A Would-Be Songwriter's Conundrum

It’s confusing to know whether you’re a songwriter or not.  It’s difficult to know what the qualifications are, as there is no one authoritative source that defines such things.  The question is one of earning money and popularity.  You can tell people you are one, and then you can worry if that is being dishonest.  You don’t want to be dishonest.

Since you’re reading this, you likely already have an idea that I’m one of the many people in the world who write and record songs that you can listen to via web streaming.  I used to tell people I did it as a hobby, and then technology evolved to allow me to offer my recordings of my songs to the world.  Does this make me more of a songwriter, or am I still just a would-be songwriter?

I like to write songs and record them, and I’ll probably keep doing it because it’s fun.  I shouldn’t care if I’m self-taught, and I shouldn’t care if I can safely say it’s something I know how to do or not.  A part of me feels like a poser and questions the legitimacy of what I do.  I can’t help it that my thoughts drift off to wondering whether I’m faking it or not, whether I’m a fraud, whether I can claim to be one or not.

You can write a song and play it, that’s one thing.  Another is you can record it.  The permanent record serves as proof.  It can be an art and a craft.  There are basic elements songs should have like a melody, and unless an instrumental composition, lyrics and rhyme.  Some of the definitions you can look up say in addition to writing the music and the words, you can especially be considered a songwriter if the song is popular.  Defining popularity is another conundrum.

I call myself a songwriter, but a part of me wonders if I’m qualified to be able to say that.  I write songs, record them, and then distribute them to music streaming services.  As someone who takes an autonomous, do-it-yourself approach, I produce and publish music independently from commercial record labels.  If I were young, I would try to achieve both professional status in some way and popularity with my songs.

I would definitely feel more confident telling people I am a songwriter if I achieved any of these:

• Hit:  I wrote and recorded a song that had mainstream popularity

• Signed:  I wrote and recorded songs but was signed to a record label

• Staff:  I was a staff writer under employment contract for a publisher

• Cut:  I could say I wrote a song that a label-signed artist recorded

• Placement:  I could say I wrote a song used in a movie or TV show

I’ve done none of the above, so you could say I’m definitely not a professional, but as an amateur using a digital aggregator distribution service with my own publishing and label, I have actually earned some royalty income.

From my humble home studio near Flint, Michigan, I’m not in the ideal situation for going after any of those.  I’ll never be a great singer, so if I was advising my 20-yr. old self, I’d tell me to move to Nashville.

It’s important to focus on what you do have going for you though.  Occasionally taking stock in what you’re good at, and what you have to offer, can get you fired up to keep doing more of it.  It also presents an opportunity to tell people what makes you unique and stand out among the others.  Some people have more natural abilities than others, and you can’t be good at everything, but it’s fun to try.  Although delegation and collaboration and specialization can have benefits for songwriters, it is very satisfying to be able to say you did everything yourself without anyone’s help when it comes to anything creative.

Some things I’m proud of:

• I‘m the sole writer of my songs

• I write the music and the lyrics

• I play all of the instruments

• I’m the beatmaker

• I’m the top-liner

• I’m the arranger

• I’m the producer

• My house is my studio

• I’m the recording engineer

• I’m the mixing engineer

• I’m the mastering engineer

• I’m the video producer

• I’m the publisher

• I’m the label

• I’m the marketer

• My own webmaster

• I’ve released over 100 songs

I am self-taught in all of the above!

I don’t co-write, and in this era, in which a famous artist like Beyonce lists 20 different songwriters on a single song, it is somewhat unusual.

I’ve had no lessons other than a single Intro To Guitar course my Senior year in college, yet I can play rhythm, lead, slide, fingerpicking and bass guitar.  Piano, organ, harmonica, ukulele, mandolin, marimba, drums and percussion too – all me, all self-taught.

I’ve never used a real recording studio, and I’ve never had another musician play on any of my songs…except accordion by my wife on a few.

I would be willing to bet that even though I think figuring out how to do all of the above myself makes me special, there are millions of others out there.  The world is a big place.  Many of them are probably also good at skiing.  Nonetheless, I think you should be impressed, because looking back, I’m impressed I figured all this out too.  I’m not sure why all of this seemed interesting to me, but it did.

As you can see, I am a lot more than just a songwriter, and being able to do all of these related things might help my case for being able to rightfully call myself a songwriter.  

I think the quantity thing has to score me a few points too in favor of being able to self-apply the songwriter to my identity.  A lot of people with a guitar or piano will tell you they’ve written hundreds of songs, but there’s no proof.  I have actually publicly released and formally published and copyrighted around 150 original songs.  You can find the proof online, so there’s that.  One could argue that I’m quite prolific.

Popularity is another thing.  How to define it?  All you can do is compare the streaming stats in this day and age.  It’s relative.  Some of my songs have a measure of popularity then, and some of them are mor e popular than others, and some of them are more popular than other songwriter/artists’ songs.

Let’s face it:  Although I’ve made a little money, I’m not a professional.  Although I’ve had some streams, I don’t have any real popularity.  People wouldn’t say either of those about me, and I don’t say them about myself.  Not a pro, not popular.

You can’t argue against those two statements, and being a popular pro is a part of most definitions of ‘songwriter’, so therefore, I am not a songwriter.

Being good is another thing, the whole judgement thing, appreciation being objective and all that.  Everyone has close friends and family who dish out compliments about their creative art projects.  Polite applause at the open mic night, the gig at the bar filled with people who know you.  Sales and streams can be measured, yet we all suspect that record company promotion and marketing and advertising can manufacture success through hype and create popularity when it isn’t necessarily deserved or organic.

You can write what you think are songs, you can play them, you can record them, you can even try to sell them on the internet.  You think they not only might qualify as being actual songs, but also you think they might even be pretty good.  You wonder if a great singer could really make them sound like great songs, like way better than even you could've imagined when you wrote them.  

You wonder if such a thing might even be a realistic possibility.  When you're not a good singer or performer yourself though, and thus can't really deliver the songs in a state that would prove they're pretty good, you think to really be able to call yourself a songwriter, you need to have someone who is a really good singer and performer record your songs.  Getting "cuts" is the one thing that would certainly validate your hobby.  

Are you really a songwriter?  Most people can hit a dance floor and move around a bit, but can't really call themselves dancers.  Lots of people go on talent shows on TV thinking they can sing, but the millions of viewers think otherwise.  Getting a song you wrote recorded by a famous singer is the holy grail if you're like me and can't sing well yourself.  You think your songs might be good enough for such a thing, but you're not sure.  So, you look into how to go about making such a thing happen.  

You'd like to be a songwriter who has his songs recorded by famous artists, but you don't live in a place like Nashville or New York or Los Angeles where the famous artists are.  You know the experts advise you to move to one of those places to have a chance among the massive competition, but you're not willing to do that.  You can try to pitch via email, have an online presence, even release your own demos, but dread the hassle and fear the rejection, so you don't do it.  You know the successful songwriters move to Nashville and pay for top-quality demos, then pitch them in person after networking like crazy.  

You know that your singing and instrument-playing and home recording capabilities on your self-made demos are not that good, but you can't afford to pay for pro session singers, musicians, recording engineers or real studio time.  You research services like TAXI who supposedly once in a while get songwriter's songs to famous recording artists, movie/TV music supervisors, record labels, and publishing companies, but in reality, they are in California and primarily get radio-ready songs to their connections in the movie and tv business.  They also offer critiques and tell you your demos do not have that radio-ready quality yet.  You pay them to tell you this, which you already know.  So that won't work, so you don't pay them.  

You're not a great performer, so you don't go that route of trying to get paid gigs as a solo artist yourself.  Such is the conundrum of the non-performing songwriter who doesn't have much money and doesn't live in a place like Nashville.  You can't really hit an open mic night at a bar and have an A&R guy in the audience approach you to have his major-label artist record the great song you just played.  

There's not even much of a songwriter community for you to network with locally where you live, or even much of a music scene for that matter, so the odds are not in your favor.  About the best you can do is to keep writing, recording, and releasing, and hope you can increase the sales without any money to promote, market, or advertise your records.  You can't afford to have decent music videos.  You hope for viral recommendation via social media.  You know some independent artists pay for fake likes and follows to artificially make their music appear to be more popular, which can actually make it more popular, but you refuse to stoop to such unethical tactics.  

Even if you were able to move to Nashville, you know that for songwriters, it's the equivalent of thinking you can act and moving to Hollywood.  There's gonna be a ton of other people from the small towns of America who flock there seeking to realize the same dream.  Where they are from, there were hardly any other people who could write songs at all, or act at all, so of course for their area, they were perhaps not bad, and perhaps think they're better than they really are.  

