If you play acoustic guitar, you’re the depressed, sensitive guy”

Wouldn’t it be cool if history shows I was misunderstood?  My amateur quality can be appealing, so I’ve been told, and maybe there will be increased interest in the future.  I have been depressed and sensitive before, and people have probably struggled to understand my music before.  

Trending Upward Again, History Repeats

However, there is a trend I’ve become aware of recently that people are generally starting to like my style of music.  It’s almost as if it’s a backlash against the formulaic fakeness of current popular music.  Music streaming has offered a bit of a democracy wherein consumers are trying to find homemade music that is more real-sounding, and it’s showing up as a shift in listening preferences.  Don’t get me wrong, I’m in no danger of the major labels assimilating me due to this trend, but if they reached out and booked me some real-studio time, I’d still prefer any recordings I made to sound pretty close to what I already do myself.

A Guilty Pleasure

People have told me that my music – especially from the early Scott Cooley albums – is what they consider their “guilty pleasure” music.  It may be the fact that it is overly simplistic, slightly off-key, corny, or even cheesy, but they say it has special meaning, brings back happy memories, or gives them strong positive emotions when they hear it, even though it’s not technically good.  Despite the obvious flaws, they enjoy it anyway.  That is exactly what I thought when I wrote and recorded it!  None of my music has ever been what you’d call “well received,” but maybe some of it is underrated.

My music is rough around the edges, and that's the point.  It’s the antithesis of the over-produced mainstream.  Raw and organic, pure and simple.  It’s a big part of the appeal.  Anti-algorithm and anti-perfection scenes are flourishing.  Online, yet still "underground" with a foot in analogue revival, it's almost like a power-to-the-people, counter-culture phenomenon that is happening.  "Long-tail" artists like me who employ rudimentary DIY production techniques in home studios offer something people can hear and appreciate:  a really short distance between song idea and recorded output.

Between Two Worlds

It's somewhere in-between a live band recording and a pro studio recording.  Even though I’m the only musician, I like to nail each take in each track live, then blend them.  If I don’t, and it’s not too disturbing, I leave it that way.  I don’t use the digital tools that make everything sound perfect.  I want it to be real, the way it would sound if you were hanging out in the room with me when I recorded it.  I’ll admit sometimes I’m overwhelmed by the thought of re-doing things, and usually conclude the extra hassle isn’t worth my time.  My abilities are limited, and I don’t hide that.  I do the best I can with what I’m capable of, and people appreciate that.

It's also somewhere in-between a songwriter demo and fully-produced studio recording.  Real sounds made by real voices and real instruments.  I want the music to generally sound like if it were played 100 years ago before electric guitars existed, it wouldn’t be a whole lot different.  The fewer digital electronic effects or tools used, the better, in my opinion.  I’ve called it acoustic garage rock.  It has the DIY lo-fi amateur enthusiasm of garage rock, without the fuzz distortion, and let’s face it, a living room is better than a garage anyway.

Low Brow Rising

Since I release my music to the masses via streaming, that sort of sets it apart from music performed live for small audiences.  Although I don’t write notation, I have created a songbook.  It’s far from classical music, but I consider some of my songs to be classics and most of them to be art.  If my music is folk, as some may define it, I suppose it is therefore considered a product of low culture, which means both I as its creator and its consumers have somewhat crude tastes.  

Theoretically, folk reflects the common themes of the lower/working classes in the community.  I can admit that a few of my songs could be considered by some to be either vulgar, in poor taste, or lacking in artistic merit.  On the other hand, I feel there is overall a lot of depth that would be considered more characteristic of more high-brow music, especially when compared with other modern pop music.  That’s why I often say it has a certain level of sophistication, but not too much.

Elitists Welcome

To my knowledge, no high society people have ever discredited my music.  My music appeals to simple, basic human emotions and offers a perspective of innocence and an escape from real world problems.  I happen to know that many elite people have enjoyed my music, and realize it may be an example of them “slumming” although I never create it specifically to appeal to them.  I do think my music is somewhat subtle and refined.  Their curiosity leads to some amount of intellectual entertainment.

People who get into music that isn’t perfect by technical standards do so because they simply find enjoyment in the authentic quality.  I’ve been told people become fans of my music because they appreciate the spontaneous improvisational effort I made, and feel an emotional connection somehow, despite my lack of proficiency.  They may know me personally, I might remind them of someone they know, they may feel nostalgic for the good times they had playing a shaker while their friends played acoustic guitars at their house, they may find it to be more genuine and relatable, they may get a sense of belonging, etc.  

