There are a few posts about these forums which suggest that the author would like to be a songwriter but doesn't know where to start. May I offer some help.
Number One: (most important): Give yourself permission! Believe that you can.
Don't listen to those doubters and negativity freaks who tell you to give up. They are not your friends.. Maybe you yourself won't be happy with your early attempts, Don't worry. Just keep trying. At least you will have something to look back on and will be developing some ideas about what you do and don't like.
Number Two: Write your songs about things you know something about. There is no need to be a bluffer and that approach is very unlikely to work for you anyway. Its also amazing how many people trip up at this point and say "But what do I know that can be made into a song". The good news for them is that everyone knows about lots of things, all suitable for songwriting. If you are old enough to read you will have plenty of material to work with and you are reading this aren't you?.
Heres an example. I've written a lot of songs but I remember there was a time when I had written zero. One evening I was visiting a songwriter friend and I told him I wanted to write a song but didn't know what to write about. I felt that I didn't know about anything that could be made into a song. He asked me three questions about my day. At the end of my replies he said "there's your song" and suggested I write a song about the car I had just driven home in.. Now I never actually finished that song but I got the point. You can write a song about anything.
So please by all means write that song about the failed romance if you must, everyone has one, but don't forget all those other things you know about..
Number Three: As my good friend Rab the poet says "Work, practice, effort."
You can daydream all you want. It is good and you need to do that but at some stage you will need to pick up a pen and write down your words or better still pick up an instrument and learn to make musical sounds with it. You could even get a loop player program on to your computer and string together someone else's samples to you own arrangement. Its all the same, work, practice, effort. Work, practice, effort is good. I know this is bad news for the 'I want it now' brigade but I'll write it again:- Work, practice, effort, it is the only way.
So there, and if you do become a songwriter don't forget to get out there and use every chance you can to share your work with the world! It needs more people like you.