The cream rises to the top, as you know, and the vast majority of the rest give up and move home or serve people food in restaurants or whatever.  You don't really know for sure if you don't ever try, I guess.  It can take years of putting yourself in the right places with the right people at the right times for the now-successful ones who "made it" to get where they got.  

You know all of this.  You also personally know people who made the pilgrimage to Hollywood or Nashville or New York and came back being able to say they at least tried to be an actor or dancer or musician or singer or songwriter, and you wonder if they'd been better off never having attempted it in the first place.  You learn from hearing their stories, reading on the internet, forming your own opinions, taking it all into consideration as you wonder if you could have better luck.

Sometimes I think I barely know what I’m doing.  Lyrics, melodies, harmony, rhythm, vocals – yes, what I make checks these boxes.  Words set to music, meant to be sung.  I’ve created a lot of these.  Based on that alone, I guess I can say I’m a songsmith.

At this point in my life, I’m not going to move to Nashville or subscribe to pitch sheets and submit my demos to labels, publishers, agents or artist managers.  I’m not going to network in person or online.  I’m not going after cuts, placements, employment, or record deals.  What I am going to keep doing is writing songs, recording “demos” and just releasing those demos as a pretend solo recording artist myself.  Maybe the streams will increase, maybe not.

You only really wonder about these things when not in creative mode.  You’re wishing you were more popular, more legitimate.  You wish you made more than fractions of a penny for each stream.  You are reminded of this type of thing when you get a report on your “success” from one of the streaming services such as this one from Spotify that I just got:

Some creative art works can be easily made from your home, and songs are included.  They can also be made available for public consumption from your home.  Twenty years ago, this was not the case.  In May of this year, according to Spotify, I had 186 listeners, an increase of 94% over April.  Might even add up to over one penny this time, who knows.  Does having a monthly increase in streaming stats mean I can call myself a songwriter yet?  Still don’t know.  Does the appearance of popularity beget more popularity?  They say it does.  Does using the word ‘beget’ make me cool?  Definitely.  Is this all an example of humble bragging?  Yah, you betchya.  I write about this kind of thing a lot to make sense of it, and I keep coming back to an overall feeling of being in the right place at the right time for this to be possible, and feeling fortunate I am able to do it.  Thanks for being a reader and listener!

Deep Thoughts on Songwriting and Recording, by Scott Cooley

I'm a self-taught, do-it-all-myselfer with this songwriting and recording hobby I have.  Here are some thoughts about the various aspects of what I do that you might find interesting to read:

Just kidding on the quote in that image above by Jack Handey of SNL fame.  Below are my real "deep" thoughts:

Songwriting:  As a songwriter, I take the opposite approach of the one I take with being a musician.  I don't practice guitar, and I don't ever set out to learn cover songs, so the only times I play are when I'm writing songs and recording them.  Of all the aspects of my hobby, this is the one I'm really passionate about.  Instead of spending a lot of time rewriting and editing and toiling over a song, I let it flow quickly and if I'm not feeling it, I stop and move on to a different song the next time the urge strikes.  So I don't "practice" or keep polishing a song very long to get it perfect, but I accept a low keeper ratio and have a lot of throwaway scraps that rarely get recycled.  Sometimes I have droughts where no ideas show up for months, but sometimes I'll write 3 songs in one night.  I'm more of a lyrics-first guy, but sometimes do the music first, and it's always a back-and-forth thing anyway to some degree.  Sometimes it takes 5 minutes to finish one, sometimes an hour, but very rarely do I spend any more than an hour writing any one song.  I do it quite a lot, and I think like most things, you have to do it a lot to be good at it.  I can't help it, I just like to make up songs, and although I haven't written a really good one yet, I haven't stopped for 30 years.  It's a mysterious process, but it's the most exciting part of what I do.

Recording:  As a solo recording artist, I enjoy recording songs I write, and I enjoy blending multiple vocal and instrument tracks together to achieve the sound of a band.  I try to get close to what I envisioned the finished song would sound like as fast as possible, then move on to the next.  I'm not out for perfection at all, I just like the process.  I like to stay away from the auto-tune and fancy effects, and find the multitrack digital audio workstations to have way too many bells and whistles for my liking, but I find ways to keep it very simple and raw, with a tolerance for imperfection.  What might set me apart from most is I sing and play all the instruments and write the songs and do all the mixing and mastering myself.  I'm not good at any of it, but I like doing it.  Writing songs is the most creative part, but then figuring out how to arrange them and produce them is an extension of that which I also enjoy, provided it doesn't take too long.

Musician:  My approach to being a musician has always been to buy an instrument first, then figure out how to play it.  You make a commitment that way and are more likely to mess around with it.  Although I'm a proponent of people taking lessons first before just diving in for most things, I've had no formal training to speak of, and it's worked for me.  Learning to read music is overwhelming and intimidating as a first step, and I'm glad I avoided it entirely.  When I was a kid I wanted to be a unicycle rider, so I got one, then figured it out through falling a lot, but as a former ski instructor, I really believe it's important to go the lesson-first route so you don't end up being one of the millions who can only claim they "tried" skiing once.  With music, I'm never trying to get great at playing an instrument, or get great at playing popular songs written by others, so I never practice at all.

Vocal:  Not an excruciatingly bad singer, but not particularly good either, known for starting a bit sharp or flat and then sliding up or down accordingly to eventually hit the right pitch, have been told I'm in the baritone range and am certain that the vocal range is very limited.  Was in 5th grade elementary school choir and 8th grade church choir, but didn't participate much or pay much attention in either.

Guitar:  Not a bad guitar player, not particularly great in any way, but can play both rhythm and lead, know a couple of basic scales and most open and barre chords, can figure out melody notes fairly easily by ear, can strum pretty well, and can do some basic finger picking and arpeggios.  Can't read music at all, understand tablature but never memorize covers, took Intro to Guitar senior year in college and got a B.

Keyboard:  Not an actual piano player at all, piano/organ sounds you hear on my recordings are virtual via midi keyboard on which a single key will automatically play a chord sound, and then I figure out the melody notes by ear/trial/error to match vocal melodies I make up.  I took about 5 piano lessons at about age 10 and remember absolutely nothing from it except the fact that I was completely intimidated and overwhelmed about being forced to try to learn to read music notation first.

Bass:  Not a horrible bass player, but not outstanding in any way, no knowlege whatsoever other than self-taught from buying one and playing it, but can usually go beyond the stay-at-home root notes and do a little walking without much trouble, finding it to be a fun challenge to write a song on guitar, then figure out some bass parts that support it.

Drums & Percussion:  Not comfortable on a drum kit due to never having one, tried them out a few times but not great with the foot/hand coordination, but can keep a simple beat on a snare, tom or cymbal with a brush or stick, working in a few understated appropriate fills here and there, not bad at hand percussion with both hands simultaneously such as congas, bongos or djembe, can play a tambourine or shaker with basic proficiency, able to generally hold down decent timing.

Marimba:  No idea how a marimba works, except that it's even easier than finding an existing melody on a guitar because the actual notes are printed on it, but I never learn cover songs, so I'm not using them, I'm making them match vocal melodies by ear for my own songs.

Harmonica:  No idea how a harmonica works either, yet somehow able to find chords and individual notes through trial and error while enjoying the fact that it is forgiving and that less than precise still sounds okay.

Ukulele:  Ukulele, like all other instruments I play, I bought one first, then googled how to string it, tune it, and play chords.  The low tension and nylon strings are easy on the fingers, but certain chords are quite the challenge.

Mandolin:  Borrowed a friend's a couple times, looked up chord diagrams online, found it way too small and cramped for my large, fat fingers, became frustated by this easily.

Other:  Tried out some flute and cello and maybe even horn sounds on a few songs, using my midi keyboard to basically just dial up the sound in software, then hit root note keys.

Although I don't keep track anymore, I've probably written about 1,000 songs, and I haven't even released 200 of them yet.  About half of those released 200 I could live without, so do your math and make of it what you will.

So, there you have it.  My thoughts about the various aspects of my hobby as I describe them now, in 2023.  That's about as real and honest as I can think of to be at this time.  It is what it is, and hopefully you found it entertaining to know some of the backstory of what I do.  You can't be good at everything, and probably most wisely focus on far fewer aspects than me.  Instead of a specialist in any one area, I guess I'm more of a jack of all trades and master at none.  I'm obviously a control freak, but happily, I'm not a perfectionist and prefer a speedy creative process.  There's some self-assessment in there that shows a lot of room for improvement I'm sure, but instead of focusing on getting better at any one thing, I'm just in it for the fun.