The Intent Matters

I intentionally record my songs so that they don’t sound a whole lot different than when I play them live, so that if I ever do play live, it’s not a shock.  I occasionally entertain with makeshift bands, but for the most part prefer to go solo.  The other instruments may not be there, but the primary ingredients - the strumming of chords on an acoustic guitar, and my singing voice – are what makes the songs sound like me anyway.  Take this live version of my “hit” for example:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1fuhZiKFj2Y

An informal living room jam among friends (or as shown above, family). Could be the best way I’ve come up with to describe the style I strive for yet…and due to what I’ve learned about my fanbase, ultimately, they would be mostly female friends.  😉  Yep, that’s how I want it to sound.

Even more actual songwriting advice from Scott Cooley

My most recent post before this one contained some songwriting advice that I thought people might like to read, and like we bloggers sometimes do, I re-read my own published post recently and then thought of a couple more pieces.  Since more tips have now occurred to me since that previous advice post, I thought it warranted a follow-up, so welcome to part two of what I’m now calling my “experiences with the craft” series in which I impart some wisdom.  In other words, and to paraphrase Lebowski-esque words from movie character The Dude, new shit has come to light, man, that you’re not privy to…yet, but that’s what you pay me for.  These are just, like, my opinions, man.

I’ve been informed by some readers that some of my similar posts have inspired them in the past.  With limited natural talent (or acquired singing or instrumental skill), and no music-related education or formal training of any kind, my “figure-it-all-out-on-your-own,” self-taught perspective has been helpful and interesting to those approaching creative musical pursuits from a similar background, so I’ve been told.  Further, my understanding is that I can explain what I do in a way that makes others less intimidated about giving it a try or not giving up.  

You have to want to do it, and for mysterious reasons, soon after I started teaching myself how to play guitar in 1989, I wanted to write a song, so I did.  I’ve been doing it ever since.  I’ve always found it to be more enjoyable than just learning to play other people’s songs.  The writing of songs is a mysterious thing to do, especially for the self-taught musicians out there, but hopefully something you read here will make it seem less mysterious for those wanting to do it and/or get better at it.

Way back in 2013, I posted this somewhat related one simply entitled “How To Write Songs” https://blog.scottcooley.com/2013/09/how-to-write-songs.html that might also be of interest.

In my last post - https://blog.scottcooley.com/2025/02/actual-songwriting-advice-from-scott.html, I emphasized the following “tips to keep in mind”, re-summarized for you here in a handy takeaway list:

1. Listen intently to what makes great songs by others great
2. Buy the basics – acoustic guitar, computer, audio interface, microphone, MIDI keyboard, etc.
3. Google “song parts” or “song structure” and learn what each is
4. Google “common song forms” and attempt each type
5. Google “song rhyme schemes” and attempt each type
6. Use a free, online rhyming dictionary, regular dictionary, & thesaurus as needed
7. Google “chord families” and refer to table for writing progressions in a key
8. Strum a guitar progression while you whistle/hum/nonsense-sing a “dummy” melody
9. Replace dummy melody with the singing of your lyrics
10. Record your own songs and covers to learn how to improve writing
11. Use a word processing app like Word for editing efficiency
12. The idea for the song (if a song with lyrics) is important
13. Don’t get bummed when only 2 out of 10 songs you write are “keepers”

Another important tip that just occurred to me is:

Live with your songs for a while.  Forget about them, then revisit them.  Give them time before you make a hasty judgement call on their “keeper” status.  Here’s why:

When you just finish writing a song, and you get a bit of that feeling that it magically came together somehow, you’re amazed and proud.  It’s a great feeling if and when it happens.  It can be a rare occurrence (see #13 above).

Inevitably, you think the song you just wrote is a lot better than it turns out to be later on.  It’s not a bad idea to just shelve it, set it aside, and move on to writing other new songs.  It’s good to have several you think are pretty good now, and keep revising that list.  New ones you write will knock others off your top five list, or whatever.

So, in other words, if you have some to compare it to, it may not be as great as you originally thought.  I’ve finished songs that I self-graded in my mind with a B+ or some rating, and a few months later after listening back, realize that compared to the others in the recent batch of new songs, it’s really only a B-.

The opposite can be true as well!  Sometimes you can surprise yourself three months down the road when you re-listen back to one you only gave a B+ to and realize it’s one of your best-ever and bump it up to an A- or A.