Big Egos and Grandiose Notions: How Songwriters Act in Times of Crisis

We’ve never seen anything quite like this in our lifetimes.  As songwriters shelter in place, they are no doubt contemplating writing, recording and releasing songs to make people feel better during a sad time for the world.  I’m not an exception. 

Instead of some sort of save the world through song, Live Aid-style thing, I’ll probably want to get out a few more songs from my bedroom here in Michigan somehow.  Maybe another album, maybe a single, maybe just hit record on the computer webcam and upload a solo performance of a new previously-unreleased original to YouTube.

When the lucky, famous, wealthy and privileged people seemingly have advantages to get tested before the rest of us regular folk, you dread the inevitable indulgent all-star jam for a worthy cause, and this cause is different.  Thankfully, you won’t get all those celebs on the same stage together for quite a while.

Don’t die with the music in you.  That’s from a t-shirt I saw a while back in a songwriter magazine.  I’ve got some good ones in progress, and some completed ones I haven’t released yet.  The thought has crossed my mind that I’ve got some risk factors, and when dead and gone, my wife won’t be able to figure out how to get my recordings of my songs off my computer and put them online, so no one will ever hear them.  Not that there’s a big demand in my case, but these are the types of thoughts that can cross our minds lately.

You can bet that the recording artists with a certain level of self-importance like that perhaps misunderstood Bono guy from U2 for example are going to record a video or house concert with a new, uplifting song, and those who were already generally annoyed by him will be more annoyed than ever.  I predict you’ll see a wave of similar popular acts and famous artists hit the internet and YouTube with something similar in the coming months, and the pretention levels will be high.  That said, it’s all good.

Whether we can relate to a sad song about loss, or feel uplifted by a song with a “stay positive, we’ll get through this” sentiment, such new music will be a welcome escape for those of us with internet connections, and for those without, at least for those who still have electricity, we’ll take solace and comfort in our old CDs and records on a home stereo of some kind, or maybe even the now-old-fashioned thing called a radio. 

In an unprecedented time when Amazon has stopped selling CDs and vinyl records, might as well take advantage of the seclusion and alone time to get inspired and “re-kindle” the creative fires.  So when you’re stuck in the house, and your guitar is there, and there’s a computer to type and record on, songwriters are going to do what they do, whether they really think their songs can truly make a difference in the world or not.

I’m no different.  If you have this hobby, you can’t help it.  It’s a way to get your feelings off your chest, and a creative outlet is a good way to spend your time instead of constantly consuming the latest sad news and living in fear.  I’m on a bit of a roll of late, having written and recorded a few new songs this year.  It’s fun, and it takes your mind off worrying about the future. 

You can’t help but wonder if your latest new inspirational song could catch on and make a difference to people by cheering them up or providing a calming influence or temporary escape from the fear.  Few can make money from writing and recording songs these days, but that’s not why you do it anyway – it’s out of pure passion.

When you think you’ve written a good one, and one that would be particularly impactful during tough times, you’re tempted to put it out as a single right away, rather than wait for enough songs to release a whole album.  You’re also tempted to just record a solo video of yourself singing and playing it live because the reality is you might not be around long enough to release that next album.

It occurs to you in times like these that you won’t be around forever, and little will remain, but maybe some of the songs will still be floating around the internet.  That’s the hope.  Long after I’m dead and gone, this little blog nobody knows about or reads might still exist, and if so, its posts will collectively tell some type of larger story about some dead guy who used to write songs and record them while he was alive.

The optimist in me believes I’ll survive, and the songwriter in me thinks it’s one of the reasons I was put on this Earth.  I seriously have this grandiose notion that it’s part of God’s plan for me – to stick around and keep putting new music out into the world.  It may be funny to some to hear that because I realize I’m not famous or even particularly good.  I’m aware I’m not a great singer or musician, but it could be that my ego is telling me I’m a decent songwriter, and that’s a part of my life’s purpose.

Praise is a strong word, but if you’ve interpreted positive feedback from people about your songs, the realist in you might chalk it up as being “kind and polite,” but your ego reassures you that it’s genuine.  If you’re at all like me, you know you have these thoughts from time to time, and that you’ve been spared so far because it’s a contribution you make, and further, that it might even be important in some way. 

When you’re confident enough to call yourself a songwriter, whether you qualify in the minds of experts or not, you keep on with it regardless of your abilities because you can pause for a while, but you can’t ever stop completely, even if all you can do is write in your head.

Indeed, I have had people tell me they enjoyed my songs before, and that fact tells me I’ve already made a small difference in people’s lives.  Just a little of that serves as fuel to keep going.  You can’t help but want to help, and writing and recording a song is a way you can help. 

It comes naturally to people like me, so you can expect that in a much smaller way, sad and pathetic as it may sound, I’ll probably be jumping on the bandwagon and joining the ranks of all these artists you’ll be getting inspirational songs from during this challenging time in the world.  We’re all going to die eventually, but it’s going to be okay.  You keep doing what you do in whatever time you have left.  Stay tuned.

Why acoustic guitars are so much better for songwriters than electrics

It may be that playing an acoustic guitar instead of an electric is doing it the hard way, or a wimpy way, depending on how you look at.  Electrics are tougher, meaner, wilder and more aggressive sounding, but they’re easier on the fingers to play.  You don’t have to press as hard, the necks are thinner and faster.  Bronze wound acoustic steel strings build up calluses on your fingers and thus kind of get you in better shape for playing.  Higher action and heavier strings on acoustics, lower and lighter on electrics.  Hard rock on an electric is easier to play, soft rock on an acoustic is harder to play, one could argue.

Depending on your preferences, acoustics can perhaps sound harsh and rougher on the ears, whereas electrics have a slick smooth sheen about their sound.  The sustain and effects can hide a lack of good playing technique, whereas acoustics leave you naked and can easily reveal the little mistakes.  On the other hand, acoustics played well can be simply beautiful.  The music they produce may be lighter sounding, and the actual weight of them is physically lighter.  Electrics can be uncomfortably heavy to play and the necessary shoulder straps can hurt your shoulders and give you neck and back problems, especially when you’re older.

To use an all-American baseball analogy, acoustics could be considered like practicing batting swings with several wooden bats in the on deck circle before throwing them on the ground and stepping up to the plate with a light aluminum bat.  Maybe electric guitars are aluminum bats, and maybe amplifiers and effects pedals are like swinging with corked bats.  I have a preference throughout my playing and recording "career" to stick with acoustics, not for practice to get in shape for electric playing, but even when I have electrics available at my disposal, I almost always choose the old dreadnaught.  It’s more handy for writing, and I just prefer the tone they make more when recording.

I’ve stayed true to a signature sound that includes the acoustic guitar as the primary instrument in my music.  It evolved naturally.  I was not a musician until several years into adulthood.  Before that, I was a music fan.  Early on, I was a fan of music my parents liked, which included early 70s folk rock, an example of which was the John Denver records they had in their collection.  His music also featured acoustic guitar, his lyrics were about the beauty of the natural world, he was an environmentalist, he seemed like a nice guy, and he liked skiing – all things I appreciated, even as a young boy.

As I got a little older, I got into the hard rock of the late 70s with my peers, which included musical acts who also had acoustic songs like Neil Young and even Pink Floyd and Led Zeppelin.  On the radio, I’d hear the soft rock artists like America, Gordon Lightfoot, James Taylor, Paul Simon, CSN, Jim Croce, Cat Stevens, Van Morrison, and Bread.  This is what I grew up on.  The late 70s brought a myriad of changes that lasted through the entire 80s that were not great for acoustic music – with the exception being the Violent Femmes, a huge influence on me.

Disco and punk faded out as new wave, pop and hair metal came and went along with grunge in the early 90s.  Then came the unplugged MTV show and related album releases of the early 90s – it was getting appealing again – with rock bands playing rock music on all acoustic instruments.  From about the turn of the century onward though, acoustic music has been off the beaten path and underground for the most part.  Mainstream country sounds like bad rock music sung with a southern twang accent, which I don’t have a taste for.

There’s always been this undercurrent of serious folk – last popular in the 60s and slowly dying since with the baby boomer crowd – that’s just somehow not cool or fun enough for me.  It should be no surprise the singer-songwriter genre leans more toward rock than folk, and features the acoustic guitar.   Along the way, I somehow discovered the good stuff from before I was born – the early acoustic blues and hillbilly music., the acoustic songs of the Beatles, etc.  Online discovery and recommendation has led me to discover the odd gem I somehow missed along the way like Elliott Smith.

The cheap, used acoustic is a typical first guitar for many, and I’m no exception.  It’s easier to find sheet music or chords online for guitar than other instruments when you’re learning covers of your favorites early on.  Because I was raised on rock, the guitar is a natural choice, because there was at least one in all these bands I liked.  It’s great to learn on, and there’s just something about the immediacy of being able to just pick it up and make sound without the hassle of having to plug anything in.

When the creative urge strikes, you want to capture what you can as soon as you can so you don’t lose the magic.  Over-editing and over-producing can achieve slick perfection, but I like the rough edges.  On the other hand, I have a soft side, I’m a mellow laid-back kind of person, so it’s just a part of what suits my style and personality I guess.

It’s also a lot easier to emulate the songs you like as opposed to playing a bass, drums, or a horn to sing along with, so it’s the ultimate solo instrument.  It’s made of trees, so it’s pretty organic.  They’ve been around a long time.  They’re portable, and you don’t need extra stuff like an amp and a cable to get sound out of it.  You don’t need to be near electricity, so you can hike into the wild and entertain around a campfire.

For all these reasons and more, it’s possibly the best instrument to write songs on as well.  You get a faster idea to recording transfer.  They tend to stay in tune better than electric guitars.  They rest on your leg easily while sitting without the need for a shoulder strap.  You don’t have to turn knobs to dial in a sound first – just grab it and start playing.

I love me some loud electric guitars from time to time so don’t get me wrong – I’m not knocking them.  In early jazz and blues bands, acoustics weren’t loud enough to be heard live, so amplification helped with volume.  It’s arguably cool to get more sustain for certain styles, as it is to add effects like reverb and distortion.  Too much of that can get annoying in a hurry though.  I guess it’s just more pleasing to my ears than electric – that’s the bottom line.

It could be that as people get older their music tastes might tend to mellow a bit, and that would be true with me to some degree, although as already stated, I’ve always been a fan of the mellow stuff.  Another factor is that I don’t want to impair my hearing further, and want to preserve what I have, so I’m cautious about excessive volume as I get older.  I have played electrics in bands, some of which accompanied acoustics, and I like me some crazy digital noises on occasion, but I like the honesty of an acoustic guitar better, and both as a fan of other music as well as my own, I gravitate toward an all-acoustic unplugged overall sound in general.

As a songwriter, I want to put my ideas to music quickly, before I lose the muse, and an acoustic is great for that.  A typical way to record is to lay down a rhythm guitar track first before you add bass, drums, vocals, or keyboards, so my first track is often an acoustic rhythm track.  Due to my tastes, it just so happens that I like to hear my songs in an acoustic style as well, so I don’t replace it with electric.  I also enjoy knowing I’m not using digital, electronic and technological trickery.  It feels more true and real and authentic with an acoustic, like I’m not cheating.  No covering up imperfections with fake sounds or software fixes.

In the back of my mind, I know it’s a little harder to play than an electric, and for some reason, I like knowing I’m doing something that’s a little more difficult.  Some of the primarily electric guitar musicians who went on the unplugged show revealed they weren’t that good on acoustics, and you don’t want to be like them in that way.  I’m not a take the easy way out person.  In several areas of my life, my personality has been such that I’ve intentionally and perhaps even stupidly, done things the hard way as a general approach, but there’s a greater satisfaction in it for me knowing that.

It has been said that if a song is really good, it sounds good with just a single guitar, as if when stripped of additional instrumentation and studio polish, the true quality of the songwriting can really shine.  Some songs are band songs, and don’t sound great when performed solo on one instrument.  So, in this way, a songwriter has a better idea if the song can stand alone that it will possibly be even better when doctored up with accompaniment.

In it’s pure, raw form a good song will sound good on an acoustic guitar, so it’s a good test, and a way to get immediate feedback when playing live or listening back to a demo recording.  For me, I always opt to keep the initial scratch rhythm acoustic track in the mix, and take it from there.  I even prefer to play fills and solos with an acoustic as well, just because my ears like what I hear better.  So it’s through this preference based on many aforementioned good reasons that I’ve evolved into a primarily acoustic solo recording artist, and why I feel strongly that the acoustic guitar is better than an electric for writing songs.

How Blogging Is Like Songwriting

I’m not a great singer, guitar player, bass player, percussionist or songwriter, but I blend these things and put the music out there anyway, dammit!  I’ve got a new album that’s going to be in online music stores soon, and I’m now at the stage of letting people know about it because I want others to hear it, if they’re interested.  It’s my sixth such album in the last ten years, so I’ve been through this before, and it’s like blogging.  You make your thoughts known, and in that way you’re vulnerable.  Whether a post or a song, it feels like being naked in public.

Most people I make aware of it won’t care, won’t be interested.  Just like the bombardment we all get on a daily basis, whether through commercials on TV or junk emails.  We quickly change the channel, and we quickly delete.  Personally, I try to avoid advertising whenever possible, and having things suggested to me usually makes me less likely to be interested.  Sometimes though, you act on a recommendation from a trusted friend and you’re glad you did.  This very thing has happened with my music in the past.  Some people are going to like it, usually people you already know, and they tell people they know, and people tell you they like it.

Just like I’ve had people tell me before that they like reading things I’ve written in this blog, people have told me they liked my music before.  This next album I have coming out soon is one where some people have heard some of the songs already in advance of it’s official release, and believe it or not, they’ve said they liked some of the songs already.  Five of them have had multiple people go out of their way to mention to me the song titles as their favorites so far.  

There are 14 songs on this album, and you never know which ones people will collectively like the most for sure, but when you start hearing about it, it’s exciting.  The word gets back to me via email, social media, and verbally.  The interactive part is cool, just like blog post comments.  The negative feedback stings a little, I must admit, but it’s offset by knowing some people liked some of it, which come to think of it, is the same way I feel about most artists’ albums I’m a fan of myself.  It’s a common thing, yet it always feels strange to me to be in this phase of the process.  It’s hard to describe, but you’re taking a leap, taking a risk, putting your hard work out there for people to judge or ignore.

This informational post about songwriting is open to discussion with the interactive comment feature below.  I would like to increase the social interaction and sharing regarding this blog with readers, other bloggers, and other songwriters and online independent recording artists.  Although I primarily post my personal commentary on the subjects of songwriting and the frustrations with gaining an audience for my recorded music using the internet, I realize that if I were to steer this blog more in the direction of personal online brand advertising, my frustration might decrease.

Rather than keep a running account of my activities I've undertaken in the course of writing and recording (and then trying to sell) songs, I thought it would be better to write only when I really felt compelled to.  So, you'll notice large chronological gaps in my posts, and clusters of closely-spaced blog activity, instead of a more consistent online dairy.  Even though I studied journalism in college, and indeed have written many a news article in my various day jobs I've held over the years, my favorite course was advanced expository writing, which typically focuses on one discrete topic.

I therefore enjoy explaining, analyzing, presenting ideas, informing, and describing my experiences and thoughts, often with evidence and examples, and only when I really have something to say...often something to "get off my chest" because it's been weighing heavy on my mind and bugging me, whatever it is. Most of the time I ramble in a scatterbrained fashion, sometimes without getting my point across effectively, sometimes without making a point at all, but usually because I feel the need to tell people my thoughts.  

After all, this is a blog about the trials and tribulations of a guy who plays a guitar and makes up songs in his basement, records them, and then tries to sell them online.  I know there are millions out there who do the same thing every day.  The fun part is everything leading up to the trying to sell part.

Songwriting isn't much different than other types of creative writing in this regard.  The best written works are the result of involuntary inspiration.  You can sit down and force yourself to do it according to a consistent schedule, but the quality of the output, I would argue, suffers in comparison with waiting until a strong urge is present.  When you're revved up about it, good things happen.

Persuasive writing, however, throws a monkey wrench into the engine, especially when faced with convincing readers of the persuasive writing that they should buy your creative work - in my case music with lyrics.  When faced with the reality that it would help satisfy my desire to have my music reach a wider audience, I find that the type of persuasive writing I typically fall into writing is more in the form of argumentative writing.  I argue for myself, as if representing myself or defending myself as a lawyer would in a court of law.

Another way I tend to handle telling people about my music to persuade them to buy it is to use self-deprecating humor or satire.  I do this because it naturally feels strange to create something and then try to recommend it to people.  It's normal to not think of your creative work as particularly valuable or noteworthy, I think, because you don't want to tell people how great it is and then be disappointed they don't agree.  No one likes negative critisism of their work, which in some ways is more painful than a lack of sales transactions.