It’s a good idea to finish writing a song, think it’s awesome and everything, then wait until you even play it again.  Maybe do a first take on your phone, wait three months, then get out your guitar and play it again.  I rarely do this, but it’s probably good advice to play your song several times before you actually record a studio multi-track version of it too.  You want to sound comfortable with it when you record it, but you also want it to sound fresh, which is a conundrum.  

Then, give it even more time after recording a proper version of it.  It may be one of your top contenders for release now, but you may change your mind later.  Again, it’s hard to do, but you may even realize you can re-record it and make it even better.  I never do this, but probably should.  The problem is you sink so much time and effort into the multi-track version that you dread having to start over from scratch and throw away all those parts of tracks that you nailed.  Even more reason to get comfortable with it via practice before ever recording it in the first place.

Get a stockpile built up of contenders for release on your next album, and keep writing more.  It’s way easier said than done, but it’s a great strategy.  Some that don’t make the cut may see the light of day on a subsequent release, possibly after further revision, when the muse is on vacation.

Songs are like your babies, your creations, you made them, and out of pride you want others to hear them, even the ones you didn’t rate that highly.  It’s hard to make the judgement call.  You need some quality control.  On the other hand, in this day and age of the self-releasing independent artist, why not release your Cs and let the world be the judge?

It’s so tempting in the excitement of a song being new to get carried away and prematurely release everything as a single upon completion.  I’m just saying give it time to breathe, decant that wine before you pour the world a sip.

Yet another tip I’m introducing in this post is:  

Like I said in my last one when I said “singing matters,” I’m also now advising that melody matters.  The two are somewhat related.  Whether you start with a melody, then find a supporting chord progression for it, or start with a chord progression, then write a melody over the top of it, it’s often one of the most important things you do as a songwriter.

You can write some lyrics that, when read alone, are maybe not that interesting on the paper or electronic document.  Singing them with the right melody, however, can transform those words into things of beauty.  It can really bring out the emotion and power in them.

Rules.  There are some arguable rules around this aspect of writing songs.  If you have a chord progression first, the melody notes you might choose are likely to exist within the chords being played at the time, so there’s that.  Generally having verses with more static melodies and choruses with more soaring, dynamic melodies is a combo that can be pleasing to the ear.  There is a thought that minor is sad, major is happy, etc.  “They” say you “should” always include humor, detail and irony, for example, and on and on.  I won’t get into these, but there are tons of them online available for free that you can check out at your leisure.

I said “arguable” because these can all be broken with success.  Countless examples out there.  Still, these are good to take into consideration.  You can google many more such tips from the supposed expert advice-givers out there.

• There are wildly popular songs with lyrics that don’t have much melody at all.  Hip-hop and Rap come to mind here.
• There are wildly popular songs with lyrics that have great melodies despite not having many chords at all.
• There are wildly popular songs with lyrics that no one understands, often because the melodies are great.

Melodies, hooks, beats, grooves, riffs, etc. can all make songs awesome whether the lyrics are intelligible or not.  One could argue the lyrics are the least important part of a good song and not really be wrong.  

You can bend your singing of lyrics to fit a melody, you can change the syllabic emphasis until it works within the time/space available, sometimes editing the lyrics along the way to make it happen.  Or, you can craft a melody based on how you read the lyrics to yourself in your head, which I do a lot, then build everything else around it.  Just reading them can conjure a “dummy” melody in your mind that you can translate with your voice or instrument.

With all that having been typed, set it all aside in your mind for a moment.  File it away as two more pieces of songwriting advice from Scott Cooley:  Patience.  Melody.  Both important.  Lyrics, maybe not so much…arguably.  They are to me though.  I have to like them to finish a song.

Now I’ll tell you my alternate opinion on melody and my lyrics-first approach.  The wrong melody can wreck a great lyric. Absolutely.  Been there, done that.  That said, I almost always like to start with a complete song, lyrics-wise, before I set the melody in stone.  It’s just my preferred method to my madness.  Some necessary tweaks – to either the words or music – will inevitably present themselves, and as I’ve said, it’s always a little bit of both in no particular order as a back-and-forth, give-and-take process between lyrics and melody until you finalize a song anyway.  