I think what this boils down to is that we humans have an innate desire for acceptance and we care what people think about us and our work to a certain degree.  When we toot our own horns, we risk the pain of people who want to bring us down to earth.  So, we strive for a balance.  Sales experts would say it's all a numbers game, and there may be data to back this up.  We live in a world where we love to root for the underdogs until they become the top dogs, and then we love to push them to the bottom or the back of the pack again.  Build them up, only to tear them down.

I could tell you my new album will reveal undiscovered brilliance, hidden talent, surprising quality, and that it's just a matter of time before it becomes more popular, and I can list reasons why I believe this.  If I use words like "emerging," it might make you want to contribute to an upswing in popularity by telling others.  If I'm excited about my music, you will be more likely to get excited about it yourself.  

A different way to look at it is realistically, which wouldn't produce the same results.  We all would love to be wildly popular and then pretend to be humble and understated about it.  None of us want to be thought of as artists who think they are better than the reality of how they are actually perceived by others.  People have told me they like some of my songs, and I believe them.  People have bought my songs and albums, and I have a little money to show for it.

Since I know what people tend to like, I tend to want to give them more, only without repeating myself.  This is tricky for an artist.  You want a signature style and sound, yet you want your new music to be fresh.  You offer up your "babies" you created for judgement, wishing you'll hear nothing but compliments and encouragement.  You get some of it, and you want more of it.  At the same time, it does you no good to hear the negative, so you want to avoid it.  These are the risks that are inherent in this balancing act.

It's no different than blogging.  Anyone can blog about anything at a nominal cost.  It's when you try to make money that it becomes a challenge.  You hear about blogs catching on, getting a huge number of subscribers and readers, a fan base if you will, and then they are able to get people to pay them for advertising based on that base.  We'd all love to have that kind of accidental popularity, and it sounds like a nice easy way to earn money, but intentionally setting out to have that doesn't work.  It's why most small businesses fail.  The successful ones, it seems, start in a garage or basement and catch on almost accidentally.

I am passionate about the songwriting and the recording.  When that part is done, the fear and loathing kicks in.  Telling people about your music, describing it, persuading them to buy it, it's tough, and it’s necessary but doesn’t quite feel right.  Artists signed to real record labels have people take care of this part for them, and they pay to take it off their plate so they can concentrate on performing and writing and recording more.  The independent, do-it-all-yourselfers like me can’t possibly feel comfortable with all aspects of it.  

So, I get through it using free methods, cringing about it, doing as little as possible while knowing if I don’t do anything at all, no one will know the album exists.  I’m embarrassed about it I think.  Not because I’m not proud of the music I create, but because I’m scared of negative feedback I guess.  I get through it, this part I don’t like.  This making people aware of the music part.  

There’s so much music in the world, and so little time it seems.  It’s really neat that the internet allows you to very inexpensively put your music in online stores so people can buy it, and when some people do actually buy it, it makes you feel good.  You hope it catches on more.  You know it probably won’t.  You think in your head that people are going to be saying things like, “remember that Scott Cooley guy?  He thinks he’s a musician now.  Have you heard any of his stuff?  I streamed a few seconds of a few songs for free, and it’s not for me.  It’s sad he probably thinks he’s way better than he really is.”  Those kinds of thoughts go through your head.  I know I’m not alone feeling this way, so comment if you can relate.

This is the stage I'm in right now as I prepare to release my new album.  I've been through it before.  The simple fact that I'm blogging about it makes it seem like a bigger deal to me than it really is.  Like blogging, occasionally this music hobby is something I enjoy in my free time, and I would like others to be aware of it so they can enjoy it.  I'm going to keep on doing what I love, and you can like it or not, and that's ok.  Such are the thoughts of an amateur songwriter and independent recording artist.  

Songwriting, It's A Lifestyle

I guess more than anything, this blog is a lifestyle blog.  It’s about songwriting, which is something I like to do.  It’s a part of my lifestyle.  It’s one of the many things I do fairly consistently in my free time.  Once in a while, I blog about it here.  I just sort of share my experiences for no apparent reason.  I’m not good enough or expert enough or experienced enough or credentialed enough to write a column for American Songwriter magazine, for example.  This blog is not meant to be educational necessarily.  I don’t know why anyone would read it, really.  I don’t specifically provide instruction to people who aspire to write songs.  As a recording artist, I don’t share my experiences on the road during a tour like touring musicians would, because I’m not a touring musician.  So, it’s not aimed at my fans either.  Maybe by the end of this post, I’ll figure out why this might be of interest to anyone.

More than anything, what is notable about me being a songwriter is that I am self-taught in all aspects of the craft.  I suppose if you’re someone who has already figured out how to write songs yourself, you might be interested in the struggles I share, as a sort of misery-loves-company type of thing.  Like many a blogger out there, I tend to rant and rave about the frustrations I experience related to writing and recording songs.  Actually, I love the writing and recording part, but it’s the “getting an audience” part that has been difficult for me.  I’m not someone who will ever aspire to be a performing songwriter who plays gigs and gets fans from playing live shows.  I hold out hope that I can gain an audience just by having an online presence, and that eventually, recommendation will increase my fan base and music sales.  I’m not big on promotion, advertising, or marketing myself, so herein lies a dilemma that is at the core of what I blog about most – the desire to be heard by more people, combined with a passion only for the creative part of the craft.

It used to be that record companies sunk tons of money into an artist they signed to get them publicity, and that this was the only way the famous bands we all know and love became famous in the first place.  Technology has made it possible for musicians to be self-contained, self-employed professionals who can gain large audiences without record companies.  Although there are some overnight successes and those who have the right idea go viral at the right time, the majority of these acts pay dues by building a fan base by relentless touring, and by having teams of people who help them handle the promotion and publicity.  Creative types typically don’t have much interest in the business side of music.  With a day job, no desire to play live, and no extra cash to hire people to help grow my audience, I’m one of several million.  Although I’ve found free ways to have an online presence and cheap ways to get my music in online stores, and cheap ways to record my songs with a decent level of quality at home, it’s not enough.  I may have been among the first wave of people to do all these things totally alone and very inexpensively, but now everyone and their brother can record a song at home and put it on iTunes for sale and have a website.

Writing about your struggles to gain a greater audience is one thing, but sharing the joy of your passions is another.  Maybe this blog would be more interesting to more people if I wasn’t trying to get them to buy my music, but rather, just to focus on what it’s like to spend a few hours a week writing and recording songs.  Since I know there are millions of others like me out there, maybe they’d be interested in reading about the experiences of someone else who has a similar life.  That’s got to be the audience this blog will gain, if any.  Fans of my music might like to hear how the next album is coming along too.

The best thing I can say about this hobby of mine is that I can’t go very long without doing it, without thinking about it at least.  I wrote a song recently that started in my head on the way to work one morning.  I’d written about half the chorus during my 10 minute commute.  Then I worked all day, and when I got home, I had the whole chorus in about 5 minutes.  Then from that, I knew what I wanted the verses to include, content-wise, since this was a story-type song.  So, I made a few notes, and then all that was left was looking up a couple rhymes at rhymezone.com (free rhyming dictionary online) and writing a bridge.  After about 20 minutes, I had the whole song typed up in a word document.  What I’m really glad about was remembering my morning thoughts.  I can’t tell you how many times I’ve had great ideas and lines for a song in my head just from thinking in my car, but no recorder or pen and paper to write them down, then forgot them, and they’re lost forever.  All I remembered was that I wanted to remember the great song ideas, but when you wait too long, it’s all over.

The beauty of this hobby is, you can always write more, even when you lose a song.  My memory ain’t what it used to be, but that’s why a big part of my time spent on songwriting is actually typing the lyrics and typing the chords once I have those figured out.  So, with this song, I already had one of those things they call a dummy melody in my head.  Just reading the words to myself in my head made me envision the music, since the lyrics were intentionally written with a certain meter in mind – you know – close to the same number of syllables in each line and so forth.  I never have trouble picking a key, due to my limited vocal range, so then it was just a matter of getting out the guitar and finding some chord changes that worked.  Typing up the lyrics is the key, because after I do that and just read them to myself, I can “hear” in my mind where the chord changes will be.

Sometimes I will even type an X above the word or syllable where the chord would be strummed throughout the song.  Then I’ve got lyrics, and where the chords are to be played, and all that is left is choosing those chords.  Typically, certain chords in a song in a certain key go well with each other – you know, those “chord family” deals.  Sometimes though, you can go outside those rules and still make it work.  This song was one of those.  So, after about 10 more minutes, I had the chords nailed down and I just reach over the guitar in my lap to type those on the lyric document.  I’m lazy, so I only put the chord letter symbols in the first verse, chorus and bridge, knowing they repeat for subsequent sections.