I’ve done it every which way, but I really need the lyrics to be good first.  Who is to say what makes a good lyric or melody?  You is (are).  All songs have a melody.  Music scholars can probably explain why some melodies and lyrics and songs are better than others.  Popularity can tell you something, as can ranking lists from reputable sources.  God Only Knows by the Beach Boys, Imagine by John Lennon, Waterloo Sunset by the Kinks, What’s Going On by Marvin Gaye, Smells Like Teen Spirit by Nirvana, Like A Rolling Stone by Bob Dylan, A Change Is Gonna Come by Sam Cooke, Respect by Aretha Franklin – most agree these are great songs. It's not possible to listen to all the music in the world in your lifetime, so you need curation.  Ultimately, it’s only your opinion that matters.

And my alternate opinion on patience is that sometimes you just know a song is and will always be one of your best, immediately after you write it, so go ahead and put that instant keeper on the top of your list, record it, place as the first track on your next album, make it a single, get it out there ASAP.  Don’t die with the music in you, as they say.  Congratulate yourself, because as aforementioned, it’s a rare treat to have this happen and it’s why you try in the first place!  

The you that just wrote what seems like a masterpiece shouldn’t be discouraged by the you that just listened to it again with a lower opinion three months later when experiencing déjà vu.  Enjoy the highs, and don’t forget to stay patient during the low points of your creative journey.  You might be right to seek progress over perfection, but no one just keeps besting themselves with each new song they write until they die.  

A third and final (for this post anyway) piece of advice from me, a totally unqualified non-expert giver, would be this:  Don’t compare yourself to others.  That song you just decided was an A+ for you might not have ever made the cut on a Beatles album, but it doesn’t matter.  As so many have said, comparison is the thief of joy.  Write and release songs that made you happy.  Chances are they will make some other people happy too.

So add these to the numbered list above that comprise Scott Cooley’s songwriting advice tips:

14. Finish a song, forget it for a while, then re-listen to avoid overenthusiasm when fresh
15. Melodies are more important than you might think, likely more important than words
16. Instead of comparing and competing, please yourself first, if you like it, others will too

In case you’re a newcomer to this blog, I’ll get the disclaimer out of the way:  I’m not an expert, not a pro in the traditional sense.  I don’t claim to be so good at writing songs that people seek out my advice about how to do it, but I offer it anyway, because this is America, dammit, and I can.  

This is what blogging is about.  You pick a topic you know something about.  I don’t consider myself an authority or an educator, but the content I create herein is sometimes instructional or at least informative, despite the fact that it’s offered in a stream-of-consciousness journal entry style like that of a personal online diary.  

I don’t care for the prevalence of people with few qualifications who pretend to be experts on subjects, or fake news writers, or influencers, or self-proclaimed gurus who self-publish books, but such are the times.  My complaints about the changes in the music business in posts in this blog might be on the verge of spewing conspiracy theories, so I should be careful.  I shouldn’t complain because the whole self-publishing online thing has made my music “career” possible.

When I started writing songs in the 1990s, blogs didn’t exist yet.  I’ve found I sort of like this type of writing as well, and I did study journalism, newswriting and expository writing in college.  Frequency-wise, I can only muster about one long post every two months on average or maybe about a minimum of six posts per year but rarely kick one out monthly for very long.  Like the songs, the blogs tend to come in spurts and are prone to considerable droughts in between.  My posts are usually about my hobby of writing songs and recording them and then distributing them for streaming.  

The music biz establishment let amateurs like me in for several years, but now they’re increasingly trying to limit those who don’t meet some popularity threshold and justify pushing us back out so they can make more profit, which I’ve griped about in the past musings herein.

Lots of them deal with my struggles to understand how I feel about making my music public knowing that in decades prior, it would not likely have been possible, and how the struggle of wanting more popularity but not easily getting it has made me wonder if my music should be made public in the first place.  

This phenomenon brought about by technological change is not unlike that of blogging, where technology changed to allow amateur writers to act as if they are professionals.  The lines have gotten blurry between amateur and pro.

Each post of mine typically gets a minimum of 30 reads, but some are surprisingly over 100 for unknown reasons – the readership not dissimilar from the stream counts for my songs.  The only advertising I do on my blog is for my own music.  Anyone can leave comments, but hardly anyone ever does.

I’ll reiterate my musical background info quickly here.  I took Intro to Guitar as a blow-off class my Senior year at Albion College, got a B, and that’s it.  Also took Intro to Poetry.  Also briefly sung in a choir in junior high.  Also took a handful of piano lessons at about age 10, then convinced my parents to let me quit.  The family had a stereo with turntable and a few albums.  Started buying my own at some point with money earned from odd jobs as a kid.  Listened to local FM radio who played rock before it became classic rock, which the same stations still play now.  Checked out some live concerts at Pine Knob and lesser-known acts who played at my college.  Open mic nights there were my first experience with amateurs with acoustic guitars getting up in front of people to play live.  It made me want to be like them some day.  Eventually, I got up the courage in 1989.  In the early 90s, I played in some duos and bands and solo, some actual paying gigs, a few as the headlining act.  Realizing shortcomings as a performer, and dislike for playing covers, gravitated toward originals.  Then cassette recording experimentation, buying more instruments, getting a computer, releasing my own CDs & downloads, digital aggregator distribution, etc., on through to being what I am now.

I do, however, claim to have a few minor qualifications for giving advice about writing songs.  Who am I to be giving people advice on how to write songs?  I am a self-releasing, independent solo artist with 12 albums of original material.  There are over 150 songs I’ve written, recorded and released worldwide that you can listen to right now on Apple Music, Spotify, Amazon Music, YouTube Music, Pandora, Bandcamp and most other music streaming services.  The most popular is one called “Mackinac Island” which people have played enough that I actually make a little bit of money from it every year.  One really great solo artist – Ultimate Rick Jones - recorded and released a really great cover version of another song I wrote called “Used To Be Good Looking”.  Oh yeah, almost forgot, I also won an honorable mention t-shirt in a songwriting competition once.  That’s about it.

I wrote my first in 1990, so for the last 35 years, I figure I’ve averaged writing approximately one song per month, which should bring the total over 400 songs at least since taking on the hobby.  So, by my old math, that’s around 30% I’ve released, meaning my keeper ratio is approximately 3 out of every 10 songs being release worthy in my own mind.  In retrospect, I could now pick a few from each album I could’ve done without releasing at all.  I’ve stopped caring about counting the volume, and there’s probably more than 500 first takes by now on old cassettes and in my phone, but many of the early attempts might not even qualify as being actual songs, depending on how you define them.  Anyhow, this further backs up tip #13 above.

Thankfully, I’m not a famous celebrity, yet I’d like it if the music became more popular of course.  So, I’m not well known or critically acclaimed in any way (no critics have ever written about my music to my knowledge), but in an attempt to help my music reach a larger audience, I followed advice to create a web site and blog so people could learn more about my musical pursuits with the hope it might result in more streams.  

Since I’m mostly a non-performing songwriter and solo artist, I don’t have much to blog about except to occasionally announce the availability of new music.  Lately, however, I thought that beyond that, out of all the music-related things I do, the songwriting part is probably what I’m best at, hence a couple more posts about the craft.  Hope you’ve enjoyed them.  

In closing, for you actual fans of my music who happen to be reading my actual songwriting advice, I’m happy to report that more new songs are currently in progress.  Actual songs too – no artificial intelligence being used.  Check back for updates, and as always, thanks for reading (and listening)!

Actual Songwriting Advice from Scott Cooley

I'll start with a simple, short answer:  Do it.  It's fun.

If you've come to this blog looking for advice about songwriting, this is the post for you.  The About page of my blog states that it is about my "experiences with the craft," but because it's such a mysterious and personal thing, I've rarely blogged about it.  I think I can make it seem more accessible and less daunting, despite not really being a traditionally qualified expert, so here goes...

Presumably you read this blog because you've heard some of my songs and appreciate them.  Also presumably, you know it isn't easy to explain or teach.  Like most things, if you have the desire, then do it a lot, you learn along the way and get better.  Presumably.  I think I have, but it's hard to know for sure.

I guess I think of the blog as being more than just me being a solo artist.  I've always considered myself more of a songwriter than anything else, and I've always envisioned writing songs for other artists as my ideal place in the music business.  Turns out I've also become a solo artist, multi-instrumentalist, engineer, etc., but out of all the ways I get involved with music, just making up songs is my favorite aspect.  I have maybe written, recorded and released more original songs than most people, but that's maybe my only qualification.  I have no formal training, nor do I have any major awards to brag about.

If there’s anything I can offer, it would be that my songwriting “career” is an example of what you can do as an average joe, regular guy type of person who never took lessons or learned to read music notation.  You, too, can learn a few chords on a guitar, make up some words to sing, put them together, and call them songs – and do it as a completely self-taught person without much skill or talent as a vocalist or instrumentalist.