The next step was to hit record on my cassette recorder I use for first takes.  I recorded it once all the way through, rewound, then listened back, when I discovered a few little things to tweak pronunciation-wise and arrangement-wise, then made those adjustments to my document and hit record again.  This time, when I listened back, it was exactly how I envisioned it that morning in my car.  Keeper, done with the songwriting part.  Now, when I get (make) time to record next in my digital multitrack software on my computer with microphones and everything, I’ll do that again, and separately record bass, drums, etc.  That’s another thing – you can “hear in your mind” what instrumentation is appropriate for the song as well, very early when writing it.  So, there I had a finished song in maybe 45 minutes.  It will probably take me, for this particular one, about another hour to get the final studio recording done.  So, yeah, about 2 hours per song, start to finish is not too far off from the time spent.

I release a new album of 13 songs every two years, so it’s like one every two months.  It’s usually a an hour or so on a weeknight, a couple nights per week on average, and then about two Saturdays per month for longer recording sessions where I crank out two songs in three hours or so.  Some songs don’t come so easy, and those are the ones that don’t end up being that great.  All of the above is fun for me.  It’s literally a blast, and if I go a month or so without doing any of the above, I get a little bummed out from missing it.  That should give you a glimpse into what the time spent is like for people like me who consider themselves songwriters.  If you look at it this way, it’s a fairly large part of my lifestyle, and I’m thankful I’m able to do it, whether I sell any records or not!  

Why The Pope Shits In The Woods

To answer this question, and relate it to my free-time hobby of writing songs and recording them, I have to express my thoughts about wanting people to have access to my music while not wanting to spend money on promoting it or playing live shows.  I need to reach deep into my psyche and try to examine why just writing songs and recording them for myself is not enough.  Wax warning:  This post might be construed as all three, but do you ever notice anyone waxing anything but philosophic, poetic or nostalgic?  Maybe some novelists with PhDs and knowledge of literary criticism do to impress each other, but we aren’t them, are we?  Songwriters write songs to try to impress each other I suppose, but what does that say about us?  The pseudo-intellectuals of the world and those who self-identify with being some variation of geek/nerd/dweeb, etc., and who also happen to write songs, may very well get into using big words and trying to out-do each other that way.  Some with songwriting expertise advise the twist on a tired cliche thing as an ingredient for a good song, so if you follow that, maybe you are going to wax something else in your song, or maybe waxing bikini, as in to assume the identity of a hot babe’s bikini.  I’m getting away from the point of this post already - which is to answer the question in the title as it relates to the craft.  

I know, it’s a wacky proposition, but I’ll get there, and if you read along, you’ll get the point, which is that if art is only appreciated by its creator, it doesn’t really exist.  Another way to put this idea is that you must make people aware of your music, like it or not, to truly get the most out of the craft of writing songs.  My wife cured me of being a swearer long ago, but I thought using the only swear word I’ve ever used in one of my songs was necessary for this topic, just as it was absolutely necessary in my most popular song, Mackinac Island (HS&F).  In the continuing saga of the non-performing songwriter/home recording hobbyist and hermit who knows deep down in a bygone music era not too long ago he’d have no business in the music business, but now finds himself able to just barely get a virtual foot in the door, I’m going to attempt to answer one of life’s funniest questions and relate it to my sad struggle to be discovered, heard, and appreciated.

“Does the Pope shit in the woods?”  I’m pretty sure this was a line from one of my all-time favorite movies, The Big Lebowski, delivered hilariously by the main character the Dude, played by Jeff Bridges.  It’s a funny twist on “Is The Pope Catholic?,”  which is what you say in place of “of course” in reply to a yes/no question.  

There are a lot of variations of this we’ve heard throughout our lives, which all sort of combine elements of philosophy, science, and comedy:

• If a bear shits in the woods, and there is no one around to smell it, does it still stink?
• If a tree falls in a forest, and there’s no one around to hear it, does it make a sound?
• If a man speaks in the forest, and there’s no woman around to hear him, is he still wrong?

The answer isn’t always so obvious though, in my way of thinking.  People tend to immediately accept an intended meaning when hearing these, and after laughing, rarely discuss alternate meaning interpretations.  Without delving deeply into metaphysics, and hopefully not getting myself into deep shit for using a swear word and speaking my mind and offending people, I’m going to describe how the classic tree version applies to songwriting.  If you write songs and never play them in the presence of other people, or never record them and make those recordings available for other people to listen to, then they are the trees.  

If you don’t take a risk, you can’t get the reward, but then again, if you’re not careful, you can find yourself up shit creek without a paddle.  That is, with no income to offset your albeit modest investment in making your music available, which frustrates you to the point where you become a harsh ranter, raving foul-mouthed filth to offend and thereby hypocritically use your way with words to criticize and cause harm instead of helpful laughter, you blog it out and carry on.  Some bail out and swim to shore, admitting defeat, but not me.  I’m raging on in a changing music business that allows amateur hacks like me to peddle my wares, trying to remember not to take it all too seriously, and that beauty is in the eye of the beholder, and that many who’ve come before and achieved sales, did so with wares I personally consider substandard to my own.

Row, row, row your boat gently down the stream

Merrily, merrily, merrily, merrily, life is but a dream

That’s a great song we all know.  If life is but a dream, then you’re not really reading this blog, and the moon in the sky at night doesn’t exist, whether people see it or not.  This concept applies to music marketing/promotion/advertising.  It used to be you could put the CD in the brick-and-mortar record store, and there was a chance a shopper would see it, be intrigued by the album title, the artist name, the cover artwork, the song titles, and/or the liner notes.  Those stores don’t exist anymore, but the same principle on the web means people have to visit the music store site, otherwise, the music doesn’t exist either.  The science behind audience definition/targeting and search optimization isn’t applicable and doesn’t matter when there’s no physical matter to apply it to.  But there’s a revelatory philosophical principle about this simple old tune that is not only a good approach to music, but also to living your life:  Don’t try too hard, and have fun.  I take it, and I advise it, for life and for songwriting.  You typically want to share the things you’ve had fun creating though, with the hope that they’ll be appreciated in a positive way.

Those seven words sum up my approach to this songwriting hobby very well, but the reason I record and distribute (the part that’s not fun) is based on a lack of certainty that this is all a dream.  The “what if?” thoughts of there being no afterlife, along with a belief that art doesn’t exist without appreciation, drives the “work” I put in to be an independent recording artist.  Fortunately, I’ve become aware of some appreciation of my art due to this work.  That appreciation is my fuel for continuing to be a songwriter.  Let the trees continue to fall.  What if the pope, while shitting in the woods, notices a bear also shitting nearby, while simultaneously hearing a tree falling nearby, and a woman is there to verify and provide feedback that it’s all sick and wrong? Songwriters need the feedback, or else their songs don’t exist, so they can either play live in a bar, or use CD Baby to get on iTunes.  It begs another question:  If you’re like me and people won’t pay to see you play live, despite trying, why shouldn’t you also give up when no one will pay .99 to download your MP3.  The answer:  a few people actually have paid that .99, which gives me hope that more of the same will occur, that I’ll get repeat customers if I repeat the process of releasing more trees into the wild, so at a nominal cost, why wouldn’t I trudge on?

We’ve all been alienators and bridge-burners at one time or another in our lives, and some find those personalities a little more interesting.  Maybe the rebels, the ne’er-do-wells, the slackers, the class clowns of the world write better songs.  If you’re going to answer a question with a question, it helps if it’s both funny and deep.  Serious questions are no fun at all.  Take the typical cop question “do you know why I pulled you over?” and think that through.  I always want to say something like “I’m flattered that from briefly glancing at me and my car, you had enough observatory power to gather information and surmise that I might have the type of extra sensory perception that has given me the ability to read your mind.”..and then follow that up with the word “Yes.”  Not a wise strategy.  The cops I’ve met don’t seem to be deep thinkers.  And one might think the smart and expected answer is simply “no.”  After the yes, the cop would then likely retort with something like, “why?,” to which I would then reply, “how would knowing the answer to that help you protect and serve any better than you already are?”  If life is but a dream, a maximum fine and jail time is a nightmare, not to mention the risk of random violence cops are prone to committing, such as being shot and killed by the cop right then and there.  

The “their word against yours power” isn’t fair, and if you’re dead, you don’t care if a passerby got it on video with their phone as evidence for justice in court when the cop lies and claims you were reaching for a weapon, especially if there’s no afterlife.  When a question isn’t funny, and it’s totally on the surface, it’s meant for places like courts of law, not private life conversations with real people.  Lawyers are skilled with asking questions they already know the answers to, and seem to in a sick way really take joy in playing dumb and acting as if they really don’t know the answer when they ask the question.  It’s too bad that their profession trains them for this, which they then inevitably use in their personal lives.  

What you do for a living, unfortunately, can shape the person you are, and certain traits don’t work outside of work.  Winning friends and influencing people is not accomplished by beating people up with words and using questions as weapons.  On the other hand, the hand I’m talking about here, replying to a question that would seemingly have a simple, predictable answer with a funny, philosophical question is always pleasantly thought-provoking.  Add in an unexpected swear word, and you’ve got the makings of an almost sure-fire way to get people to crack up and like you.  When you hear such a question, there’s a brief second before you laugh where you think of the alternate implications it presents - you may not want to admit it, but you’ve experienced it.  

Those who like to self-identify with being intellectual, pseudo or not, will take this ball and run with it, making a game out of pointing out the technicalities and logic flaws involved.  They’ll have follow-up questions of their own in response to your question replies, such as the living thing argument - creatures present with the capability of hearing, the possibility of aliens in parallel dimensions travelling faster than the speed of sound past the tree when it fell, ad nauseum.  Your stereotypical comic book / science fiction fan will have a field day, and it will annoy you, because you’re not like them, and you’re sad realizing they’ll never think it’s funny like you do to hear someone say “Does the pope shit in the woods?”  You’ll glaze over as they ramble, and you’ll start thinking of great new song lyrics but have no pen and paper or recorder.  That’s a bummer, man.  Makes you want to say “fuck it, let’s go bowling.”

To truly expose the underlying, hidden truths behind a question where the answer is obviously going to be yes, you’ve got to talk about why the Pope would shit in the woods in the first place.  You figure they mostly hang out in big cities, travel in luxury popemobiles, spend a lot of time in churches with modern plumbing.  You can brainstorm this.  You can try to think pope, papal, paper, toilet paper, papal paper, no paper handy while in woods, the convenience of the robe vs. pants, you picture squatting, them being right-wing conservatives, yet probably not opposed to walking in woods.  Say you’re a pope, the urge hits, and you happen to be in some woods, it could happen, probably has happened.  I’ll go out on a limb here and say there have been a lot of popes, and I hereby submit they’ve all shat in the woods before,  because there ain’t no papal porta johns in woods, not even when in Rome.

I’m digressing, so to get back on track and do as they do, I’ll write a prayer:  Dear God, please let more people hear and appreciate my songs.  That’s another thing with the internet lately - with all the free streaming going on, you don’t know if your song was played and liked by someone or not. Yes, star trek fans out there, some such services have analytics available, but most don’t for free anyway, and because of google, who pays for analytics nowadays?  People who work in sales I guess. The sales aren’t there, but who knows, maybe lots of people listened and loved my songs, but didn’t feel like e-mailing me to let me know, or didn’t feel like posting a kind review,  or recommending it, or clicking some sort of Like or +1 button.  It’s a hassle to do all that when you’re just out to find and listen to some interesting music for free and move on.  So there’s the finding it thing, and then there’s the liking it, and then there’s me finding out about any of this actually occurring.  

Even the best, most famous songwriter/artists out there don’t get paid for their art like they used to, and even the ultra-popular make more from playing live shows than selling records now.  Despite the business changing, it’s pretty cool that the potential is there for someone to be present with hearing ability when the tree falls, and at least I’m doing what’s necessary to stink up the Amazon, Google Play and iTunes forests with my shitty music, and it’s better that someone could smell it, than to not be that bear at all.  For you fellow songwriters out there, remember:  don’t work too hard, have fun, be the bear.  Luckily, technology has made it so that there’s not much to lose.  There are a billion others like me - with a microphone, computer, and guitar who make up words, try to sing, and hold out hope for something accidental and viral to happen with little expense or effort to boost our audience.  Like the lottery, you can’t win it if you don’t have the ticket.  Well, I’ve offended the intellectual community, the legal community, and the religious right community, so I’ll conclude with a question for you left-leaning, tree-hugging hipsters in the forest out there:  If an internet music fan finds and free-cloudstreams a songwriter/recording artist’s song, and the songwriter never becomes aware that it happened, did it?

How To Write Songs

How To Write Songs

I have no formal music training, and am completely a self-taught musician and songwriter.  This is just one songwriter’s process, described with lessons learned and advice for the like-minded.  If someone had shared this with me 25 years ago when I wrote my first song, it would’ve helped.  

Songwriting can be almost effortless at times, and that’s when it’s fun.  Other times it feels more like hard work and a struggle.  Rarely can you boost a bad draft to a keeper, but it is possible, and when it happens, it is a result of hard work spinning your wheels when the magical solution presents itself.  Those are the exception, and usually the songs that you write quickly as if it’s being channeled through you are the best.  Different aspects of songwriting come easier for some people than others, depending on things like their natural talents, inclinations, preferences, abilities, etc. - whether they be the lyric writing, music writing, or other various aspects.  Based on this, I will divide this post into sections accordingly to cover my experience and comfort level with each aspect.  

The amount of pain and agony involved with songwriting varies with the stages in the process, and depending on your process the sequence of those stages may vary as well.  The experience factor is similar to playing an instrument - some can log a ton of practice hours and still not be very good, while others are seemingly born with a high level of talent.  Everyone has different strengths, but here’s my assessment of my own pain level for each stage and a description of how I don’t always follow a consistent process for every song.  

Assumptions

The Scott Cooley approach to songwriting described herein assumes you’ve already looked up the basics about typical song forms (verse/chorus, verse/pre-chorus/chorus, AABA, etc.) and song sections (chorus, bridge, verse, etc.).  It also assumes you like popular vocal music (rock, folk, blues, country, etc.) that has words and singing versus classical or instrumental jazz.  It also assumes you at least know how to play some basic chords on an instrument.

Sequential Approach

I’m usually a lyrics-first writer, only because I find myself most often inspired about an idea for a song when I have a way to get the lyrics written but don’t have a way to get the music written (no instrument).  We all have smartphones on us most of the time nowadays, and they usually have a text editor or audio recording app.  You’re not always near a piano or happen to have a guitar with you.  So, you hit record and do a note to self, or you type stuff, or you write it on a napkin, etc..  Even without the phone, you can always find a pen and paper in most places where you find yourself, but don’t necessarily find yourself in a place where you have a way to borrow a handy instrument.

This article focuses on writing lyrics first, but of course I also am fully capable of doing it the other way around, and have done so with success in the past.  Quite often a musical idea you come across will drive how the entire song is written, including the lyrics.  Making lyrics fit music is in some ways easier.  My songs are not super complicated musically, and I believe the lyrics are slightly more important for someone who writes the kinds of songs that I do.  Sometimes you like songs only because of the music, others you like only because of the memorable chorus and have no idea what the lyrics in the verses are, but more often than not it’s the total package that you like, and that usually means good, meaningful lyrics throughout.

Concept

Fun, somewhat painless.  The idea for the song is the most important part - not just the main topic, but your point of view on that topic.  If you’ve got a great concept for a song, it can write itself.  The concept has to be about a feeling - and the concept itself must be the thing that motivates you to finish the rest of the song in the first place.  Follow the inspiration.  Of course it can be about topics covered in other existing songs - either your own or other people’s, but it has to be a new take or a different way of looking at the topic that hasn’t been done before, or at least, not that you’re aware of.  Starting with a title that summarizes that concept can be one way to start.  Coming up with a topic idea for a song is typically pure inspiration.  The emotion you’re experiencing is what drives you to finish writing about it.  You’re basically just filling in details of a skeleton theme.  

On the other hand, sometimes you come up with it only in the process of stream-of-consciousness lyric writing.  Usually though, the idea usually just strikes you, maybe as a reaction to an experience you’ve had, a conversation you’ve had or overheard, reading a book, watching a movie or tv show, listening to other songs, etc.  This often leads you to a title for the song, and a good idea of what the main theme of the chorus and hook will be.  From these, you can build the rest of the song, so it’s not a bad way to start.  Typically, you’ll operate within the subject matter and associated genre confines of, for example, love found/lost (pop, R&B), celebration/party/wild&crazy/escape (rock), a song about a place (folk), drinking/fishing/patriotism (country), etc., only your goal will be a fresh take or angle on these that hasn’t been done before – I guess that’s the challenging part, but when it strikes you like a lightning bolt, it’s a no-brainer.