For starters, being able to record yourself playing a song on a guitar and singing some lyrics really helps.  Just hearing yourself perform a song you wrote helps.  I used to teach people how to ski, and when video on the hill became a thing (Vail pioneered this in the early 90s with something they called “cybervision”), it made people get better faster to be able to see themselves ski.  It's very similar to playing back a recording of yourself.  Knowing what you sound like is important in evaluating songs you write.  Hearing a recording of yourself makes you think about instrumentation and arrangement ideas as well as the overall impression a song has and what could be improved.

I think I started with a jam box that recorded cassettes.  After a while, I bought a Tascam 4-track recorder, and that allowed you to record 4 different tracks and blend them together, which made me want to get a bass and some percussion.  Later on, a computer with audio interface and multi-track recording software made the number of possible tracks limitless.  

One thing I can say about my experience with the craft is that it has evolved with both time and technology.  A digital audio interface with digital audio workstation software is overwhelming, but gives you a satisfying mad scientist experience.  At first, you're excited to make yourself sound like a full band, and fairly quickly thereafter, you realize that adding too much instrumentation or too many vocal parts can make a song worse.

Recording helps, but so does using a word processor.  Legal pad with pen was how I jotted down the words with chord letters above the word where the chord is to be strummed.  Then you truly have a written song, along with the ability to have a recording of it on which you made all the sounds.  Progressing on from paper was again spurred on by me getting my first computer and using Wordperfect, and then later on, Word, as my lyric/chord documenting tool of choice.  It's way more efficient to rearrange sections, cut and paste lines, delete stuff, make edits, etc. than revising by crossing out and writing over or rewriting your revisions on a fresh paper page.

I was shaped by the circumstance of having a computer to use as part of my day job.  This allowed me to take breaks and type lyrics in the office, then email them home to myself.  Later when home and near my guitar again, I'd put them to music.  This was the reason I’m more of a lyrics-first writer, but I’ve also written plenty by writing the music first too.  I probably wrote more lyrics for songs than I would have otherwise, and once they exist, you look forward to completing the music part.  

The more you learn, the more you are able to hear.  When enjoying music by other artists you like, you can try to figure out what are the characteristics of the songs that made you like them.  The more you know about music and songwriting and recording, the more likely you are to be able to hear song forms and structure, for example.  You can find a lot of free information about writing songs on the web, so I highly recommend doing so.  I don't ever co-write with anyone at all, but I do also advise doing it, because you can always learn from others.  I've noticed that just talking about the craft with other craftsmen or listening to people who are better than you can no doubt help.  Not everyone can be a Lennon or McCartney, but everyone can learn from listening to them.

These two figured it out pretty well by doing it a lot too!

Ideas matter.  Sometimes, when I sort of luck out, a song will just flow out as if it’s writing itself, and when this happens, it’s usually because the core idea of the song was really good to start with.  You need a spark of a good idea first.  Listening to other music, people's conversations, and even reading books can give you inspiration, usually to write a song that includes some aspect you wanted to hear, or some aspect it reminded you of, or some aspect you misheard.  New original melodies, concepts, titles, and lyrics can pop into your head while listening to existing music.  Maybe you hear where you would've gone if you were the artist, and maybe it just makes you think of something totally different.

My absolute best piece of advice I have is to just do it a lot.  Write songs a lot.  Most will suck.  You may improve the more you try, but sometimes it doesn't seem that way.  Maybe I haven't improved because for every batch of new songs I write, say 10 new songs, usually only a couple of them really stand out.  2/10 ain't a bad keeper ratio.  Sometimes it's 0/10, sometimes 5/10, despite me learning a few things over the years.  

That's really two pieces of advice:  write songs often, and accept a low keeper ratio without getting discouraged.  Those are the top two most important things.

Secondarily, it is really important to listen to a lot of music.  I remember being surprised when reading Stephen King's 'On Writing' about how important he thought it was to read other writer's books, and to do it frequently.  A first reaction is that it seems contrary to writing something fresh and new, and that it would put you at risk of being perceived as copying someone else's style, or worse, being a plagiarist.  My initial thought was that you don't want to be clouded by others' work and that to be truly original/authentic/creative, you want to avoid any influence whatsoever.

This one can also be broken down into two pieces of advice:  listen to a lot of music, but also  listen intently for what worked well.

I'll elaborate a little on this last one.  The more you listen to music you like, as a songwriter, you're constantly focusing on why you like it, asking yourself what it is about the song that makes it good.  The more you attempt writing songs (and recording them), the more you notice little details in the music of other songwriters and artists.  You start to be able to at least hear things like the song forms and the arrangement choices and the rhyme schemes, whereas before you wrote songs you just liked what you liked from a music consumer perspective and didn't notice all these other things.

Therefore, the more you write/record, and the more you listen to the work of others, the more you notice, the more you pick up on various devices, tips, tricks and techniques you can use for your own songwriting work.  As your experience increases, the greater your focus becomes.  You hear things in songs you like that you never noticed before.  Similarly, you also begin to notice what didn't work, why songs are not good, or how they could've been better.

Another piece of advice that has just emerged in my mind from explaining all this so far is you need to record in addition to write.  In particular, I'm thinking of multi-track recording.  Yes, a good song can be conveyed with one instrument and a vocal and should be able to stand on its own that way.  However, most of what I enjoy has more than two tracks.  The more you attempt recording multiple instrument and vocal tracks and blending them together, you start paying more attention to the instrumentation and mixing of your favorite songs by others.

To sum that up, I would also add a fifth piece of advice:  record your own songs...with multiple tracks.

Expanding on that, it's never a bad thing to try to re-create a song someone else wrote by recording your own cover version of it.  Fire up your DAW and try to record a famous song that stays true to the original, and you'll learn a lot about what made the song and record so good in the first place that you didn't notice when you were merely a fan.

To clarify further then, record songs in a multi-track environment;  including covers.  With all of the virtual instruments and MIDI sounds available in software, you don't have to know how to actually play instruments to record tracks using the tools. 

Even if you're only wanting to write, recording demos is a part of presenting your songs to artists, and demos these days are typically more than just a guitar/vocal or piano/vocal.

And I guess elaborating on that point would be to have DAW software, an audio interface, a computer, a microphone, and a MIDI keyboard.  At minimum, these are the basic tools every songwriter should have.  If you don't play piano or bass or drums, you can use the keyboard for a simple snare hit track or a simple root note bass track to fill out a demo.

Adding to that would be an obvious one:  have an acoustic guitar.  They are the most commonly-used instrument for songwriters, easy to just pick up and start using without any setup when inspiration strikes.

Summarizing those last few might be to say have an instrument - which almost goes without saying, and have some recording equipment, and a MIDI keyboard is highly recommended even if you don't play piano.

I got by with a 4-track tape recorder for years, but today's digital electronic recording tools are amazing by comparison.  Again, when attempting to record a demo of your own song or a cover of someone else's great song, you learn things about what makes songs and recordings of songs great.  This in turn trains you to listen more intently to songs you like to hear what they did that worked (or didn't).  It makes you become a producer, or at least be able to think like one.

Lastly, I might advise listening for the structure of songs.  As a kid, I could sing songs I liked, but never paid any attention to which parts were a verse, chorus or bridge, intros/outros, etc.  Along with this is the advice to learn a little about the common song forms that exist, and the common rhyme schemes that are used in great songs.  Learn the rules, break them, listen for how others followed or broke them, etc.  It makes you become an "arranger" of sorts.

Concluding about those last two might be learn the popular song forms - there are only a handful, and learn a little about types of rhyme options.

Another big one in the same vein would be to learn a little bit about chord families - that is, which chords go well together for a song in a particular key.  Again, these are good to know because it's a matter of knowing the rules in order to break them.  There are all sorts of confusing charts and diagrams out there to be found like the circle of fifths, but chord families gets you started with theory.

So the advice piece here is:  learn chord "families" for each song key.  I mean, you don't have to actually learn them, just google it and refer to the table that lists what they are.  Simple as that.

There are a ton of other subtleties to learn about and pay attention to as you get deeper into understanding what works.  Things about tension/release, contrast, subject matter, and the details go on and on.  You will learn how certain chords tend to resolve to other chords in a key, stuff like that.

I'm mainly talking about songs that have lyrics, so if you're aspiring to "compose" classical music or chamber music or instrumental music or background music for movies or television, some of these things may not apply as much.  Something to never lose sight of is that songs with words meant to be sung require great singing for the best impact.  Guitar riffs, drum beats, melodies, etc. can all be hooks that contribute to great songs, but great singers can transform songs into things of beauty.