Lyric Writing

Fun, somewhat painless.  Especially on a computer, with a word processor and online rhyming dictionary and google, you’re set.  This assumes you’re starting with the words as opposed to fitting words to existing music, and further it assumes you’re probably starting with a title and overall concept already.  It’s really just a matter of expanding the title and concept into a chorus, then making it a conversation/story that has the basic elements of a story – the verses can identify a beginning, middle and end, and a bridge can provide a different perspective or tie things together.  

You’ll want to select a form structure along the way – either from the start, where it serves as a skeleton template form where you simply fill in the blanks, or just focus on getting all the story down, and after you have all the lines of information you want to include in the song, then rearrange them to fit the form structure.  Google ‘song forms’ and you’ll see there are only about 5 or 6 that most songs use, with optional variations.  

If you’ve started with music, and are trying to write lyrics to fit the music, you obviously already have a set form, and again, it’s a fill in the blanks thing.  Typically, you’ll want to pay attention to having lines with close to the same number of words and/or syllables as each other in each song section (verse, chorus, bridge), and change the rhyming scheme between sections, making sure you have agreement and keep in mind the basic and commonly-accepted rules (rules which if broken in the right way, of course produce great variations).  

The lyrics, when flowing out of you, are words and ideas you can’t wait to get out of your head and down on paper before you lose the cool concepts for the content.  Jot it down quickly, as you can always fix the little things like syllable pronunciation and meter later.  It’s the ideas that you want to capture while they’re fresh - the things you want to say and the point you’re trying to get across - the rhyming and story details and sequence of information can be perfected later on after you’ve got the bulk of the content down.  A final clean-up is then just a matter of getting it as close to ideal as possible while wearing your editor hat and looking at the song in its entirety.  

Music Writing:

A little more painful, depending on things.  When you’ve already got the lyrics done, and you have a structure with the song form, and a rhyme scheme, and the number of syllables in each line comes close to matching similar lines, then you’ve got something that’s easy to work with.  As you read the lyric either in your head or out loud, without pausing, the song as a whole will usually have patterns that become more evident - and these patterns will help you “envision” the music as you read it.  It’s got to be interesting to listen to, only not plagiarize existing songs that are interesting to listen to.  

Style considerations must be taken into account if you are after a particular genre of song – they can often dictate the key musical elements.  You have to come up with something new, yet something that uses some commonly-accepted elements that provide tension and excitement.  You probably want to use some commonly-accepted chord families for the key the song will be in.  You will want to stick with the structure of one of the major popular song forms, and not stray too far from it.  

You must have an exciting melody – hummable, whistleable, memorable – this is by far the most difficult part.  When you’re trying anyway, it’s hard, but sometimes it just happens naturally and you stumble upon a good one by accident.  Otherwise, you need to know how to read music unfortunately, and piano might be a better instrument for guitar for writing melodies.  When writing music to fit lyrics that are already written, this makes it a lot easier, at least from a harmony/chord perspective.  

Well-written lyrics have lines with close to the same number of syllables.  Within those lines, if you just speak the lyrics aloud or in your head, there is a built-in meter where you can hear a rhythm while reciting, and then you can place “ghost” markers above words where the chord symbol will eventually go.  This is where a “dummy melody” starts to form in your mind as you read through the lyrics.  You can hear where a chord should be played and where the changes would most likely be (usually at the start of a phrase within a line, and associated with emphasis on a syllable), and then mark those with an X above the word where the chord would be played throughout the lyric sheet.  These serve as placeholders for the actual chords.  Then it’s just a matter of picking a key and chords within that key and replace the X markers with the letter of the actual chord.  

A final step then would be to play those chords on a guitar and start singing the lyrics along with them, and the melody sort of naturally appears.  You could do this with a piano or some other instrument besides guitar, if you know how to play chords on it.  Music-first writing for motown tunes often started with a bass groove, so don’t rule out writing on bass, where the chords are the root notes.  

When selecting a key, go for one that is good for your own voice if you’re singing your own demo, of course, otherwise consider the range of the singer.  The chords you select can be fairly easy if you just do a google search on chords for a particularly.  There are usually five or six chords that are in the same family, and usually go well with each other, then there are substitution chords that sometimes also work well.  You can use the circle of fifths chart too - so google that and look at it.  The melody notes themselves usually are notes that make up the chord being played while sung, so I’ve been told.  

For writing music first, when you don’t read music, you can just play a chord sequence and hum or whistle along with it until the whistling sounds good, then replace whistles with sung words.  These serve as the dummy singing melody.  Then just write your lyrics to fit.  Otherwise, if singing in the key the song is in, usually the first chord played in the song, the melody notes just sort of work themselves out naturally, so that when you’re done with your song, someone who does know how to write/read music can verify for you that they are technically allowable notes you are singing that are in the chord being played, and in the key the song is in.

Arranging

Arrangement stuff can come last.  If you’ve got your verses, bridges, and choruses written - that is, both the music and lyrics for each part - then the order they take will come naturally according to commonly-accepted song forms.  The toughest decisions might be where to place an instrumental break, and which chords to play for the intro, and then whether to end the song with a fade out or something more abrupt.  These decisions are minor and can be tweaked once you start recording.  Often when you listen back to one of the first recorded versions of your song it will occur to you how to handle the arrangement.  Other times you know from playing it live and solo how it should best be arranged.  It is important to notate these decisions on your lyric sheet so you won’t forget when it comes time to do a final recording.

Re-Writing

Rewriting bad songs is a waste of time, but some parts you might re-use someday, so don’t throw it away completely.  Save the lyrics at least.  Rewriting borderline keepers can promote a song to keeper only rarely.  You can rewrite the heck out of a mediocre song and maybe elevate it to a deep album track keeper, but never a hit single.  My advice is to move on to the next new song, and don’t spend too much time rewriting.  Keep coming up with new ones, and then you’ll have a better chance at one that sort of writes itself into being a quick keeper.  When you run out of those completely, need more to fill out an album, then go back to the borderliners and polish them up to get an acceptable filler song, but only when you need a break from trying to write new songs.  

Recycling

Songs that aren’t very good at all from the get-go might have some recyclable parts and pieces for a future song, but again, do the recycling as a last resort.  Many times I’ve listened back to my catalog tapes of first take recordings, and I make notes right next to the titles on the cassette j-cards, or on the lyric documents.  The notes will often say something like “awesome music, bad lyrics” - in which case I can make future lyrics with no chords yet fit the music.  The opposite has also happened where I’ll note the lyrics are excellent, but don’t work with the music, and a future set of chord changes can be made to fit.  This is again why writing down both the chords and lyrics, accompanied with a rough first take recording, are good things to have to fall back on.  Going back through your notes and parts of songs that worked is a good exercise to get yourself through writers block.

Vocal Key

The key the song is in matters after you’ve listened back to a recorded version and you realize it’s too low or too high to work well with your voice.  Re-do it with a capo, or transpose if possible to make it work better for your range.  This is a hassle, but worth it, and may even be an important factor in whether a borderliner has potential to be a keeper in the first place.  The most painful is the re-recording in the new key, so it’s important to take this into consideration early in the songwriting process.  

Lead Sheets

Not writing down the chords (or lyrics for that matter) can be a huge source of pain later on down the road.  I’ve recorded a ton of songs early in my songwriting experiences where I never wrote down the lyrics or the chords I was playing, and it’s a big pain to listen back to the tape and pause constantly to type up the lyrics and get out the guitar to figure out the chords and then type those too.  Document it as you’re doing it, and don’t assume you’ll remember certain parts later.  Tapes wear out, so your cool songs can be lost forever.  

You can’t rely on your own memory either - even if you regularly practice and memorize your own material, when you’ve written hundreds of songs, it’s nearly impossible to remember everything given your free time availability.  Write it all down in that word document, and back up your hard drives.  If you actually know how to write music - that is notation on a staff, go for it.  If you know the Nashville number system, document that too.  I don’t know either, but writing the chord letters above the word where strummed at least helps, so I highly recommend the discipline to do this.

Production

Instrumentation and effects decisions are often driven by the overall feel of the song.  This gets off the topic of this article, but the recording process matters a little bit since the finished product is important in the overall process of writing a song.  Aside from being able to teach a band the song or perform it live by yourself, the recording ends the songwriting process, so it does indeed matter what it sounds like.  Sometimes only after it’s fully recorded in a multitrack environment with several instrument and vocal tracks mixed, do you hear the need to tweak to the point of where you would consider it rewriting the song.

Re-Visitation

Giving it time is maybe another important aspect of writing a song.  Once you’ve got a batch of keepers you’ve written, ignore them for several months.  Then re-listen.  You’ll be surprised that some aren’t as great as you thought when they were freshly written, and on the other hand, you’ll be surprised that some you were on the fence about are much better than you originally thought.