It seems to be more true for guitarists than keyboardists, but while playing chords, you start singing the words in a way that sounds good to you.  This is the melody.  So, I guess I would recommend that you write the melody with your voice.  You could do it with your right hand on a piano, or with a harmonica, but I do it vocally.  I rarely just write a melody on a guitar first.  It sort of naturally feels like the right notes to sing while strumming those chords in that order.  

You can start with whistling or humming or just singing nonsensical “na-na’s” before you have the lyrics, then when you have the lyrics, sing them in place of those same notes that sound good to you.  So, the singing, while playing some progression, for guitar players usually, is the creation of the melody.  It’s a vocal melody that could theoretically later be notated on a staff.  Later on, you can match what you sang with an instrument – such as playing the melody on individual notes either while singing or during an instrumental break.

I’ve done lyrics-first a lot, but I’ve also done music first.  Inevitably, there’s a little back-and-forth editing until you get it all to gel.  Sometimes you can just hear it all coming together in your head, and your fingers and voice have to translate it simultaneously.  Attempting it a lot makes it less daunting, like anything.

Final piece:  don't underestimate the power of great singing.  Be a great singer or find one.

Someone like me who is not much of a singer should theoretically be on the lookout for great singers to interpret my songs - whether by me pitching my songs to artists, or finding a great singer to be in a band with.  Instead of pursuing either of those, I record my own versions of my own songs as a solo artist by myself, and hope some great singers take notice and want to record them.

As an artist myself with a small-but-growing cult following, I am fortunate that singing isn't the only thing people enjoy about music and artistry, or I'd have no interest in my music at all.  People appreciate the songwriting, I'm told.

Some of the pros in Nashville will spend a couple grand on a single demo of a single song, sometimes more.  It seems almost insane.  That takes a great amount of confidence in addition to capital.  Then they pitch them to artists, and often get rejected.  I'm all for people going for it, but my current situation is to just keep doing what I do, keep trying to write better songs, keep trying to record better songs.  

As I've blogged before, I know I'm not the type of solo artist who would be likely to get signed by a major record label.  I might have enough skill with songwriting to do it as full-time staff member for a publisher, but I live in Michigan and have no plans to move to a music hub and network.  Luckily, it's a hobby that is a blast and can be made public from the privacy of my home - which is weird but true.  Thankfully, I've had enough confidence to put my songs and recordings out there.

My songwriting and recording have evolved, my knowledge of each has evolved, and so has the advice list.  I have no reason to think these trends won't continue.  

So, re-skim the things I made bold above, but here's an abbreviated list for you impatient scrollers as blogged about in detail above:

• Do it often
• Accept bad songs
• Listen to great songs
• Listen intently
• Buy an instrument
• Learn song forms
• Learn rhyme schemes
• Learn chord families
• Buy recording equipment
• Get a MIDI keyboard
• Record multi-track songs
• Record covers
• Focus on singing
• Don't give up

So, there you go.  Write on.  I don't claim to have ever written any really good songs.  I'm still trying to write a good one, and that's what's fun.  There's a drive there, but the motivation is enjoying the trying part, knowing it would be rare and unrealistic to ever think you'll actually write a great one.

When I run in to people who know I like to write songs and they ask if I’m still doing it, I usually say I’m still trying to write a good one, and then I usually throw in a “haven’t given up yet” part too.  I say these things with a smile on my face because I have so much fun with it.  It’s a great way to pass the time.  I know some of them might think to themselves “okay, I guess he really likes something he’s not very good at” and then might wonder “why make them available for streaming though?”.  I do it anyway, because I can.

We all know someone who retires with a hobby, then they attempt to go pro with it.  I’ve worked with guys who liked to take pictures with a camera and then retire and launch a “photography studio” website, or guys who are into woodworking and then retire and launch a website to try to sell their creations online.  You check it out, make a quick judgement in your mind, compliment them, and wish them well.  You always think to yourself “dude, you’re not as good as you think you are, but good luck,” but you’d never tell them your thoughts out loud to their face.  

Those sites don’t seem to stay up for very long.  Is this kind of thing sad?  Yeah, maybe a little, but I’m one of them, and I’m a supporter.  Depends how you look at it.  Did they need someone to tell them they weren’t as good as they thought they were, or that their ambition outweighed their talent?  I’m not sure about that.  

Trying and failing is better than not trying.  Not giving up despite remaining conventionally unsuccessful would be another way to say it.  Following a passion isn’t about mainstream success, it’s about the enjoyment of a creative pursuit.  Keep at it, that’s how you get better at anything.